Web search is coming full circle

The web is coming full circle.

We’ve been moving toward ‘Google Zero’ for years, where people get their answers directly from search results without ever clicking through to websites. Featured snippets, knowledge panels, instant answers. AI overviews are just the logical next step in this progression.

Are we seeing a return to the early web’s “answers upfront” approach? I’m thinking Yahoo’s curated portals, but with AI doing the curation automatically.

For the longest time we used “google us” as a verification that we were legit, and taught our users that that was the way to go. The problem was that the model got corrupted on the way. SEO spam and sponsored results meant you weren’t exploring authentic sources anymore.

AI overviews aren’t just about creators losing traffic. They’re a correction to a discovery system that had already broken.

Brand awareness becomes even more important. People need to know how to come to your site directly when they want your specific view of the story, not just the AI’s summary.