AI Search News Update: February

Search is becoming messy, fragmented, and harder to measure, and AI is at the center of it.

The past 30 days brought a wave of AI search updates from Google and the wider ecosystem, alongside growing evidence that generative answers are changing how users discover content and how marketers think about visibility.

Below is a curated look at the AI search stories that mattered most this month, with direct implications for SEO, content, and AI-driven marketing strategies.

1. Google pushes AI search further into the core experience

Google continues to accelerate its AI-first search vision. AI Overviews are now powered by Gemini 3, signaling a shift toward deeper reasoning and more synthesized answers at the top of the SERP. Google is also making it easier for users to move from traditional results into AI Mode, blurring the line between classic search and conversational discovery.

At the same time, Google is testing greater personalization inside AI Mode by connecting services like Gmail and Google Photos (for opted-in users). While this improves relevance, it also raises new questions for SEOs around transparency, attribution, and what visibility even means in a personalized AI response.

Perhaps most notably, Google is reportedly exploring ways for publishers to opt out of AI search features, acknowledging growing tension between content creators and generative search experiences.

Discover-only core update

In early February, Google launched a Discover-only core update, the first core update focused solely on Discover rather than traditional Search.

This is significant for two reasons:

• Traffic fluctuations may now be isolated to Discover without corresponding ranking changes in core Search.
• SEO teams will need to separate Discover volatility from broader algorithm updates when diagnosing performance shifts in Search Console.
  

It reinforces a broader theme: Google surfaces are fragmenting, and visibility is no longer one unified signal.

Search revenue hits $63B + AI Mode monetization tests

Alphabet’s Q4 2025 earnings revealed that Google Search generated roughly $63B in revenue, up approximately 17% year over year.

More importantly for SEOs and AI marketers, Google disclosed that it is:

• Testing ads inside AI Mode
• Experimenting with direct offers
• Exploring new monetization formats within generative search experiences
  

This confirms that AI search is a revenue surface. And monetization pressure will inevitably shape how AI results are structured and surfaced.

2. Clicks, CTRs & the reality of AI-driven SERPs

Multiple reports now confirm what many SEOs have been feeling anecdotally. 

AI-generated answers are changing traffic patterns.

As AI Overviews and answer engines handle more informational queries directly on the results page, click-through rates are declining, even when impressions remain stable or grow. This reinforces the shift toward:

• Fewer clicks, but higher intent when they do happen
• Increased importance of brand presence inside AI answers
• A growing gap between visibility and traffic
  

At the same time, AI bots themselves are becoming a meaningful source of web activity, contributing to crawl load, data extraction, and indirect exposure through AI tools.

3. Bots, blocking & the fight for content control

One of the quieter but most important trends… 

Publishers are increasingly blocking AI training bots, while allowing search and retrieval bots to continue crawling.

This creates a new distinction SEOs need to understand:

• Training bots (used to improve models)
• Search and retrieval bots (used to answer user queries)
  

Data shows access is tightening for the former and expanding for the latter, a signal that content owners want visibility without giving away long-term model value.

Google’s John Mueller also weighed in on free subdomain hosting, warning that it can negatively impact SEO performance, a reminder that foundational technical choices still matter, even in an AI-first world.

4. Signals from the AI platform wars

Outside of search engines themselves, the broader AI ecosystem is sending useful signals.

OpenAI’s Sam Altman publicly acknowledged that newer models prioritize reasoning over writing quality, which has real implications for AI-generated content strategies. Meanwhile, Anthropic made a bold branding move with a high-profile ad positioning Claude as a more trustworthy, ad-free alternative, reinforcing the idea that AI assistants are becoming discovery surfaces, not just tools.

On the user side, Mozilla announced plans for an AI off switch in Firefox, reflecting growing consumer demand for control over AI-powered experiences.

5. From SEO to AEO: Tools, measurement & what comes next

As search evolves, so do the frameworks and tools around it.

We’re seeing increased adoption of AEO and GEO, alongside new platforms designed to track brand visibility inside AI responses rather than traditional rankings.

Specialized tools are also emerging for verticals like automotive, while research papers and industry analyses attempt to formalize how content performs inside generative systems, from prompt-based visibility to citation likelihood.

The takeaway is clear. 

Measurement is lagging behind behavior, but the industry is racing to catch up.

by Darrell Mordecai

Darrell creates SEO content for Similarweb, drawing on his deep understanding of SEO and Google patents.