Google Search Is Changing: What Should Businesses Do With Their Marketing Budget?

If you are setting your 2027 marketing budget this autumn, the search landscape you are planning for is not the one you planned for two years ago. Google now answers many questions itself, a growing share of buyers ask ChatGPT before they ever reach a search results page, and the clicks that remain cost more to win. This article looks at what has actually changed, what it means commercially, and how UK businesses should think about the split between SEO, PPC, AI search, paid social and conversion rate optimisation.

The short answer

Most businesses do not need to abandon any channel. They do need to stop funding channels on last year's assumptions. In practice that usually means protecting high-intent paid search, moving SEO spend away from broad informational content and towards pages that win commercial queries and AI citations, ring-fencing a modest budget for AI search visibility, using paid social to create demand rather than just harvest it, and putting more money into conversion rate optimisation so every visit is worth more.

What has actually changed in Google Search?

AI Overviews now sit above a large share of searches

Ofcom's Online Nation 2025 report, drawing on YouGov data, found that around 30% of UK Google searches now show an AI Overview. Ofcom's latest Adults' Media Use and Attitudes research reports that 54% of UK adults used a generative AI tool in 2025, up from 31% a year earlier.

Fewer clicks reach websites from informational queries

The evidence on clicks is consistent in direction, if not in size. Ahrefs' February 2026 study of 300,000 keywords found that when an AI Overview appears, the top-ranking page gets a 58% lower average click-through rate. Pew Research Center found users clicked a result 8% of the time when an AI summary appeared, compared with 15% when one did not.

There is a caveat worth knowing. Seer Interactive's April 2026 update found that the decline in click-through rates on AI Overview queries levelled off in early 2026, rather than continuing as its own model had predicted. Clicks have not returned to pre-AI levels, but the picture is stabilising rather than collapsing.

Paid clicks are not getting cheaper

WordStream's 2026 benchmarks, based on more than 13,000 US search campaigns, put the average cost per click at $5.42, up from $5.26 the year before. That is a far smaller rise than the 12% increase it reported in 2025, but costs are still moving one way. UK figures vary by sector, and your own account data matters more than any average.

Budgets are holding up, but scrutiny is rising

The IPA Bellwether Report for Q2 2026 found a net balance of +6.9% of UK companies revising marketing budgets upwards, the second-highest level in two years. The same report showed confidence in companies' own financial prospects turning negative. In other words, budgets are there, but finance teams will want clearer proof of return.

What does this mean commercially?

The key shift is that visibility and traffic are no longer the same thing. A business can be seen, summarised and even recommended without receiving a click. That changes three things for budget holders:

• Traffic is a weaker success measure. Falling organic sessions may reflect AI answers absorbing research-stage queries, not lost demand. Judge SEO on leads, revenue and commercial query visibility instead.
• The visits you do get are worth more. People who click through after reading an AI summary have often already done their research. Your landing pages need to convert them.
• Brand matters more in the shortlist. AI tools tend to recommend businesses that are well described and consistently mentioned across the web. Businesses that are hard to understand are easy to leave out.

Should you rethink your split across SEO, PPC, AI search, paid social and CRO?

Yes, but reallocate with evidence rather than panic. Here is how we suggest thinking about each channel for 2027.

SEO: fewer, better pages aimed at buying decisions

Informational blog content written mainly to attract clicks is the part of SEO most exposed to AI Overviews. Commercial and transactional pages, such as service pages, product categories, pricing and comparisons, remain far less affected and still drive enquiries. SEO budgets should shift towards technical health, strong commercial pages, structured data and content that demonstrates genuine expertise, which is also what AI systems draw on when deciding what to cite.

PPC: protect high intent, cut the rest

When organic clicks shrink on a query, paid search often becomes the most reliable way to appear for it. That does not justify spending more everywhere. Review search terms, exclude research-stage queries that rarely convert, and concentrate budget on the terms and audiences with proven cost per acquisition. Check how your ads perform on searches that also show AI Overviews, as click behaviour on those pages differs. If you are unsure where budget is being wasted, a free PPC audit is a sensible starting point before you set 2027 figures.

