Google is in trouble, deep

Google, once considered the paragon of the Magnificent Seven, finds itself struggling as its values and business practices come under scrutiny. The search engine giant's motto of "Don't be evil" has long since vanished, replaced by "Do the right thing" - a mantra that appears to have faltered.

AI Overviews and AI Mode, features aimed at improving search results, are proving to be detrimental to both advertisers and publishers. According to Search Engine Land, three out of four websites have experienced a decline in traffic in the past year due to these AI features. A significant 58% lower average clickthrough rate for top-ranking pages has been reported, as discovered by Ahrefs.

Google's revenue growth has slowed to a mere 12%, marking its slowest rate in five quarters. The company's advertising revenue, once its primary driver, has slowed to this pace. Despite a reported 12% growth in internet search ad revenue, it's a far cry from the explosive growth that once marked the tech titan.

Alphabet's GOOGL shares have taken a 18% hit over the past 30 days, with a notable single-day drop that wiped out $500 billion in market value. This decline in value has many questioning the wisdom of betting on Google, both as an investment and as a platform for advertising.

Google's attempts to push AI into schools, forcing students to enable its AI tools or lose access to Google Search, have not gone down well. The move has been met with criticism, with Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, calling it a "lead balloon" and former FTC chair Lina Khan criticizing the company for using its search monopoly to coerce schools.

This widespread discontent suggests that it may be time for Google users to start looking for alternatives. However, what these alternatives might be remains uncertain. What's clear is that the cracks in Google's once invincible structure are becoming increasingly apparent.