The Future of Paid Search: From Keywords to Conversations 

Is Google dead? 

It’s a question we get asked all the time. With ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini grabbing headlines, you’d be forgiven for thinking the answer is yes. 

But here’s the reality: it’s not dead. It’s evolving. 

In our latest LinkedIn Live, Danny and Jaye broke down what we’re actually seeing behind the scenes and what it means for your marketing. 

The data tells a different story 

One of our retail fashion clients had six million sessions in Q4. How many came from ChatGPT? 877. That’s 0.01% of their traffic. 

And here’s the crux of the matter: 97-98% of ChatGPT users are also Google users. People aren’t abandoning one for the other. They’re using both for different things. 

So no, Google isn’t dying. But how people use it is changing fast. 

From short high intent to conversational searches 

This is the big shift. People aren’t just typing product searches anymore. They’re asking questions. Seeking inspiration. Having conversations. 

Instead of “flights to the canaries”, they’re searching “where is hot in April for a holiday?” 

Instead of “best pillows”, they’re asking “best pillows for neck pain.” 

Google knows this. That’s why they’ve been pushing broad match so aggressively for the last three years. 15% of daily searches on Google are still brand-new queries that have never been searched before. 

If your account is still built around tight keyword matching from two years ago, you’re probably missing out. 

What this means for advertisers 

AI overviews are here and ads appear both above and below them – perhaps soon within them! Google isn’t going to let 98% of their revenue disappear. They’ll find ways to monetise these new search behaviours. 

The messy middle is getting messier – Google’s research shows over 500 touchpoints in a typical customer journey. Add in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, TikTok… and it’s only getting more complex. 

90-95% of your market isn’t ready to buy yet – If you’re only running bottom-funnel campaigns focused on ROAS, you’re missing the people who haven’t even decided they need your product. Brand awareness isn’t a nice-to-have anymore. 

What to do about it? 

We covered four practical actions in the session: 

1. Audit your foundations – Is your account too big for your budget? Too many keywords that never trigger? Built for a world that doesn’t exist anymore? 
    

2. Test AI Max – It’s a checkbox in Google Ads. Turn it on. See what happens. Understand what new search terms you’re appearing for. 
    

3. Get your data clean – Bad data is bad everything. If you can’t trust your measurement, you can’t make good decisions. Server-side tracking can increase your visibility by 20%+. 
    

4. Creative testing – The more creative you can feed the platforms, the better they perform. Meta’s AI tools can help you scale without the cost of traditional production. 

What’s coming next 

• ChatGPT and Perplexity are launching ads (already live in the US) 

• Apple is partnering with Google Gemini to power Siri 

• Meta now lets people pay to avoid ads entirely 

The landscape is shifting. But the fundamentals haven’t changed: understand your customer’s journey, be there when they’re ready, and make sure your data tells you what’s actually working. 

Watch the full session here.