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AI Agents vs Google SERP: How the New Search Wars Will Reshape SEO, Ads & Growth in Wollongong
The AI vs Google search wars describe a structural shift in how customers discover local businesses, where ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and Meta AI now collectively influence purchase decisions that Google search once owned exclusively. For Wollongong businesses, this isn't abstract: it changes how a Sydney family researches a South Coast weekend, how locals find a Thirroul café and how a tradie chooses a supplier — with Gartner forecasting a 25% drop in traditional search engine volume by 2026.
Something's shifted. Over the last eighteen months, the way people search has quietly changed under our feet. Your customers aren't just "Googling it" anymore — they're asking ChatGPT for recommendations, letting Copilot do the heavy lifting or trusting Meta AI in Instagram and WhatsApp to suggest where to eat, what to buy and who to book with.
For businesses here in Wollongong and across the Illawarra, this isn't some abstract tech trend playing out in Silicon Valley — it's a whole new Digital Strategy. This is about how a family from Sydney researches their South Coast weekend escape, how locals discover that new café tucked away in Thirroul and how a tradie chooses their next supplier. The rules of discovery have changed, and in this article I want to walk you through what's actually happening — and more importantly, where the most strategic opportunities now sit for your brand, product, e-commerce store or tourism experience.
From Search Engines to AI Agents: What's Actually Changing?
Traditional search was beautifully simple: type keywords, scan ten blue links, click through to websites. AI agents have flipped that entire model. Instead of "search → click → compare", we're now seeing "ask → decide". The agent does the comparing for you.
Gartner forecasts that by 2026, traditional search engine volume will drop by around 25%, with search marketing losing ground to AI chatbots and virtual agents such as ChatGPT and Claude. And here's the kicker: nearly 60% of Google searches already end without a click, as users get what they need directly from AI-powered panels, featured snippets and local packs.
- 60% of Google searches now end without a single click to a website
- 13–16% of searches show Google's AI Overviews (climbing to 50%+ as AI Mode rolls out)
- 25% projected drop in traditional search engine volume by 2026
- AI-generated overviews capture the majority of user attention at the top of results pages
- AI SEO emerging as the discipline that teaches AI agents to choose your brand
Meanwhile, Google's own AI Overviews are steadily taking over the prime real estate at the top of results pages. UX research from the Nielsen Norman Group confirms what many of us are already seeing in our analytics: AI-generated overviews at the top of Google results capture a large share of user attention, often satisfying the query without a single click to your site.
This isn't just Google "getting smarter". Search is gradually becoming an AI-mediated layer sitting between your content and your customers. Leading SEOs like Marie Haynes are openly saying the era of optimising purely to be "one of the ten blue links" is over. What's emerging is a broader practice — AI SEO — which folds in answer-engine, generative-engine and large-language-model visibility as sub-disciplines. In plain terms: teaching and feeding AI agents so they choose your brand when they act on a user's behalf.
The Five Major AI Agents Competing with (and Inside) Google
Understanding the battlefield: who's capturing search queries and how they're being used
Important context: Despite all the headlines, AI tools still account for a tiny fraction of total search volume. SparkToro's analysis shows that Google processed over 5 trillion searches in 2024 — more than 14 billion per day — while ChatGPT handled at most ~37.5 million search-like prompts daily. That puts all AI tools combined at under 2% of query volume.
But here's what matters: the type of queries shifting to AI are the ones Wollongong businesses care about most — high-intent research, product comparisons, booking decisions.
ChatGPT (OpenAI)
OpenAI has transformed from a developer tools company into a consumer search gateway. By early 2025, ChatGPT was serving around 400 million weekly active users, with later estimates placing weekly usage closer to 700–800 million as 2025 progressed.
OpenAI's research shows "hundreds of millions" of people now use ChatGPT to find, understand and compare products. They've launched a dedicated shopping research experience that builds personalised buyer's guides from across the web.
Consumer surveys reveal that nearly 60% of Americans already use generative-AI tools for online shopping; among them, 65% prefer ChatGPT, and 1 in 4 say its product recommendations beat Google's. Analysts reviewing billions of ChatGPT messages have found that a "huge chunk" of usage is now product-advice-oriented — gift ideas, "what should I buy" prompts, side-by-side comparisons and budget-based shortlists. Exactly where Google Shopping and traditional SEO used to dominate.
