Is Google in Decline in 2025? AI Platforms, Falling Clicks, and Antitrust Risks Undermine Its Core Business
- Graziano Stefanelli
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Google’s search market share has dipped below 90 % for the first time in years, signaling a slow but historic shift.
New AI platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity are offering direct answers—eroding traditional search usage.
Google’s own AI enhancements have led to unintended side effects such as lower ad revenue and content-creator concerns.
Legal pressures and stock volatility are further compounding Alphabet’s strategic inflection point.
Google’s Search Supremacy Slipping
For over two decades, Google Search held a near-absolute grip on how people access information online. In 2025, that dominance is visibly eroding. As of April, Google’s global search market share fell to 89.66 %—still enormous, but no longer unshakeable. The main cause? People are increasingly skipping search engines in favor of AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity AI, and Grok, which deliver conversational, instant responses instead of lists of links.
This shift in user behavior is most noticeable among younger audiences, with generative-AI tools being integrated directly into apps, operating systems, and browsers. The result: fewer searches per session, fewer page visits, and a fundamental redesign of the “intent to search” economy.
AI Is Rewriting the Playbook
In response to the AI wave, Google has rapidly re-engineered its core offerings:
AI Overviews have begun replacing the top of search-result pages with synthesized summaries.
AI Mode, launched in experimental markets, provides direct AI-generated answers that bypass traditional blue-link results.
Gemini, Google’s flagship AI family, is now deeply embedded into Android, Chrome, and Workspace.
But these changes aren’t without collateral effects. As users get direct answers, click-through rates decline. This hurts websites and advertisers who relied on organic traffic, triggering fears that Google is cannibalizing its own ad-based ecosystem. Publishers and creators alike are voicing concern that this new format undercuts the economics of content production.
Legal Troubles Mounting
At the same time, Alphabet is facing intensifying legal heat. In August 2024, a U.S. judge ruled that Google had illegally maintained a monopoly in online search. This decision could reshape Google’s advertising practices and market behavior.
Another ongoing case targets Google’s ad-tech stack, where it is accused of abusing its dominance in the digital-ad supply chain. Regulators across the U.S. and EU are closely watching—and this scrutiny may lead to structural remedies, fines, or enforced platform separation.
These legal developments have cast a shadow over Google’s long-term financial outlook, affecting investor confidence and opening the door for rivals to capture momentum.
Alphabet’s Financial Reality Check
Despite reporting 12 % year-over-year revenue growth, Alphabet’s stock experienced a sharp 7.5 % drop on 7 May 2025. At $168.47 per share and a $1.88 trillion valuation, the company is far from crisis—but investors are wary. The core concern isn’t Google’s current profits, but the sustainability of its advertising-based business model under AI disruption and regulatory risk.
The tension is this: Google must modernize to survive in an AI-first world—but doing so may cannibalize its own golden goose.
Is Google Really in Decline?
Talk of Google “fading” may be exaggerated—Google is not on the verge of irrelevance. But it is entering a transformation era. The pillars of its dominance—search-engine loyalty, unmatched ad revenue, and historically light regulation—are all under threat in 2025.
Google remains an AI powerhouse, with massive compute infrastructure, deep talent, and tight integration across its product ecosystem. However, its supremacy is no longer guaranteed. ChatGPT and other large language models are now legitimate daily-use alternatives. Governments are finally setting limits on its power. And the internet economy it helped build is being redefined—often by Google’s own innovations.
This isn’t the end of Google—but it may be the end of the old Google.
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