The end of the search engine: from guide to source
Google is stopping referrals and now provides answers itself. This is changing our internet and the way we consume news.
Published on May 20, 2026
Merien co-founded E52 in 2015 and envisioned AI in journalism, leading to Laio. He writes bold columns on hydrogen and mobility—often with a sharp edge.
For decades, the search engine was the indispensable guide to the internet. You typed in a question and got a list of websites that could provide the answer. This referral model is now on the verge of disappearing for good. Tech giants like Google are fundamentally changing their strategy. They no longer want to be the signpost, but the final destination. By integrating advanced artificial intelligence, search engines now provide direct answers to your questions. This shift has massive consequences for content creators, the quality of information, and the way we use the internet.
The transformation of the digital signpost
In the early days of the internet, the function of a search engine was crystal clear. It was a digital index that helped the user find the right information. The faster the visitor clicked through to an external website, the better the search engine performed. This was true for early players like ilse.nl and also for the first version of Google. Commercially, however, this model was not ideal for the search engines themselves. After all, a visitor who leaves immediately does not generate ad revenue within the platform itself.
That is why companies tried to keep people engaged for increasingly longer periods. Yahoo started this by placing news and stock quotes on its homepage. Google expanded its ecosystem with services like Gmail and Maps. The focus slowly shifted from forwarding traffic to maximizing the time spent on their own site. We are now seeing the completion of this trend. The search engine is no longer a guide, but a closed environment that formulates answers itself.
The technological leap to AI answers
Google recently implemented the biggest change to its interface in twenty-five years. The iconic, simple search bar has been replaced by an interactive interface that processes complex queries and images. This innovation runs on the Gemini 3.5 Flash model. This model is specifically designed for speed and efficiency at a large scale. A central role is reserved for the 'query fan-out' technique. With this, the machine executes hundreds of search queries simultaneously behind the scenes. The AI collects information from various sources and forges it together into one clear answer. As a result, users no longer have to visit and compare different websites themselves.
Google Lens is currently used by more than 1.5 billion people a month for visual searches. With this, the search engine is evolving from a system that finds information to a system that understands and repackages information. This keeps the user completely within the walls of Google.
The economic deathblow for content creators
This new way of searching has a devastating effect on the revenue of website owners. When a search engine provides the answer directly, there is no longer any reason to click through to the source. Some studies show that the click-through rate to external websites drops by an average of 58 percent with AI overviews. In certain sectors, publishers even report a traffic loss of 80 to 90 percent. Nearly 70 percent of all search queries nowadays end without the user visiting an external site. We call these 'zero-click' searches.
This creates an unsustainable situation for the creators of the original information. They invest in research and editing, while the search engine reaps the rewards of their work. Without visitors, the advertising revenue for independent journalism and specialized blogs dries up. The foundation of the open internet, where content is traded for attention, is on the verge of collapsing as a result. The incentive to share valuable information for free is disappearing at a rapid pace.
The retreat behind digital walls
Publishers and content creators are frantically looking for ways to survive in this new landscape. As a result, the trend to put information behind walls is accelerating significantly. We are seeing enormous growth in the use of paywalls, login requirements, and closed platforms like Substack. Creators are trying to protect their most valuable insights from the hungry algorithms of AI companies.
It is a tricky balance for every editorial team. You have to give a small preview to still be found by the search engine. At the same time, the real depth has to stay safely behind a wall to sell subscriptions. Consequently, the public space of the internet is becoming increasingly impoverished. What remains freely available is often superficial content specifically written for algorithms. Truly valuable and reliable knowledge is becoming a luxury item for a select group of paying subscribers. For the average user, this makes the internet a less rich and less varied place.
The danger of a one-sided information supply
There is a threat of a dangerous divide emerging in our information provision. If quality news disappears behind paywalls, only the 'free' information will remain on the open web. However, this information is often offered with a specific goal in mind. Think of political propaganda, commercial steering, or deliberate misinformation. Good journalism is expensive because it requires verification and getting both sides of the story.
AI models do not distinguish between a carefully fact-checked article and a cleverly written piece of propaganda. They summarize what they find on the open internet. If the AI's sources are increasingly of low quality, the answers will be too. This can lead to a downward spiral in which falsehoods are amplified by artificial intelligence. The user gets a quick and free answer but loses sight of the reliability of the source. This undermines the democratic function of the internet as a place where facts and truth take center stage.
Legal battles and new revenue models
Major publishers are now striking back with legal means and strategic alliances. Various antitrust lawsuits and claims for large-scale copyright infringement are pending. Publishers are demanding that AI companies pay for the data they use to train their models. Some media conglomerates are already signing multimillion-dollar contracts with parties like Google and OpenAI for the use of their archives. This provides a new revenue stream that is no longer dependent on individual clicks.
New models are also emerging for revenue sharing based on the actual use of content by AI systems. However, this is not a solution for small, independent creators. They do not have the legal power or the scale to enforce such deals. The battle over the value of content is now being fought in the courtroom and in closed boardrooms. The outcome of this will determine who will still be able to make a living from creating high-quality information in the future.
A conscious perspective
The evolution of search engines forces us to adopt a more active stance as internet users. We must realize that an AI summary can never provide the full context of an original source. For European autonomy, it is essential that we maintain a diverse and independent media landscape. We cannot leave the control over our information provision entirely to a handful of American tech companies.
On our platform ioplus.nl, we continue to invest in our own research and in-depth stories. The changing technology is not making it easy for us, but the relevance of our work is only increasing. Therefore, it is more important than ever to consciously click through to the source. Do not linger on the quick summary of an algorithm. Support the creators who have crafted the information with care. Only through direct interaction with reliable sources can we maintain a healthy and fair internet for the future.