Results Driven Marketing Director Iain Irvin says the rise of AI Overviews is changing the long-standing value exchange between Google and the businesses that create the content it relies on.
NEWCASTLE, UK – 6 October 2026 – Iain Irvin, Director of UK B2B marketing company Results Driven Marketing, has questioned whether Google is fundamentally changing the long-standing relationship it has had with businesses and publishers as AI becomes a bigger part of search.
Irvin's comments follow a recent video from digital marketer Neil Patel discussing how the relationship between Google, publishers and website traffic is changing.
The discussion prompted Irvin to examine what he describes as the "unwritten deal" that has existed between Google and businesses for much of the past two decades.
"For years, the arrangement was fairly straightforward," said Irvin.
"Businesses created useful information, Google organised it and helped people find it, and in return businesses received website traffic."
"That traffic could become enquiries, leads, sales and customers. It was a clear exchange of value."
Irvin believes the emergence of AI Overviews and other AI-powered search features is beginning to change that exchange.
From Finding the Answer to Providing the Answer
Traditionally, Google acted as a gateway between the searcher and the website containing the information they needed.
A user entered a search query, Google presented a selection of websites, and the user chose where to continue their journey.
AI-powered search can work differently.
Google can increasingly generate an answer directly within the search results by drawing upon information published across multiple websites.
Irvin believes this creates an important question for businesses.
"If businesses are creating the information that enables Google to answer the question, what does the business receive in return?" he said.
"Historically, the answer was traffic. But if the searcher can get what they need without visiting the original website, that value exchange starts to look very different."
Businesses Have Spent Years Creating the Information Search Engines Need
Irvin points out that businesses have spent years being encouraged to publish useful, authoritative and detailed information online.
Companies have invested heavily in content marketing, SEO, research, guides, FAQs, statistics and expert commentary in the hope of reaching potential customers through search engines.
"We have effectively spent years making our businesses easier for Google to understand," Irvin said.
"That made perfect sense when creating better content increased your chances of receiving more visitors."
"But there is now an interesting contradiction. The better we become at explaining something online, the easier we potentially make it for an AI system to understand that information and answer the question itself."
Irvin stresses that he does not believe businesses should respond by abandoning content marketing or SEO.
Instead, he believes the objectives of search marketing are beginning to broaden.
The Future of Search May Not Be Just About Clicks
According to Irvin, businesses may need to think beyond traditional rankings and organic traffic as AI-powered search develops.
"Rankings still matter and website traffic still matters," he said.
"But I think businesses increasingly need to ask whether Google and AI systems actually understand who they are, what they specialise in and why they should be considered a credible source."
Irvin believes this could make brand mentions, citations, original research, digital PR, expert commentary and stronger company and personal entities increasingly valuable.
"The next battle in search may not simply be about getting the click," he said.
"It may be about becoming one of the trusted sources behind the answer."
Has Google Changed the Deal?
Irvin says he does not believe Google should be criticised simply for innovating or responding to changing user behaviour.
AI-generated answers can provide a faster and more convenient search experience, while Google is also responding to competition from emerging AI platforms.
However, Irvin believes businesses need to recognise that the commercial relationship between search engines and content creators is changing.
"The old model was that businesses created the information, Google organised it and Google sent users to those businesses," he said.
"The emerging model could increasingly be that businesses create the information, Google understands it, combines it with other sources and provides the answer itself."
"That is a very different deal."
Irvin has expanded on his views in a new article, “Google AI Overviews and Website Traffic: Has Google Changed the Deal With Businesses?”, published by Results Driven Marketing.
Read the full article:
https://rdmarketing.co.uk/knowledge-hub/google-ai-overviews-and-website-traffic-has-google-changed-the-deal-with-businesses/
About Iain Irvin
Iain Irvin is Director of Results Driven Marketing, a UK B2B data and lead generation company. He has worked in B2B sales and marketing for more than 15 years and is currently exploring how AI search, large language models and changing search behaviour are affecting the way businesses are discovered online.
About Results Driven Marketing
Results Driven Marketing is a UK B2B marketing data and lead generation company providing businesses with B2B data, email marketing, telemarketing data, direct mail data and lead generation solutions.