The Death of Search, The Birth of Discovery

There was a time when product discovery started with intent. You had a need or desire, typed it into a search bar, and hoped the algorithm rewarded your effort with something useful. Often what you got instead was a poor curation of SEO bait, recycled blog spam, and five "best of" listicles (a term I find more distracting than descriptive — let's save icles for ice) all jockeying for affiliate scraps.

You weren't discovering anything. You were tiptoeing through a minefield of disingenuous SEO strategery and algorithmic self-enrichment. Value creation was optional. Gaming the system was not.

Then things started to shift. You followed someone on Instagram, then TikTok, who had your taste. You bought one thing from one brand and suddenly the next appeared like they knew you and they kind of did. I mean, you were putting out a vibe.

Now? You're not searching. You're being profiled constantly. But you already knew that. Your preferences, purchases, scroll patterns, skipped ads, saved reels, values, budget, even your delivery expectations they're all forming a digital fingerprint clear enough to be lifted by data forensics, to segment you into an audience of algorithmic doppelgängers.

And in the not so distant future, your AI will do the research and shopping, not because you asked it to. But because it knows what you would've asked if you had the time or focus.

This won't be personalization, it will be preemption. This isn't UX, it's a new interface between desire and delivery.

Between 2023 and 2024, Google's global search share dropped below 90% for the first time in nearly a decade.

That's not a blip. That's a signal, or a plateau at least. A 1.5% loss, driven almost entirely by AI-led alternatives.

Let's be clear; Google has Gemini, which at moments outpaces every other LLM in depth and research fluency. On paper, they should have the upper hand. But they're also the incumbent. And the DNA of incumbents is often acquisition, not innovation. The DOJ isn't calling Google a monopoly of the ad tech market because they're masters of product innovation.

To be fair: Google might still win the product discovery race in the AI era. But even if they do, the how will look unrecognizable. UX, monetization, and interface will all be rebuilt.

Traditional search will die and likely a swifter death than is being anticipated.

For brands who leverage search for product discovery, that should both thrill you and scare you….