🔍Google Search Revenue Growth Slows to 12% as AI Mode Monetizes Less

Your Google Ads spend is about to get weird

Google's Search revenue grew 12 percent year over year in the third quarter, a clear slowdown, and Alphabet shares have dropped about 14 percent since earnings last week. Search queries are growing at their fastest pace in five years, so people are asking more. The problem is what happens after they ask. AI Overviews and AI Mode are changing where clicks land. AI Mode queries are growing strongly but monetize at a lower rate than traditional searches, and many of them are incremental and upper-funnel. If your team buys Google paid search, your traffic mix is shifting under you. Google is also expanding ads into AI Overviews and AI Mode, including multi-turn US conversations and international markets. Paid clicks growth fell from 13 percent to 8 percent. Currency effects were the biggest driver of the slowdown, with industry-specific advertiser spending changes and Google's AI makeover also contributing. Tinuiti's same-store advertisers still raised Google paid search spend 14 percent year over year in Q3. An early ChatGPT ads study suggests richer conversations don't automatically mean more retail sales.