The traditional market model for search engines, based on ad-based revenue, may already be on its way out due to the rise of self-learning AI systems like OpenAI. These systems are capable of outperforming humans in virtually every online task, leading to a significant reduction in demand for traditional search engines and advertising. This shift in the market is likely to lead to the demise of the old SEO market model and ad-based revenue.

There are a few additional reasons why ad-based search engine optimization (SEO) is likely to almost completely disappear in the future. One reason is that ads are becoming increasingly annoying and intrusive to users. More and more people are blocking ads on websites, and advertisers are starting to prioritize user experience and engagement over simply driving traffic to their websites. The new AI engines with their clear, direct responses will spare users from unwanted ads.

Another reason ad-based SEO may disappear is due to the proliferation of new search engine algorithms. With so many different search engines available, it is becoming harder for a website to rank well on all of them simply by advertising. Instead, website owners need to focus on building an effective content marketing strategy and producing high-quality, relevant content.

In the future, search engines may also start rewarding websites that don’t include any ads at all. Some search engines are already experimenting with this, and it may become more widespread in the future.

The big question now is whether Google and Microsoft will be able to adapt their business models to the new AI query-based search market, or if they will be left behind by their reluctance to abandon their old, legacy search engines.