SEO Dependent Companies in the age of AI
Google Search Engine (Search Engine Optimization (SEO)) over the last two decades has become a core source of customers for many online-first companies. The new AI tools are changing the way people acquire new information - more people head to ChatGPT to find answers than just Google. In a recent court case an Apple executive said that Google searches in Safari, the iPhone maker’s browser, had recently fallen for the first time in two decades!
Look at the chart below and see how Business Insider traffic declined by half since 2022!
News publishers heavily rely on SEO—often 25–45% of site traffic, which fuels subscriptions and ad income.
NYT gets ~36% of traffic from SEO;
WSJ gets ~24%
Travel platforms like Tripadvisor (TRIP) derive majority traffic (~58%) from search, and others have reported steep declines. Travel companies face significant disruption as AI becomes more integrated into smartphones and could reduce reliance on conventional travel apps but they are likely to less impacted as they still collect commissions on sales irrespective of how the tickets get booked. Nevertheless, worth to monitor:
Booking Holdings (BKNG)
Expedia Group (EXPE)
E‑commerce and digital businesses typically see 30–40% revenue driven by organic search.
High ROI in SEO-focused sectors (real estate, finance, B2B SaaS) highlight its long-term value—earning 7× to 14× returns on investment.
Change Will Be Fast!
Gartner predicts search engine traffic will drop 25% by 2026 and potentially 50% by 2028 as consumers embrace AI-powered search alternatives1. Current LLM traffic represents only 0.25% of total traffic but could reach 10% by the end of 2025 if growth rates continue. Educational company Chegg has already saw it first hand.
Many Sectors Rely on Google SEO traffic
Digital Media & Content Publishers
Affiliate & Review Platforms
These companies rank for high-intent keywords to monetize via affiliate links or ads.
E-commerce / Marketplaces
These companies use SEO to rank long-tail product pages.
Chegg (CHGG) represents the most dramatic example of AI impact:
Stock has declined over 95% from its peak, now worth less than $200 million
Non-subscriber traffic plummeted 49% in January 2025 compared to 2024
Recently laid off 22% of workforce (248 employees) and closed US/Canada offices
But it looks like we are too late to this story as share price is already at $1.50.
Pintrest (PINS) should be on this list as well. 18% of Pintrest traffic comes from Google referrals and 35% from all organic searches. However, J.P. Morgan’s Doug Anmuth upgraded Pinterest from Neutral to Overweight and raised his target to $40, citing strong monetization, AI ad tech (Performance+), and insulation from Google search disruptions. “Importantly, we believe PINS is leveraging its full funnel ad approach and automation/AI capabilities—including Performance+—to capture a greater share of ad spending among the next tranche of advertisers,” Anmuth wrote. Performance+ is a Pinterest artificial-intelligence tool that helps advertisers with their campaigns.
Anmuth also likes Pinterest because he believes it is well protected from a potential loss of search traffic as Alphabet Google changes its own business model in response to the advent of artificial intelligence.
As people who once would have used Google turn to platforms such as ChatGPT for search, Google has introduced its own AI tools, such as Google Overviews and AI Mode, to compete. That has reduced the need for some users to click on links to get answers to queries, a problem for companies such as Reddit that rely on Google users.
Anmuth believes Pinterest is different. “85% of MAUs [monthly active users] come directly to the PINS mobile app & 90%+ of PINS revenue is generated from the mobile app, which limits PINS’ exposure to Google & broader overall search disruption,” he wrote.
Reddit on the other hand might be more impacted by the search engine changes.
Reddit may mitigate this by:
Increasing data licensing revenue (AI models, financial firms)
Enhancing native engagement via its mobile app
Growing first-party ad tools (like Reddit Ads)
SaaS & Tech Tools (Inbound SEO)
SEO content is used as a lead generation engine.
I don’t see clear targets for a short play here as the first AI victims have already been hit (Chegg and BuzzFeed) but it will be worth to monitor the space