First, Let Us Kill Relevance for Once and For All. Second, Just Use Google
September 9, 2025
Just a dinobaby sharing observations. No AI involved. My apologies to those who rely on it for their wisdom, knowledge, and insights.
In the long distant past, Danny Sullivan was a search engine optimization-oriented journalist. I think we was involved with an outfit called Search Engine Land. He gave talks and had an animated dinosaur as his cursor. I recall liking the dinosaur. On August 29, 2025, Search Engine Land published a story unthinkable years ago when Google was the one and only game in town.
The article “ChatGPT, AI Tools Gain Traction as Google Search Slips: Survey” says:
“AI tool use is accelerating in everyday search, with ChatGPT use nearly tripling while Google’s share slips, survey of US users finds.”
But Google just sold the US government at $0.47 per head the Gemini system. How can these procurement people have gone off track? The write up says:
Google’s role in everyday information seeking is shrinking, while AI tools – particularly ChatGPT – are quickly gaining ground. That’s according to a new Higher Visibility survey of 1,500 U.S. users.
And here’s another statement that caught my eye:
Search behavior is fractured, which means SEOs cannot rely on Google Search alone (though, to be clear, SEO for Google remains as critical as ever). Therefore, SEO/GEO strategies now must account for visibility across multiple AI platforms.
I wonder if relevant search results will return? Of course not, one must optimize content for the new world of multiple AI platforms.
A couple of questions:
- If AI is getting uptake, won’t that uptake help out Google too?
- Who are the “users” in the survey sample? Is the sample valid? Are the data reliable?
- Is the need for SEO an accurate statement? SEO helped destroy relevance in search results. Aren’t these folks satisfied with their achievement to date?
I think I know the answers to these questions. But I am content to just believe everything Search Engine Land says. I mean marketing SEO and eliminating relevance when seeking answers online is undergoing change. Change means many things. Some of these issues are beyond the ken of the big thinkers at Search Engine Land in my opinion. But that’s irrelevant and definitely not SEO.
Stephen E Arnold, September 10, 2025
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