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January 25, 2025

Google vs. ChatGPT: Is Traditional Search Still Strong in 2025?

Cory Hedgepeth - Senior SEO Specialist

Cory Hedgepeth is 9Rooftops’ lead SEO strategist. He applies extensive expertise in search engine optimization and content marketing strategy to enhance digital visibility and engagement for brands. His vast background in data analysis and keen understanding of market trends helps brands drive sustainable growth.

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January 25, 2025

When ChatGPT launched, many considered it a potential “Google killer.” The prevailing belief was that Google Search and traditional search engines would become obsolete in the wake of a chatbot revolution.

However, as we discussed in our piece “How Google, OpenAI and Reddit Are Transforming Search,” it’s clear that while users enjoy chatbots like ChatGPT, they still rely heavily on traditional search engines that provide multiple source options.

One year ago, the question of whether ChatGPT could disrupt Google’s dominance was already being debated. In May 2024, Datos’ clickstream panel, analyzed by Sonata Insights, provided a looking glass into where this all may be headed:

• Google’s traffic unexpectedly grew by 1.4% from May 2023 to May 2024, despite the rising popularity of AI search tools. This ran counter to a lot of the original chatter placing Google’s search ecosystem on life support following ChatGPT’s launch. 
• Google users performed ~200 searches per month, while Perplexity.com users only conducted ~15 searches per month.
• Google’s combined desktop and mobile web traffic remained stable over the year.
• The average number of Google searches per desktop user increased by 10.4%, reaching 109.9 searches per month.
• Mobile web search users conducted 51 searches per month.
• Only 16.45% of traditional search engine users also used AI platforms.
• 99% of AI platform users continued to use traditional search engines.

At the time, Rand Fishkin broke down these insights using SparkToro, reinforcing that despite ChatGPT’s rising adoption, Google’s search volume was not shrinking.

And into 2025, Google’s dominance continues as the theme even in a far more robust AI search environment.

Google’s Search Dominance in 2025: The Data Continues the Story

Despite the hype around AI-powered search, Google remains the undisputed leader in online search traffic.

According to SEMrush’s January 2025 data, Google.com recorded 139.9 billion visits, a marginal 0.47% decrease from the previous period. This stability shows that, even with the rise of AI-driven tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity, users continue to favor Google’s vast index of information and diverse search results.

Yep, search result options matter.

Meanwhile, ChatGPT.com experienced 4.7 billion visits, marking a 2.41% increase, while Perplexity.com — an AI search engine aiming to disrupt Google — saw only 131.8K visits, with traffic declining 17.35%. These figures suggest that while AI chatbots are gaining traction, they are far from replacing Google’s dominance.

Why AI Chatbots Aren’t Replacing Google Search

Many users turn to AI models like ChatGPT for quick, conversational answers, but key limitations prevent them from fully replacing search engines:

• Lack of Source Variety – Google provides results from billions of indexed websites, while ChatGPT relies on its training data and selective sources. This is likely the biggest hurdle ChatGPT and other AI search environments face. The evidence is in the consistent updates within these interfaces that give more and more prominence to search results as sources. Eventually, the AI chatbot becomes, well, a search engine.
• Accuracy & Fact-Checking – AI-generated responses can sometimes hallucinate facts, making Google’s ability to cross-reference multiple sources more reliable.
• Search Intent Matters – For transactional or research-heavy queries, users prefer Google’s ability to compare multiple viewpoints, reviews and real-time updates.

Even Google itself is integrating AI-driven summaries into Search, but the core function of providing diverse and verifiable sources remains intact.

The Rise of AI Search: A Complement, Not a Replacement

While ChatGPT and Perplexity.com haven’t dethroned Google, AI-powered search tools are reshaping user behavior in some areas.

For a deeper dive into ChatGPT’s market share, user habits and the hurdles AI search faces in competing with Google, check out our latest analysis: Search in 2025: Can ChatGPT Compete with Google?.

Here’s a summary:

• Chatbots excel at quick answers – For fact-checking, summarization and conversational searches, AI tools provide an efficient alternative to traditional search.
• AI-powered search personalization – Some users turn to AI chatbots for more personalized responses, particularly for coding, writing and research assistance.
• The role of hybrid search – Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) and AI-assisted answers indicate a future where traditional search and AI tools coexist rather than compete.

How Marketers Can Adapt to the AI-Powered Search Landscape

For businesses and digital marketers, this evolving landscape presents both opportunities and challenges. The key is to optimize for both traditional and AI-driven search:

1. Create High-Quality, Authoritative Content – Google’s Helpful Content update prioritizes well-researched, human-written content over AI-generated fluff.
2. Leverage AI for Research & Insights – Tools like ChatGPT can aid in brainstorming and content structuring, but final content should still be human-optimized.
3. Optimize for Google’s AI-Powered Search (SGE) – Marketers should focus on structured data, FAQs and authoritative sources to appear in AI-generated overviews.
4. Monitor AI Trends & User Behavior – AI-powered tools are evolving, and staying updated on how search behavior shifts will be crucial in SEO strategy.

Google vs. ChatGPT: Traditional Search is Here to Stay

While the launch of ChatGPT generated a lot of hype and speculation that traditional search was dead, it overlooked the natural evolution of search itself. AI-powered chatbots introduce new ways to retrieve information, but they are not always the best fit for searchers who need multiple perspectives, verified sources or highly specific results.

Google’s Helpful Content Update reinforces this by prioritizing unique, high-quality content over automated, low-value iterations that often clutter search results. More recently, Google has shifted toward elevating user-generated content, such as discussions from Reddit, Quora and forums, recognizing that real-world experiences and diverse opinions enhance the search experience.

This shift highlights a key distinction between Google Search and AI chatbots. Google’s strength lies in aggregating a range of viewpoints, while AI-generated answers often reflect a single, synthesized response — even when citing multiple sources. This fundamental difference helps explain why traditional search remains dominant and why marketers should still prioritize visibility within Google’s ecosystem.

The key takeaway?

AI is transforming search, but it isn’t replacing it. Traditional search remains the foundation of how users find information, and adapting to this hybrid search landscape will be crucial for marketers moving forward.

Google vs. ChatGPT: Our Perspective

While the launch of ChatGPT generated a lot of hype and speculation that traditional search was dead, it overlooked the ongoing evolution of search, where chatbots may not always be the best fit.

Google’s Helpful Content update emphasizes unique, high-quality content over automated, low-value iterations that often clutter search results. Additionally, Google has recently updated its algorithm to give more prominence to user-generated content from platforms like Reddit and Quora. This marks a significant shift from Google’s long-standing emphasis on “credible” sources, allowing for a diversity of voices that may not always be verified experts.

This move toward user-generated content contrasts with the chatbot style, which can sometimes feel like a single source of information, even when citing sources.

For both SEO and Paid Media, this is a positive development. It underscores the continued importance of a search landscape familiar to marketers and clients.

Marketers should focus on strong content marketing efforts that reflect high quality, unique perspectives and expertise.