Jason Howell on the AI Inside podcast had Nick Fox, VP of Search at Google, on a few weeks ago. In that interview, he said that the methodologies used by the click studies done on AI Overviews can be "questioned." He added, "from our point of view the web is thriving."
He cited what Google's CEO said about there being 45% more content on the web as supporting evidence to his point.
Fox went on to say it is "kind of reductionist analysis to say that the AI replaces the web." "It's unlikely that a single paragraph or a couple of paragraphs is going to replace a full, well-researched article on something, or you know, people like the experience of reading, you know," he added.
Then he goes on to echo more of what Pichai said and he said that Google thinks "this will be a hugely expansionary moment" in time for the web. He then said, the "death of the web has been coming for 25 years," "it's not happening," he added.
Here is this part of the video:
Even John Mueller echoed the statement of the "Web is thriving," on Bluesky:
Also, I love seeing so many new names & faces who are active in trying to figure these things out. And, of course, all of the long-time-SEOs too. Finding a balance is hard, there's so much hype, but seeing so many folks trying to make sites more visible in AI, it's clear that the web is thriving.
— John Mueller (@johnmu.com) June 19, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Again, why won't Google break it all out in Search Console and prove it?
Forum discussion at Bluesky.