AI search and GEO: a ring-fenced test budget

Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is the work of making your business easier for AI tools to understand, trust and recommend. Much of it overlaps with good SEO, but it also covers how your brand is described on third-party sites, reviews, directories and industry publications. For most businesses in 2027, this is best treated as a defined line in the budget with clear measures: whether you are mentioned for your key prompts, what is said about you, and whether AI referrals turn into enquiries. Our AI SEO service covers this in more detail.

Paid social: create demand before people search

If buyers are forming shortlists inside AI tools, being known before they start searching matters more. Paid social, particularly LinkedIn for B2B and Meta for consumer brands, builds the familiarity that makes people search for you by name, and branded searches are where you are least likely to lose the click. Judge it on reach within your target audience, branded search growth and assisted conversions, not just last-click leads.

CRO: the channel that makes every other channel cheaper

If traffic becomes harder and more expensive to win, improving the rate at which it converts is often the highest-return investment available. A landing page that moves from a 2% to a 3% conversion rate delivers 50% more leads from the same spend. Conversion rate optimisation is frequently underfunded because it does not generate traffic of its own, yet it improves the return on everything else.

A practical way to set your 2027 budget

There is no universal percentage split that suits every business. Your sector, sales cycle, average order value and current performance matter more than any template. Instead, work through these steps:

1. Check your measurement first. Make sure conversions are tracked properly in GA4 and your CRM, and separate AI assistant referrals from other traffic. Without this, you are reallocating blind. We cover this in our analytics and tracking work.
2. Split your search terms by intent. Identify which organic queries now show AI Overviews and whether they ever produced leads. Stop paying to chase traffic that never converted.
3. Find your cost per acquisition by channel. Compare channels on cost per qualified lead or sale, not clicks or sessions.
4. Protect what already works. Keep high-intent PPC and commercial SEO pages funded while you test newer areas.
5. Ring-fence a test budget. Set aside a defined amount for AI search visibility and demand-creation activity, with success measures agreed in advance.
6. Fund conversion improvements. Allocate budget to landing page testing and user experience fixes on your highest-traffic commercial pages.
7. Review quarterly, not annually. Search is changing too quickly for a fixed annual split. Build in quarterly reviews so you can move money towards what is working.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Cutting SEO because traffic has fallen. Check whether leads have fallen too. Often they have not.
• Moving all organic budget into PPC. Paid search gets more expensive the more you depend on it, and it stops the moment you stop paying.
• Buying AI visibility tools before fixing the basics. Clear, accurate, well-structured pages come first.
• Treating channels in isolation. Paid social, SEO and PPC influence each other. Measure the combined effect.

Frequently asked questions

Is SEO still worth investing in when Google shows AI answers?

Yes, but the focus should change. AI Overviews mainly reduce clicks on informational queries. Commercial pages still win enquiries, and AI systems rely on well-structured, authoritative websites for their answers. SEO now supports both traditional rankings and AI citations.

Should I move my SEO budget into Google Ads?

Not wholesale. Paid search is valuable for high-intent queries, but costs continue to rise and results stop when spend stops. A better approach is to protect proven PPC campaigns while refocusing SEO on commercial pages and AI visibility.

How much should a business spend on AI search optimisation?

There is no reliable benchmark yet. Most businesses should start with a ring-fenced test budget, set clear measures such as brand mentions for key prompts and AI referral enquiries, and scale up only if it shows commercial value.

Do Google AI Overviews affect paid search ads?

Yes. Ads can appear above, below or within AI Overview results, and studies have found click-through rates on paid results also change when an AI Overview is present. Review performance on those queries separately in your account.

What is the difference between SEO and GEO?

SEO aims to rank your pages in search results. GEO, or generative engine optimisation, aims to have your business accurately described, cited and recommended by AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. The two overlap heavily, but GEO puts more weight on your brand's presence across third-party sources.

How should I measure marketing performance if organic traffic falls?

Measure outcomes rather than visits: qualified leads, sales, cost per acquisition, branded search volume and conversion rate. Falling traffic alongside stable or rising leads usually means AI answers are filtering out low-intent visitors.

Plan your 2027 budget with evidence

ExtraDigital has worked with UK businesses on search and digital marketing since 2002, and as a Google Premier Partner we see how these changes play out across real accounts. If you want an independent view of where your budget is working and where it is not, talk to our team. We will look at your current split, your data and your commercial goals, and give you a clear recommendation.