The Paid Search landscape is changing quickly as AI reshapes how users find answers and evaluate products. More searches are happening without clicks, fewer users are scrolling through traditional results, and AI-generated summaries are increasingly absorbing the intent that advertisers used to capture through Google Ads. If your Paid Search performance is getting harder to scale, it may be time to diversify your acquisition strategy.
For years, Paid Search has been the default performance channel for B2B brands because it captures high intent. If someone is searching “best CI/CD tools,” “PostgreSQL monitoring,” or “Kubernetes security,” they’re usually already in evaluation mode. But the modern search experience is changing fast with models predicting search engine volume will drop 25% this year as behavior shifts. Users are no longer relying on the classic list of blue links and ads to get answers. Instead, they’re increasingly interacting with AI-generated summaries and chat-based tools that compress the research phase into a single response.
One of the most disruptive changes is Google’s rollout of AI Overviews (AI-generated answers at the top of results). These summaries can satisfy user intent instantly, which means fewer users are reviewing the search results where ads and organic listings compete.
Ahrefs reported that when AI Overviews appear, click behavior declines significantly, including an estimated 34.5% drop in clicks for the top-ranking page. Meanwhile, reporting on Pew Research shows AI Overviews can lead users to abandon searches more often without visiting other sites. For advertisers, that shift means Paid Search is becoming more expensive and less predictable, even when demand still exists.
AI Overviews aside, Google is increasingly designed to keep users inside Google. According to SparkToro’s 2024 Zero-Click Search Study only 360 clicks out of every 1,000 US Google searches go to the open web. Search Engine Land summarized the same research by noting that nearly 60% of Google searches end without a click. This matters because both organic strategy and paid strategy rely on users actually clicking out, visiting sites, and converting. When that behavior declines, the whole funnel becomes harder to scale through Paid Search alone.
To be clear, Google isn't going anywhere but how people search and where they start is changing. Many users now use tools like ChatGPT or Claude for early-stage exploration, comparison, and learning, then return to Google when they want validation or a specific source. That said, the action is still more competitive than in the past and the end result is that advertisers are often paying more with less opportunity to scale.
Put simply: because it's working.
Contextual advertising doesn’t depend on the user typing the exact right keyword at the exact right moment. Instead, it places your message in front of developers while they’re actively reading, learning, and researching the topics your product solves, which is often earlier and more scalable than search intent alone.
Networks like the Carbon and Mozilla Developer Networks give brands the ability to reach developers in high-signal environments, on real content they trust, and across placements that don’t require competing inside a single auction. When Paid Search starts to plateau, contextual can help rebuild reach, drive incremental conversions, and strengthen conversion rates across other channels by increasing familiarity and trust before the click even happens.
If Paid Search is where developers “raise their hand,” newsletters are where you stay top of mind. Newsletter sponsorships are especially valuable right now because they reach loyal readers in a high-attention environment, with consistent repetition and category alignment. Instead of fighting for a fraction of a second on a search results page, your brand can show up inside a weekly workflow: a developer’s morning scan of tools, trends, tutorials, and launches.
Sponsoring newsletters also gives you a clean way to segment by interest area (AI, frontend, DevOps, security, open-source) and build trust through association.
The best part is that newsletters can perform across multiple goals: direct clicks and signups, brand lift, retargeting efficiency, and better performance on channels like Paid Search itself because users recognize your name when they finally return to Google.
AI summaries are reducing search clicks, making it harder to rely on traditional rankings and ad placements
Zero-click behavior is rising, meaning users often get what they need without visiting a website
Search volume is shifting, as users increasingly default to AI tools like ChatGPT for certain types of queries
Contextual advertising helps capture demand earlier, reaching developers while they’re learning and exploring
Newsletter sponsorships are a scalable alternative, delivering high-trust visibility inside loyal communities
Ready to explore how contextual advertising can work for your brand? Our team specializes in connecting technical audiences with relevant solutions in trusted editorial environments. Schedule time to talk to an expert and let's discuss how to make your marketing budget work smarter in 2026.