By DAVID A. CHAUVIN //
Is the Internet dying?
Over the past year, websites across the Internet have experienced a significant drop in traffic from search engines. Some are reporting declines as steep as 70 percent, depending on the topic or industry.
According to website-traffic tracker Similarweb, overall search referral traffic across thousands of domains fell by nearly 7 percent from June 2024 to June 2025. Even more alarming, a recent study found that news sites ranked at the top of Google results lost up to 79 percent of their traffic when those results were replaced by Google’s new AI-generated Overviews.
This isn’t a coincidence. It’s a signal of a fundamental shift. Google, once a steady driver of clicks and visibility, is now the destination itself. Its new AI Overviews summarize answers directly on the search page, meaning users never need to click through.
A Pew Research Center study found that when an AI-generated summary appeared, users were about half as likely to click any link. Only around 1 percent clicked the sources listed, compared to nearly 15 percent with traditional results.
And Google is just the beginning. Users are increasingly turning to AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Reddit’s improved search to get conversational, synthesized answers – no scrolling through blue links required. Even Apple acknowledged in a recent developer briefing that people are searching less on Safari because AI is taking care of it.
David Chauvin: Zero tolerance.
The “zero-click” Internet is no longer hypothetical. It’s here.
And that’s a problem. For businesses, nonprofits, local news outlets and even solopreneurs here on Long Island, this transformation changes how visibility is earned and kept. If your strategy has leaned heavily on SEO, blogs or web content optimized for Google, it might already be showing cracks.
But the good news is that the web isn’t dying – it’s evolving. And so should we.
First, it’s time to stop optimizing just for search engines and start optimizing for answer engines. When AI pulls content to synthesize responses, it favors clarity, structure and a human-like tone. That means creating content in a Q&A format, using headers that mirror user intent and leveraging tools like FAQ sections and schema markup to help AI understand what you’re offering.
Think of it less like ranking on a results page, and more like becoming part of the answer itself.
But even perfectly structured content won’t save you if it’s all surface. What AI struggles to replicate is authenticity. It doesn’t have your story, your voice, your firsthand experience – that means the real opportunity is in creating content AI can’t mimic, such as original research, deep local reporting, multimedia and human insight.
Artificial intelligence can summarize, but it struggles to connect, to feel trustworthy in the way a real voice does. You want to build something that feels real, something people come back to.
This is where good, old-fashioned PR and earned media come back into focus. Getting a story placed in your local paper or a regional business outlet like this one isn’t just about press clippings anymore. It’s about building a web presence that tells Google – and the AIs scraping it – that you’re credible, relevant and trustworthy.
Seek … and destroy: Artificial intelligence-powered search options are steadily wiping out traditional search engines — but businesses, nonprofits and news outlets don’t have to become collateral damage.
A mention in Newsday or Long Island Business News does more than boost your ego. It genuinely strengthens your digital footprint and increases your chances of being cited in AI results.
In fact, some of the most resilient web traffic today is tied to domains that have been cited widely in earned media. Thought-leadership pieces, expert commentary and local coverage are good PR, but they’re also strategic SEO assets.
As AI tools scour the web for reputable sources, they pull heavily from media outlets and interviews, not just some blog posts. So it’s also time to rethink how we measure success.
Pageviews alone won’t cut it. If fewer people are clicking, those who still do need to count: Are visitors staying longer? Subscribing to your newsletter? Sharing your story? Buying your product? The new Internet rewards substance over flash.
The Internet’s not dying. It’s evolving. The days of “publish and they will come” are behind us. But for those who invest in building relationships through storytelling, trusted media, community and consistency, there’s still plenty of room to grow.
In a world where the answers come fast and easy, people will still seek connection, trust and depth. If your presence can offer that, then you still have a vital place in the future of the web.
David A. Chauvin is executive vice president of ZE Creative Communications.
