Hacker News
points by JumpCrisscross 13 hours ago | 0 comments
> search numbers are down

Source?

Google Search & other revenue grew 12% YoY in Q3 [1]. In that time paid clicks grew 8% and cost per click 4%.

Across the Google Network impressions fell 14%, with cost-per-impressions growing 14%. (9% of revenue.) But that’s on the web, not search.

[1] https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1652044/0001...

[–] keeda 13 hours ago
Yes but search growth has slowed and it’s making less money thanks to AI overviews. An exec called it out in the earnings call.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/google-admits-ai-sea...

I’ve been saying for a while that AI is going to be a bigger problem for Google than many realize: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47957708

[–] senordevnyc 13 hours ago
Search is not making less money, as the comment you're replying to just pointed out.
[–] keeda 12 hours ago
I should have been more precise, it depends on what you mean by "search" -- traditional search is still a huge cash cow, but AI search is not as lucrative, which is what the exec called out in that Ars link. The problem is that AI search is rapidly replacing traditional search.

Personally I have doubts that AI search would ever be as lucrative as traditional search, which I expanded on in that comment I linked.

[–] JumpCrisscross 12 hours ago
Schindler said, according to Ars’ source, that “each AI Mode query currently makes less than a traditional search,” coupling “that with the claim that monetization will improve over time” [1]. Ars speculated that the slowdown to double-digit growth is “driven by more consumers using AI chatbots to find answers.” But none of that says Google is losing its user base.

I use Kagi and am skeptical of the debt-fuelled AI build-out. But 12% growth amidst a strategic pivot is unabashed good news. The stock sank because of the capital expenditure, not this.

[1] https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/10/29/google-admits-its...

[–] keeda 8 hours ago
Right, I don't necessarily think Google will lose its userbase -- although ChatGPT and Claude and heck, even Muse, are formidable threats -- but I do think its ability to monetize each user will drop sharply as users shift to AI search.

Like, in the theorycrafting in my comment that I linked before, I didn't assume any change in userbase; just how lucrative (or not) each step in a chat-based journey could be versus a search-based one.

[–] spwa4 13 hours ago
Google has been trying to drop "Network" impressions (by moving them to Google owned properties) for close to two decades now.

The only revenue covered by Network is what it pays out to newspapers and other kinds of ad-supported websites.