The open web as we know it is under siege, and the latest confirmed news and rumblings from Apple and Google may be the final nails in the coffin.
As reported by Bloomberg, Apple is expected to unveil a new AI search product or capability. Much like Google’s Gemini-powered results, this move signals a rapid shift away from traditional, link-based discovery and toward AI-delivered answers – leaving behind the ecosystem of clicks, referrals, and monetization that has sustained publishers and advertisers for decades.
Additionally, Google recently announced it’s giving Gemini new levels of access to user data for better personalized responses. Gemini is already great, and if it’s getting better, the need to click on blue links diminishes further. Keep in mind that Google is responsible for driving 91.54% of all global online traffic – as such, it’s clear the search giant possesses massive influence in what users see and where users go across the web.
Apple and Google’s latest moves are a strong signal web traffic is poised for a continued decline. Brands and advertisers need to prepare for a change to the foundational economics of the web as it exists today. Simply put, web publishers lose most of their site visits, and advertisers lose inventory that they’ve been buying against for years.
This isn’t just the end of organic search as a discovery tool; it’s a seismic reshaping of how, where, and why digital ads show up.
Where Do Ads Go in an AI-Dominated Landscape?
As AI search experiences take over the traffic that went to web, traditional digital ad real estate is disappearing. This is leading to significantly fewer opportunities for brands to get in front of consumers at the moment of intent.
This change undermines over a decade of marketing strategies built around search engine monetization and web referral traffic. If discovery increasingly happens inside AI interfaces with no outbound traffic, entire categories of open web advertising including contextual placements, affiliate links, comparison tools, and more will go away completely.
For brands and advertisers, this represents a pressing need to diversify digital media spend. Budgets must be reallocated away from legacy web-based performance channels and into environments that still offer scale, transparency, measurement and meaningful engagement. That could mean moving ad dollars into retail media networks, mobile app ecosystems, and CTV – these are just examples of channels that remain discoverable, measurable, and ad-supported.
How to Stay Visible in a Post-Search World
As AI rewires the architecture of discovery, brands need to rethink how they earn attention and drive engagement beyond traditional search and web advertising. The core challenge isn’t just visibility; it’s presence in a world where consumers are increasingly guided by synthesized answers, not exploratory browsing. To stay relevant, brands need to meet users before the query, embed themselves within the content natively, and create value.
This starts with a deepening focus on video, display, and rich media across channels that remain discoverable and immersive. The AI push will also encourage a new level-setting of where ad dollars should go – notably, traditional TV budgets will move to CTV, and web budgets will move to apps. This is important because these environments are increasingly critical touchpoints; they offer scale, targeting, and contextual engagement that isn’t constrained by search engine behavior. Additionally, these formats support high-impact creative that builds memory and drives action – essential qualities now as fewer brand moments are initiated by user queries these days…
From there, brands should explore new content strategies that help them appear in AI-curated environments. This means optimizing for large language models (LLMs) with structured content, FAQs, and authoritative information that’s more likely to be included in an AI platforms’ synthesized responses. Just as SEO once dictated formatting for search engines, AIO (AI Optimization) may soon shape how brands produce and distribute knowledge-based content.
Finally, testing emerging LLM-specific ad opportunities will be important. New formats are on the horizon, ranging from sponsored results within chat interfaces to branded native ads inside conversational flows. The industry should be anticipating more and more of these inventory options in the near-term. These placements promise high relevance and intent, but they’ll also be competitive and unfamiliar. Early experimentation can help brands understand what creative works, how measurement and attribution functions, and where these placements fit within a broader media mix.
Discovery may no longer start with a search box, but it’s far from dead. Brands that can anticipate where attention is going, and position themselves accordingly, will thrive in the next era of digital marketing.
©2025 DK New Media, LLC, All rights reserved | DisclosureOriginally Published on Martech Zone: Apple and Google Accelerate the Collapse of Open Web – What’s Next?