Wollongong impact: High-intent product research and comparison queries ("best surf shop Wollongong", "where to stay South Coast with kids") are shifting to ChatGPT conversations before users ever open Google.
Google Gemini, AI Mode & AI Overviews
Google still holds over 90% of global search share, and total search volume actually grew by ~21.6% in 2024. Rather than being disrupted from the outside, Google is internalising AI by folding Gemini and AI Overviews directly into Search.
UX research shows many users now encounter AI Overviews as their first point of contact on a results page, particularly for "what" and "how" style questions. Data from SEO platforms suggests AI Overviews appear in at least 13–16% of desktop queries globally, with some tracking showing they now appear in more than half of all searches as AI Mode rolls out more widely.
In practice, Google is both the incumbent search engine and one of the biggest AI agents, deciding which brands get quoted, cited or quietly ignored before a user ever sees the organic results beneath.
Strategic insight: You're not competing against Google's AI — you're optimising to be chosen by it. Featured snippets, schema markup and E-E-A-T signals determine whether you're cited in the AI Overview or buried below it.
Microsoft Copilot (Bing + Edge)
Bing remains a distant second to Google globally, but it's become the backbone for Microsoft Copilot across Windows, Edge and Microsoft 365. By 2024, Edge users had conducted over 10 billion AI-powered chats with Copilot in the browser, and around 140 million people were using Bing for searches each day.
On desktop, Bing's share has risen to roughly 9–12% across markets, with StatCounter showing Google dropping to around 79–83% as Bing's combination of AI chat and traditional results slowly gains ground.
For work-related searches — the kind that drive B2B pipelines and service contracts — Copilot is increasingly becoming the front door.
B2B opportunity: Professional services, trade suppliers and B2B businesses should optimise for Copilot visibility — it's embedded in the tools decision-makers use daily (Outlook, Teams, Office).
Perplexity AI
Perplexity brands itself as an "answer engine" that blends web search with conversational responses. Traffic analyses show Perplexity now commands over 60% of the AI research-tool category, serving more than 100 million search queries per week and over 1 billion queries in 2024.
Recent stats suggest it processes over 435 million search queries per month, with roughly 170 million monthly visits and a growing 6.6% share of the AI search market.
In SE Ranking's AI traffic study, Perplexity drives around 15% of AI-driven clicks globally and nearly 20% in the US, with referred users spending over nine minutes on destination sites — a strong signal that when Perplexity sends someone your way, they're genuinely engaged.
Content opportunity: For research-heavy decisions — business software, high-ticket products, travel itineraries — Perplexity is rapidly becoming the tool of choice. Deep, well-cited content performs best.
Meta AI (Inside Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp)
Meta's quietly building what may become the world's most-used AI assistant simply by wiring Meta AI into the apps billions of people already open every day. At Meta Connect 2024, the company framed Meta AI as "on track to become the world's most-used AI assistant", citing around 400 million monthly users and rapid growth as it rolled out globally.
By late 2024, Meta executives were pointing to hundreds of millions of monthly active users, with later commentary placing Meta AI near 600 million monthly active users as adoption accelerated across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp.
For local discovery — "best burgers near me", "family-friendly things to do this weekend", "which wetsuit should I buy for surfing at Thirroul?" — Meta AI is perfectly positioned to answer inside the feeds and chats people already trust. Combined with Meta's generative-AI ad tools (which are already delivering double-digit lifts in CTR and conversion), it represents a powerful "closed loop" alternative to traditional search.
Local discovery advantage: Wollongong hospitality, retail and tourism businesses should optimise their Facebook and Instagram presence for Meta AI — it's where local "what should I do/eat/buy" queries are increasingly happening.
Alongside these five, tools like Anthropic's Claude — now with live web search and deep agentic capabilities — and specialist answer engines continue to mature. But for most Wollongong businesses, the practical reality is this: your customers will increasingly bounce between Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot and Meta AI as they move towards a decision.
What This Means for SEO in Wollongong & the Illawarra
1. SEO No Longer Stops at Google's Ten Blue Links
With zero-click searches hovering near 60% and AI Overviews lifting more answers into Google's own real estate, relying solely on ranking "somewhere on page one" is no longer a defensible strategy.
