AI and the Death of Google

by | Apr 4, 2025 | Posts | 0 comments

AI Redline

AlexaHolly.com Pioneers AI-First Web Design Approach as Industry Lags Behind in 2025

As artificial intelligence continues to reshape how users discover information online, most websites remain stuck in the past designed for traditional search engines rather than the AI-powered platforms increasingly dominating the digital landscape. At AlexaHolly.com, we’ve identified a concerning trend: the vast majority of websites are not only visually outdated but fundamentally unprepared for the next wave of search technology—AI search engines that are rapidly gaining market share and transforming user behavior.

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The Outdated Web Design Landscape of Collision in Manitoba

While doing market research for a product we developed in Manitoba Canada, we noticed an alarming trend. Many businesses continue to operate websites designed around principles that are becoming increasingly obsolete. Most of the websites we checked out were heavily outdated period. While traditional web design trends in 2025 include elements like sustainable design, experimental navigation, and motion design[1], the underlying architecture of most sites remains firmly anchored in the Google-dominated search paradigm of the past decade. In short, we’re fusion welding, when the new tools are spot resistant welding.

“We’re seeing clients come to us with websites that might look modern on the surface but are architecturally designed for a search ecosystem that’s fundamentally changing,” explains Myles. “It’s not just about aesthetic trends anymore—it’s about structural readiness for a new way of being discovered online, embedding google techniques in your webpage is still relevant, but we’re selling streaming services and DVD rentals at the same time right now, you need AI and Google SEO. Google if they are careful, will become the blockbuster story of the decade.”

The problem extends beyond visual design into the realm of content strategy and information architecture. Most websites continue to be developed with traditional SEO in mind, focusing on keywords. However, this approach increasingly misses where user attention is actually flowing—toward AI-powered search platforms that deliver direct answers rather than lists of links.

The AI Search Revolution

The rise of AI in online search represents a paradigm shift as significant as the move from desktop to mobile a decade ago. A study noted in search results shows that ChatGPT’s traffic jumped by 112% since September 2023, indicating the rapid adoption of these new search interfaces[2]. While Google maintains its dominant position, the competition from AI-powered alternatives is intensifying, and there are a lot of them trying to get a piece of the cake.

The fundamental difference between traditional search engines and AI search platforms lies in how they present information. AI search “delivers answers directly within the search interface, prioritizes conversational, natural language queries, relies heavily on structured data and context for precise results, and requires content that aligns with AI-driven intent and logic”[4]. This contrasts sharply with Google’s approach of directing users to external websites.

At AlexaHolly.com, we’ve recognized that this shift demands an entirely new approach to web design and development—one that considers how content will be processed, interpreted, and presented by AI systems rather than simply indexed by traditional search algorithms. In short, you need more content, and it needs to be regularly updated.

Designing for the AI-First World

Our approach at AlexaHolly.com centers on designing websites that are not just visually appealing and user-friendly, but specifically optimized for discovery and representation within AI search environments, as well as all the traditional ways. This means rethinking everything from content structure to technical implementation.

“We’re developing sites with semantic richness as a primary consideration,” notes our lead developer. “This means creating content that AI systems can easily understand, parse, and represent accurately when responding to user queries.”

Key elements of our AI-first design approach include:

  • Structured data implementation that helps AI systems understand the context and relevance of content
  • Content architecture designed around natural language and conversational queries
  • Technical optimizations that make information more accessible to AI crawlers

This approach represents a significant departure from traditional SEO practices that focus primarily on ranking signals for Google’s algorithm. Instead, we’re optimizing for how content will be processed and presented across multiple AI platforms.

The AI Search Ecosystem: Understanding the Players

To effectively design for AI search, it’s essential to understand the unique characteristics of each major platform. We work with them all in a developmental capacity, and each AI system has distinct capabilities, limitations, and approaches to information retrieval that influence how content should be structured.

ChatGPT (OpenAI)

ChatGPT excels in conversational fluency and creative text generation. It’s particularly strong for dialogue, creative content, summarization, and coding assistance[3]. However, its information can sometimes be outdated as it lacks real-time web access in its base configuration.

Claude (Anthropic)

Claude prioritizes safety, reliability, and advanced reasoning. It’s designed to be “helpful, honest, and harmless” and is ideal for tasks requiring in-depth analysis[3]. Its strength lies in document analysis, reasoning tasks, and ethical AI applications.

