Is Google search going away? Not yet, but here's who still gets the click

Search "Ottawa seo" on a desktop and try to find the first regular website. It's so messy you don't know what's what. When I tried it from Gatineau on October 12, 2026, the first regular link sat 2,031 pixels down the page, almost two screen-heights below the search box.

This article covers:

• The worth-the-click test: five questions for pages people still click
• What sat above the first link on that search
• What Google has actually said, and what independent research shows
• A report card on six popular claims about the "death of search"
• What worries me about where this is going

Who this is for: business owners in Ottawa–Gatineau who see the clutter and wonder whether SEO still pays off.

What I saw on "Ottawa seo"

I searched "Ottawa seo" on October 12, 2026, signed out. Google set my location to Hull, Gatineau. Tested by us

From top to bottom, in a browser window 1,182 pixels tall:

1. Three sponsored ads.
2. A "Businesses" map box, topped by another sponsored listing.
3. An AI Overview. It ended by offering to "help you compare these agencies."
4. The first regular result, 2,031 pixels down the page, about 1.7 screen-heights. It wasn't an agency's website but a Facebook "answers" page.

The first page held 8 regular links in all, and three of them were Facebook pages (two with the same title). Two more sponsored ads sat at the bottom, from advertisers who had already appeared at the top. Tested by us

I'm not naming the businesses, because the point is the layout, not who's in it.

Your results will differ. Google changes results by location and over time. Try your own main search, signed out, and count how far you scroll before the first regular link.

The worth-the-click test

So what makes someone scroll past all that, or click a source in the AI answer? The page has to give them something the summary didn't. Google's own advice for its AI features points the same way: it values content with first-hand experience and a unique perspective. Confirmed–Google If you're writing a new page, the only-you test checks the same thing before you publish.

Run each of your main pages through these five questions. Every "no" is a reason for the reader to stay on the summary.

1. Does it have something a summary can't copy? A real price, photos of your work, a local rule, a result you measured. A summary can repeat general facts, but it can't show the kitchen you just finished in Kanata.
2. Does it teach the how? Steps, decisions and what to do when it goes wrong are exactly where research says summaries fall short (see why the summary isn't enough).
3. Can the reader act on it? Book, call, get a quote, use a calculator. Google's I/O 2026 announcement says Search now gathers pricing and availability "with direct links to finish booking through the provider of your choice," so make sure your page is a place they can finish. Confirmed–Google
4. Can the reader check it? Show your sources, dates and a named author, because a reader who isn't sure about a summary needs somewhere to verify it.
5. Can Google's AI use it at all? To be cited, a page must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet, and your site must be included in Search generative AI features in Search Console. Confirmed–Google More in How AI search picks its sources.

When this fails: for quick facts, such as opening hours or a definition, the summary often is the whole answer. Don't fight that. Put the effort into pages that help people do something. Our view

What Google has actually said

The loudest claim online is that Google has already switched to AI answers by default. Google's own words say otherwise, at least for now.

• AI Mode isn't the default search. At I/O in May 2026, Google made Gemini 3.5 Flash "the new default model in AI Mode for everyone globally." That's the model inside AI Mode, not the default search. The same post says "You'll continue to get a range of results from Search, just like you do today." Confirmed–Google
• A Chrome test was called an error. In June 2026, an experimental setting in a test version of Chrome could send address-bar searches straight to AI Mode. Rajan Patel, Google's VP of Engineering for Search, replied: "This was an error. We're not planning to make AI Mode the default for Chrome searches." Confirmed–Google
• The two AI features are merging. In July 2026, CEO Sundar Pichai said Google "brought together AI Overviews and AI Mode into one seamless Search experience." Confirmed–Google
• Google says it still sends traffic. Pichai said Google is "sending billions of clicks to websites every week through AI features in Search." Confirmed–Google
• The money still comes from search. In the same remarks, Google reported 17% revenue growth in "Search and Other." Confirmed–Google

That last point matters: Google earns its money on the results page, so it has little reason to rush the list of links away while that page keeps growing.

My read: the links aren't being deleted. They're being moved behind the answer. Our view

What independent research shows

Clicks drop when an AI summary appears. Pew Research Center tracked the real browsing of 900 U.S. adults in March 2025, across 68,879 searches. Confirmed–Industry

• With an AI summary on the page, people clicked a regular result in 8% of visits. Without one, 15%.
• People clicked a link inside the AI summary in about 1% of visits.
• People ended their browsing session on 26% of pages with a summary, versus 16% without.

Google disputes studies like this. Liz Reid, Google's head of Search, said in 2025 that total clicks from Search were "relatively stable" year over year, and called some third-party reports flawed. Google didn't publish the numbers behind that statement. Confirmed–Google

People try AI Mode, but few start there. Google says AI Mode passed one billion monthly users. Confirmed–Google Similarweb estimated AI Mode at only 0.34% of all Google searches from January to April 2026. It also estimated that AI Mode sent visitors to other websites on 1.6–2.5% of queries, against 17–19% for regular search. Confirmed–Industry That's a different measure from Pew's, so don't compare the two directly. Both things can be true: lots of people try AI Mode, and few use it as their starting point.

Google still owns search in Canada. Google had 85.3% of search engine use in Canada in September 2026, and Bing 10.1%. Confirmed–Industry People aren't leaving Google. Google is changing what they see.