The response is a broader practice — AI SEO — that extends traditional search optimisation to earn visibility inside AI-powered answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini and Meta AI. Answer-engine optimisation, generative-engine optimisation and large-language-model optimisation all sit inside that single practice as sub-disciplines. The goal: citations and named mentions inside AI answers, not just positions in link lists.
Research suggests that by 2026, around 25% of organic traffic will have shifted from traditional search engines to AI chatbots and virtual agents, making "search everywhere" optimisation a necessity rather than a nice-to-have. For a Wollongong café, physio clinic or tourism operator, that means visibility in AI answers will directly shape bookings — not just vanity traffic graphs.
2. Content Must Be AI-Readable, Not Just Keyword-Optimised
AI agents don't "see" your website the way humans do. They parse structure, schema, headings and concise Q&A-style content, then synthesise it alongside dozens of other sources. Brands that win citations tend to share three traits: clear information architecture, structured data and content that answers questions directly.
- Use question-based headings: "How long is the coastal walk from Wollongong to Port Kembla?" rather than vague labels
- Provide 40–60-word direct answers immediately under key headings — perfect for AI snippets and featured snippets alike
- Implement rich schema markup (FAQPage, LocalBusiness, Product, HowTo) so AI crawlers can reliably interpret your pages
- Keep core content fresh: update rather than endlessly add; AI systems strongly favour content that's recently refreshed and well maintained
- Make your site technically clean: fast on mobile, secure and indexable by AI crawlers (don't accidentally block bots like OpenAI's OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt)
- Clarify entities: consistent naming, addresses, opening hours and descriptions across your site and listings so agents can confidently match you to a query
3. E-E-A-T and Local Authority Decide Who AI Agents Trust
As AI floods the web with synthetic content, major search engines are doubling down on E-E-A-T — Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness — particularly first-hand, location-specific experience.
Australian agencies monitoring AI search performance are finding that vague, padded copy is routinely ignored by AI agents, while detailed, insight-rich content is far more likely to be quoted accurately.
For Creative Orbit clients, this plays directly to our strengths. Original photography, local case studies and authentic guides about the Illawarra do more than impress human visitors — they create the "evidence" AI models look for when deciding which operator to surface for "weekend escape near Wollongong" or "best beginner surf lessons on the South Coast".
4. Local SEO (MEO) Remains a Defensive Moat — For Now
While AI agents are siphoning off informational queries, local and map-based intent is proving more resilient. Google Business Profiles, Apple Maps and review ecosystems like TripAdvisor and Booking.com still anchor many travel and "near me" decisions.
The catch? AI agents increasingly read, summarise and cross-check those same sources. A Wollongong restaurant with inconsistent NAP data, thin descriptions and a handful of lukewarm reviews might still appear on a map — but it's far less likely to be chosen as the single recommended option in an AI conversation.
Strengthening local SEO (MEO) — accurate listings, review velocity, local citations — does double duty: it protects current search visibility and feeds cleaner, more authoritative signals into the AI layer on top.
How Paid Search & Paid Media Are Changing in an AI-Agent World
1. Google Ads Are Moving Inside AI Summaries
Google's already started testing ads inside AI Overviews and its AI Mode interface, effectively shifting from "ads beside results" towards "ads inside the answer". As this format matures, expect:
- Fewer visible ad slots per query but much higher competition for them
- More emphasis on structured product feeds, merchant quality scores and on-page clarity to qualify for inclusion
- Creative that reads like helpful guidance, not a hard sell, to blend with AI-generated copy
For Illawarra businesses, this makes tight targeting and clean product data essential. Sloppy product feeds or generic landing pages will struggle to earn a place inside AI-native ad formats.
2. New Paid Surfaces: Conversational Ads & Product Placements
As ChatGPT and Perplexity become shopping companions, new ad products are emerging that feel more like "recommended options" than traditional banners or text ads. OpenAI's shopping research experience already pulls from affiliate and merchant feeds to suggest products, with further monetisation — including native product placements and sponsored comparisons — widely expected.
On the social side, Meta's generative-AI ad tools are already at scale. In one recent update, Meta reported that more than a million advertisers used its gen-AI features in a single month, generating over 15 million ads and achieving an 11% higher click-through rate and a 7.6% increase in conversion rates compared to traditional campaigns.
