Google's search advertising revenue growth slowed from 17% in Q2 to 12% in Q3, partly due to lower monetisation of AI Overviews and AI Mode, contributing to Alphabet losing roughly $500 billion in market value. Despite search query volumes actually reaching a five-year high, the shift toward AI-driven search has so far generated less ad revenue than traditional search results. Analysts warn that while Google still dominates search, it faces a long-term threat if competitors like ChatGPT or Claude prove better at AI-based discovery and Google fails to effectively monetise the transition.