What a forecaster expects. Search analyst Duane Forrester forecasts that Google's list of links stops being the first thing you see on most U.S. searches between 2028 and 2030. He expects the links to move one click away rather than disappear, with the UK and EU a year or more behind. He's clear that it's a forecast, and he discloses that his company sells AI visibility measurement. Confirmed–Industry

Canada has no opt-out. In June 2026, the UK's competition regulator ordered Google to let websites opt out of AI search features like AI Overviews and AI Mode, while staying in regular results. The changes phase in over the following months. Confirmed–Industry The European Commission opened an investigation into the same features in December 2025. Confirmed–Industry I found no Canadian rule like either one. The Competition Bureau's 2024 case against Google is about online advertising. Tested by us So Ottawa–Gatineau businesses get whatever Google rolls out, with no opt-out.

Report card: six claims about the "death of search"

Why the summary isn't enough

This is the part most "search is dying" articles skip: what happens to the person reading the answer.

In 2025, researchers Shiri Melumad (Wharton) and Jin Ho Yun ran seven experiments with 10,462 people, published in PNAS Nexus. People learned a topic, such as planting a vegetable garden, from either an AI summary or regular Google links. Confirmed–Industry

• People who learned from the AI summary reported shallower knowledge. That held even when the summary included live web links.
• The advice they then wrote was shorter, had fewer facts and looked more like everyone else's.
• In one experiment, 1,501 readers who didn't know where the advice came from rated the summary-based advice less helpful, less informative and less trustworthy.

The authors' explanation is that a summary does the work of finding and connecting sources for you, and that work is how people learn. In the journal's release, they say AI summaries may be less useful than web search when the goal is learning how to actually do things. Confirmed–Industry

A second study points the same way. Microsoft Research and Carnegie Mellon surveyed 319 knowledge workers. The more they trusted the AI, the less critical thinking they reported doing, and the more confident they were in their own skills, the more they did. It's a survey, so it shows a link, not a cause. Confirmed–Industry

What that means for your website: the summary gives people the gist, not the how. The how is where the click goes. Our view

What I'm seeing on my own site

WeddingVenuer.com is a Vancouver wedding venue site I built and run. It's not in Ottawa, but it's the site where I have the most AI search data so far. Its Search Console Generative AI report shows how often its pages appeared in Google's AI features: Tested by us

• 177 impressions from August 23 to October 10, 2026: 103 in September and 59 in the first ten days of October.
• 87% from Canada, and 101 on mobile, 75 on desktop and 1 on tablet.
• The top page was a single venue's page, with 79 impressions, followed by another venue page (20) and a guide to alcohol permits for weddings (18).

That's only impressions, since the export I downloaded has no click column, and it's too small to prove anything. But the pages that showed up are the specific ones: one venue's details, one provincial permit process. Our view

What worries me (my opinion)

This section is my opinion, not a finding. Our view

Google is spending heavily on AI, and I think it will keep moving the answer up and the links down. If people stop clicking, they stop comparing sources themselves. That leaves more people taking one answer as given, and more dependent on whoever controls it: the platform, the large businesses it cites, and government.

One small data point fits that worry without proving it. In the Pew study, government (.gov) sites made up 6% of the sources cited in AI summaries, versus 2% of regular results. Wikipedia, YouTube and Reddit were the most cited in both. Confirmed–Industry

The fix on our side is the same as the test above: build pages that help people think, check and do. That's good for readers, and it's what gets the click.

What I tell clients

“Rankings are still in play for now. Don't be surprised if they get replaced completely by AI answers in the future.”

In practice:

1. Keep doing SEO. Google says its AI features are rooted in its core ranking systems, so ranking is still how you get into the answer. Confirmed–Google See which ranking factors Google has confirmed.
2. Measure citations, not just clicks. Check Search Console's Generative AI report and Bing's AI Performance report every month. See Analytics for non-ecommerce websites. Martin Vassilev calls the gap between being cited and getting the visit the citation paradox.
3. Run the worth-the-click test on your five most important pages.
4. Make the map box work for you. On my "Ottawa seo" search it sat above every regular link. See the local SEO guide.

Next step

Search your own main service, signed out, and count how far you scroll before you find yourself. Step 4 of the keyword research guide shows what else to note on that page.

If you'd like a second pair of eyes, start with a free visibility audit. It shows where you appear in regular results and in AI answers.

About this page

Who: Written by Khalid Mohamed, founder of CapitalSEO. WeddingVenuer.com is my own site.
How: Written with AI assistance. Google's claims were checked against Google's own posts on October 12, 2026. Research figures were checked against the original studies. The "Ottawa seo" search was run signed out, from Gatineau, on October 12, 2026. Opinions are labelled "Our view."
Why: To give Ottawa–Gatineau owners a straight answer on where search is going, and what still works.
Last substantive update: October 12, 2026: first published.

Sources

• Google — A new era for AI Search (Liz Reid, May 19, 2026)
• Google — Q2 2026 earnings call: Remarks from our CEO (Sundar Pichai, July 22, 2026)
• Google — AI in Search is driving more queries and higher quality clicks (Liz Reid, August 6, 2025)
• Google Search Central — Optimizing your website for generative AI features (updated July 10, 2026)
• Rajan Patel on X, June 5, 2026, as reported by 9to5Google
• Pew Research Center — Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results (July 22, 2025)
• Similarweb — Zero-click marketing (June 10, 2026)
• StatCounter — Search engine market share, Canada (September 2026)
• Melumad, S. & Yun, J. H. — Experimental evidence of the effects of large language models versus web search on depth of learning, PNAS Nexus 4(10), October 2025; journal release via InfoDocket
• Lee, H.-P. et al. — The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking, CHI 2025
• UK Competition and Markets Authority — conduct requirement on Google Search, June 3, 2026, as reported by Search Engine Journal and Advanced Television
• European Commission — antitrust investigation into Google's use of online content for AI, December 9, 2025, as reported by The Current
• CBC — Competition Bureau says Google 'abused' its dominance of online ads (November 2024)
• Duane Forrester — The SERP stops being the default between 2028 and 2030 (October 11, 2026)