The practical takeaway: for e-commerce and tourism brands, it's becoming just as essential to be "presentable" to AI agents via high-quality feeds, structured descriptions and consistent product data as it is to bid on the right keyword today.
3. Measurement Will Shift from Clicks to Assisted Influence
Measuring performance in this environment is harder. Unlike Google Search Console, there's no universal free dashboard that shows how often ChatGPT or Perplexity cites your brand. Early research suggests that traffic from AI chatbots is often more engaged — with longer sessions and more page views — than conventional organic traffic. However, the volumes are still modest compared to Google's.
Over the next 12–24 months, expect:
- More modelled attribution — AI touchpoints appear as "referral" or "direct" but clearly influence downstream conversions
- Specialist AI SEO tracking tools that log citations across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot for key question sets
- New reporting KPIs such as "AI citation share" alongside classic rankings and click-through rates
For a local tourism operator or retailer, the goal shifts from maximising sessions to maximising influence at the moments when AI agents are shortlisting options for the user.
Opportunities for Your Business: Brand, Product, E-Commerce & Tourism
Different sectors across Wollongong and the Illawarra will feel this shift in various ways
Local Brands & Service Businesses
For professionals — from tradies to health services and creative studios — AI agents will increasingly act as "shortlisting assistants" when locals ask for recommendations.
Strategic Actions:
- Turn your FAQs into AI-ready Q&A hubs: build detailed, conversational FAQ sections that directly answer the questions clients actually ask on the phone or at the counter
- Strengthen your local entity profile: ensure consistent business names, addresses and categories across Google Business Profile, Apple Maps, Facebook, Instagram and major directories
- Show real-world outcomes: case studies with photos, before/after stories and local landmarks (for example, "project in Figtree") give AI models concrete, location-tied evidence to work with
- Encourage review depth, not just stars: rich, specific reviews help AI understand what you're genuinely good at, which matters when it has to pick one or two options to recommend
E-Commerce & Product Businesses
AI-mediated shopping is already here. ChatGPT and Perplexity are increasingly where people start when they feel overwhelmed by choice — from surf gear to homewares.
Strategic Actions:
- Product feeds that read like buying guides: clean titles, rich attributes (materials, fit, use cases) and concise benefits give AI more to work with than bare-bones catalogue data
- Collections built around intents: pages like "Cold-water surf essentials for Wollongong winter" or "Gifts under $100 for South Coast foodies" map directly to how users phrase AI prompts
- Structured comparison content: side-by-side comparisons (boards, bikes, cameras) with clear pros/cons tables are ideal source material for AI agents summarising options
- Experiment with AI-native ad formats: early testing in Meta's generative ads and, as they open up, ChatGPT shopping placements will let you buy your way into AI shortlists while the competition's still asleep
Tourism, Hospitality & Experience-Led Brands
Travel, hospitality and regional tourism are among the first categories where people are turning to AI for end-to-end trip planning — from "plan me a 3-day South Coast road trip" to "where should we stay near Wollongong with kids and ocean views?".
Strategic Actions:
- Destination content with narrative, not generic copy: rich, evocative storytelling about local experiences (sunrise at Sandon Point, cycling around Lake Illawarra) creates quotable material for AI trip builders
- Itinerary-friendly formats: 1-, 3- and 5-day itineraries, seasonal guides and "if you only have one day" articles map neatly to the structures that AI agents tend to produce
- Structured listings for rooms, tours and packages: clear inclusions, durations, age suitability and accessibility notes make it easier for AI to match your experience to a specific traveller profile
- Leverage UGC and partnerships: being mentioned consistently in local blogs, council tourism pages and operator networks increases your chances of being cited in AI-generated overviews
B2B & High-Consideration Services
For B2B services — from engineering consultancies to specialist digital work — AI agents are rapidly becoming "research analysts" for decision-makers, pre-sorting vendors and approaches before contact is ever made.
Strategic Actions:
- Deep, evidence-backed thought leadership: original research, data-driven case studies and technical guides are far more likely to be referenced by AI than shallow listicles
- Clarity about who you serve: sector-specific pages ("Digital strategy for regional tourism operators", "SEO for Illawarra manufacturers") help AI agents align you with niche queries
- Make RFP-style answers public: FAQs and "how we work" content modelled on proposal questions give AI more explicit material when summarising your capabilities
- Ensure you're discoverable in professional ecosystems: LinkedIn, industry associations and government procurement directories all feed signals into AI systems that map the B2B landscape
An AI-First Search Roadmap for Wollongong Businesses
The good news? You don't need to throw out everything that already works. You need to extend your strategy from "rank in Google" to "be the obvious choice for both humans and AI agents".
