OPINION: The Shitification Of Google Search, And How To Take Advantage Of It

Written by Anthony Ferrier, Managing Director, Choir Digital

I recently read a fascinating article (The Man Who Killed Google Search) by Edward Zitron, focused on an ongoing question that Google has struggled with: When you own 95% of market share, how does an organisation drive growth?

The article goes into detail, but the ultimate answer to the question was that you make the product shittier. If users are locked into a monopoly, in the case of Google, you define growth by clicks / activity, then you just make it so that users need to take more clicks to find the answer they’re seeking.

And sure, short-term this approach can create enterprise (not customer) benefits, such as more site traffic, that leads to increased profits / margins from users. These profits become baked into analysis pricing of the stock, so you’re kind of locked into the new growth model.

But as per Clayton Christianson, this Innovators Dilemma can create a death spiral. The need to maintain short-term super profits, in this case through a crappy user experience, eventually creates an opening for a new competitors to emerge. These new organisations create an enhanced user-experience, while the incumbent is locked into their outdated business model, and ultimately destructive behaviours.

And I think we’ve all been seeing this through personal experience. When using Google recently I’ve noted that the organic search function is just not working that well anymore. I ask questions and it takes longer to find the result you’re seeking. Spend more than 1 minute on YouTube and you’ll face multiple ads.

So as a personal response, I am increasingly going to GenAI tools to ask questions. And I’m not alone, in March 2025 13.5% of search queries were happening through GenAI platforms, which is expected to meet organic search volumes in early-2028, according to a recent report by Semrush.

Based on these disruptive environments, practices to promote products and services through traditional search engines are becoming less relevant or impactful. That covers directly sponsored ads and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). In response, progressive marketing, digital and business unit leaders across organisations are starting to think about how they get their products and solutions to where their customers are increasingly doing search.

For now, within the LLM world, that attention shifts to GenEO (also called AiEO, AEO) efforts. Similar to SEO, GenEO seeks to get client’s product / services into the user summary answers, often by manipulating content to be better captured by the LLM platforms.

While SEO / GenEO concepts are similar, the actual insights, application and impact tracking are starkly different. GenEO is more complex to manage, less mature in responding products and many vendors in this space are tied to SEO business models (and the Google / Innovators Dilemma paradox), which influences their approach to this emerging opportunity.

At Choir Digital we are beta testing our new Echo offering, that helps client’s better position their products / services within LLM platform summaries. Our approach is built native to GenAI search, provides an Australian-context and we support the particular needs of your organisation.

As the organic search market evolves and shifts, it’s exciting to see new opportunities for value creation emerge. We’re ready to shape how Australian business leaders respond to the evolving environment. Exciting times ahead!

If interested in a conversation around practical steps to improve how your products / solutions appear in LLM summaries, give us a call.