Perplexity AI

As a search-focused AI with real-time access and citations, Perplexity stands out for its research capabilities. It provides “reliable, up-to-date information with citations to original sources”[3] and has become a significant player in the AI search space. Its ability to blend AI-generated content with properly attributed source material makes it particularly powerful for research-oriented queries.

Grok (xAI)

While less mentioned in the search results, Grok is positioned as a more conversational and “rebellious” AI search option. Its differentiation lies in personality and tone rather than fundamental technical capabilities.

At AlexaHolly.com, we test our websites against all these platforms, ensuring optimal representation regardless of which AI engine a user chooses. “Each AI has different ways of processing and representing web content, by understanding these nuances, we can ensure our clients’ websites perform well across the entire AI ecosystem.”

The Future of Web Development in an AI-Dominated Landscape

As we look toward the future, it’s clear that the relationship between websites and search engines is fundamentally changing. The traditional model of optimizing for SERP rankings will give way to optimizing for AI representation and extraction.

Several trends will shape this new landscape:

  1. Zero-click information extraction will become more common, with AI systems pulling relevant content directly from websites without users visiting them[6].
  2. Content authority and verification will gain importance as AI systems seek to provide accurate information from trusted sources[2].
  3. Conversational and long-tail optimization will become more crucial as users interact with search in more natural language patterns[4].
  4. Structured data implementation will evolve from a nice-to-have to an essential element of web development.

At AlexaHolly.com, we’re already implementing these forward-looking approaches, ensuring our clients’ websites are not just current but future-proof. “We’re not building for today’s internet,” our director emphasizes. “We’re building for tomorrow’s AI-mediated information ecosystem.”

Conclusion: Bridging the Gap Between Traditional and AI Search

The web design industry stands at a pivotal moment. The rapid advancement of AI search engines is creating a bifurcated landscape where websites optimized only for traditional search risk becoming increasingly invisible to users who adopt AI-powered alternatives.

At AlexaHolly.com, we believe the solution isn’t abandoning traditional SEO entirely but rather expanding our approach to encompass both ecosystems. By developing websites with sophisticated semantic structures, conversational content architecture, and technical implementations that serve both traditional and AI search engines, we’re helping clients bridge this gap.

As AI continues to transform how users discover and interact with information online, the websites that thrive will be those designed with this dual purpose in mind. Through our forward-thinking approach, we’re ensuring our clients remain visible, authoritative, and effective regardless of how users choose to search.

  • Citations:
  • [1] https://www.theedigital.com/blog/web-design-trends
  • [2] https://www.tink.ca/en/insights/what-future-awaits-seo-2025
  • [3] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/comparing-top-ai-models-chatgpt-claude-perplexity-gemini-art-hicks-hwncc
  • [4] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ranking-ai-llms-vs-traditional-google-seo-comparison-future-gordon-mngye
  • [5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ahnUt_A5eA
  • [6] https://www.wordstream.com/blog/seo-trends-2025
  • [7] https://team-gpt.com/blog/perplexity-vs-claude-vs-team-gpt/
  • [8] https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesagencycouncil/2024/02/02/ai-is-driving-the-future-of-seo-how-to-adapt/
  • [9] https://webflow.com/blog/web-design-trends-2025
  • [10] https://seocrawl.com/en/2025-seo-trends/
  • [11] https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/comments/1f5r80e/claude_vs_chatgpt_vs_perplexity_i_use_all_three/
  • [12] https://www.onelocal.com/google-prioritize-ai-content/
  • [13] https://pros.squarespace.com/blog/design-trends
  • [14] https://www.salesforce.com/marketing/ai/seo-guide/
  • [15] https://socioblend.com/blog/claude-grok-chatgpt-gemini-2025/27/03/
  • [16] https://neilpatel.com/blog/google-ai-search/
  • [17] https://designmodo.com/web-design-trends/
  • [18] https://searchengineland.com/seo-priorities-2025-453418
  • [19] https://creatoreconomy.so/p/an-opinionated-guide-on-which-ai-model-2025
  • [20] https://seo.ai/blog/generative-engine-optimization-geo-vs-search-engine-optimization-seo