Step 1: Audit Where You Stand (4–6 Weeks)
- Review organic, local and paid performance across Google and Bing, with a focus on zero-click queries and AI Overview exposure
- Test your brand and priority topics in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and Meta AI — document where you are and aren't mentioned
- Assess content quality and structure against AI SEO best practice: question-based headings, concise answers, schema coverage
Step 2: Make Your Site "AI-Citation Ready" (6–12 Weeks)
- Restructure key pages around explicit intents and Q&A sections, especially for high-value queries (bookings, enquiries, product decisions)
- Implement or upgrade schema markup across products, services, FAQs, events and locations
- Refresh cornerstone content with stronger E-E-A-T signals: author bios, local proof points, original photography and data
Step 3: Expand into AI-Native Channels (Ongoing)
- Pilot campaigns in AI-augmented ad formats (Meta's generative creative, Google's Performance Max with AI-ready assets, emerging ChatGPT shopping placements)
- Build "search everywhere" content that plays well across Google, social search (TikTok, Instagram) and AI answer engines
- Introduce lightweight AI SEO tracking — scheduled tests of priority prompts, logging citations and refining content based on what AI actually uses
This isn't about chasing every shiny tool. It's about accepting that by 2026, AI agents will quietly handle a significant slice of discovery and decision-making — and positioning your Wollongong or Illawarra business so that when those agents act, they act in your favour.
Bringing It Home for Wollongong
Having worked across web, SEO, tourism and digital in regional NSW for well over a decade, the patterns are familiar: the businesses that move early on fundamental shifts — mobile, local, now AI-mediated search — bank the advantage while everyone else scrambles to catch up a year or two later.
AI agents aren't just a curiosity; they're becoming the quiet gatekeepers of attention. For Creative Orbit's clients in Wollongong and across the Illawarra, the opportunity is to meet this shift head-on: with content that feels human, data and structure that make sense to machines, and campaigns that recognise search now happens in browsers, chats, feeds and voice — often all in the same customer journey.
If you'd like to map out what this looks like for your specific mix of brand, product, e-commerce or tourism experiences, we can translate these global trends into a grounded, Illawarra-first plan — and start teaching the next generation of AI agents to recognise you as the natural choice.
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Show All References & Research Sources
- Will traffic from search engines fall 25% by 2026? — Search Engine Land
- Will Search Engine Traffic Really Drop 25% by 2026, As Gartner Predicts? — Alex Kantrowitz
- Will Search Engine Traffic Really Drop 25% by 2026, As Gartner Predicts? — Big Technology
- Is the Era of Search Engines Coming to an End? — CMSWire
- 2024 Zero-Click Search Study — SparkToro
- Nearly 60% of Google searches end without a click in 2024 — Search Engine Land
- Nearly 60% of searches on Google are zero-click — Wordtracker
- Understanding Zero Clicks: Insights from the 2024 Research — Alpha SEO Pros
- AI Agents Are Coming For You & What To Do Now — Search Engine Journal
- How AI Is Changing Search Behaviours — Nielsen Norman Group
- What Is Answer Engine Optimisation? — SEO.com
- Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) — Arcadian Digital
- The new rules of search: How AI is reshaping SEO — ADMA
- AI Agents and Search: The Battle for Brand Visibility — Aceik
- AI For SEO (AIO, AEO & GEO) — Sonar Group
- Google's AI Search Shift: What Businesses Need to Know — Arcadian Digital
- Google's AI Overview Statistics (2025) — SellersCommerce
- Google's AI Overviews Surpass 50% of Queries — Xponent21
- Google Search Grew 20%+ in 2024; Receives 373x More Searches Than ChatGPT — SparkToro
- OpenAI now serves 400M users every week — TechCrunch
- OpenAI tops 400 million users despite DeepSeek's emergence — CNBC
- Number of ChatGPT Users — Exploding Topics
- Introducing shopping research in ChatGPT — OpenAI