Advertisers Can’t Quit Google, Despite Complaints About Traffic and Ads

No matter how annoyed publishers and advertisers get with Google, they just can’t seem to quit it. Some publishers complain that Google searches are directing less traffic to their sites lately. Some advertisers say Google search ads aren’t showing up next to the terms they paid for, but rather against other terms. And yet both groups say they’re continuing to spend more money on Google search ads.

The reason? Publishers and advertisers have no other good option, even as the rise of ChatGPT has shown signs of sapping Google’s power in the Web ecosystem. The phenomenon helps explain how Google is maintaining double-digit search ad growth—11.7% in the second quarter, slightly faster growth than the first quarter—despite signs that people are searching for information less on Google than they used to.