Is Google Getting Rid of Regular Search Results?

Not yet, but the direction is clear. Duane Forrester, writing in Search Engine Journal, forecasts that the ranked results page stops being Google's default first response for most queries between 2028 and 2030, starting in the U.S. It gets demoted, not deleted. That is a forecast, not a fact.

When will Google stop showing the ten blue links first?

Forrester's forecast is 2028 to 2030 in the U.S., with the UK and EU following a year or more behind. By "stops being the default" he means the ranked list becomes something you can still reach on purpose, but not where people land first. He is clear this is his forecast, not a finding.

He also discloses that his company measures AI visibility, so a world with less SERP is not neutral ground for him. I will say the same about us. LeadsPass manages Google Business Profiles and local search. We have a stake in this too, so weigh what I say accordingly.

Still, you do not need to take anyone's date as gospel. The useful part is the shape of the change. The page does not vanish one morning. The answer moves to the top, the links move down a step, and your phone gets quieter if you were relying on the click.

Has Google already made AI Mode the default?

No. Google's I/O 2026 announcement made Gemini 3.5 Flash the default model inside AI Mode globally, which is a different thing from making AI Mode the default search experience. Google also said people will keep getting a range of results from Search. Forrester sums it up: "The default has not flipped. Yet."

Plenty of vendor content since May says otherwise, and it is wrong. Forrester points to a second example. A Chrome Canary flag briefly sent address-bar searches straight into AI Mode. Google's VP of Search Engineering, Rajan Patel, called it an error and said Google is not planning to make AI Mode the default for Chrome searches.

Here is what I think matters more than the denial. Google already built the room where the ranked list can move. In May 2024 it launched a Web filter that shows only text-based links, sitting next to Images, Videos and News. Forrester reads that as infrastructure. Google would not need to build anything new to put the answer first and the links one click away.

So the question is not whether Google can do it. It is when Google decides to.

How fast are AI answers taking over the results page?

Faster than most owners realize, though the numbers come from different studies. Pew found AI summaries on 18% of Google searches in March 2025. Similarweb put AI Overviews on 43% of US searches by May 2026, up from 15% a year earlier. The methods differ, but the direction is the same.

Forrester warns against stitching those two numbers into one tidy line, and I will not either. He also notes that an amicus brief in the DOJ appeal said no industry-standard measurement of AI Overview prevalence exists. Treat any single percentage with suspicion. Look at the direction across sources.

The click data is where it gets personal for a business owner. In Pew's March 2025 study of 900 U.S. adults, people clicked a traditional result in 8% of visits when an AI summary appeared, against 15% of visits without one. Same searchers, roughly half the clicks.

Then there is AI Mode itself. Google says it passed one billion monthly users within a year of launch. Yet Similarweb panel data, cited in a June 2026 study, found AI Mode accounted for just 0.34% of Google searches from January through April 2026. Lots of people have tried it. Almost nobody starts there.

Similarweb also measured outbound referrals. AI Mode sent people out to other sites on 1.6% to 2.5% of queries. Traditional search did it on 17% to 19%. That is the clearest picture of what a default flip would mean for anyone who depends on the click.

One more signal. Similarweb recorded a 5.4% increase in average Google query length after AI Mode arrived. Longer, more conversational queries are more likely to trigger a generated answer. People are slowly typing their way into it.

Finally, ChatGPT is not the threat to Google's default. OpenAI reported 900 million weekly ChatGPT users in February 2026, but Similarweb found most of them kept using Google too. People are adding tools, not leaving. If the SERP loses its spot, Forrester says, it loses it to Google itself.

Why is Google not flipping the switch yet?

Money. The ranked results page still carries Google's most proven ad inventory, while ads inside AI answers are new. At Google Marketing Live in May, Google introduced ads placed inside AI Mode responses. Forrester's view is that the default flips when the reasons line up, and mature ad formats are a big one.

Look at what is moving. In his Q2 2026 earnings remarks, Sundar Pichai said Google had cut the cost of AI Mode responses to its lowest level since launch. He also said AI Overviews and AI Mode had been brought together into one Search experience.

Cost to serve is falling. The two surfaces are merging. The ad units are maturing. In the same quarter, Network advertising declined 1%. That is the money Google earns on other people's pages.

Do I know when the crossover happens? No. Neither does anyone outside Google. But when the economics line up, there will be no announcement telling you to get ready. The change will just show up in your call log.

What does this mean for a plumber or pest-control company?

It means the click from a search result is the part most at risk. When an answer sits above the links, fewer people scroll to them, and Pew's 8% against 15% shows what that looks like. You still need to be the name that gets surfaced, whether that is a map listing, a cited source or a recommended business.

Think about how your customers search. A homeowner with water on the kitchen floor is not browsing ten links. A family that just found wasps in the attic wants one name and a phone number. Those searches are already short on patience, and a direct answer suits them fine.

Here is my view, and it is opinion, not a statistic. The basics that get you found in the map pack today are the same basics you want in place for whatever comes next. That means a complete and accurate Google Business Profile, consistent business details, real reviews and pages that answer plain questions about your services and service area.

What I would not do is wait for a "back to normal" signal. Forrester's forecast does not include one. The ranked page may stay reachable, but the default is where most people stop.

What should I do in the next 12 months?

Treat the next year as prep time. You have a window before any default change, and the work you do now helps you under today's results too. Start with what you can see and fix, then check how you show up when someone asks an AI assistant instead of typing a search.

Check where you stand. Get your free Local Visibility Score to see how you show up in local search today.
Audit your Google Business Profile. Wrong hours, missing services and thin descriptions cost you now and will cost you more later. Our Google Profile audit covers the basics.
Ask the assistants. Type the question a customer would ask into Google, ChatGPT and Perplexity, such as "who is the best emergency plumber near me." Write down who comes up. Our AI visibility report does this more systematically.
Keep collecting real reviews. Ask every happy customer, every week, and reply to what comes in.
Write plain answers on your site. One page per service and per town, in the words your customers use, with your price ranges and timing if you can share them.

If you would rather hand this off, that is what our local search service is for. If you are doing it yourself, steps one and three cost nothing.

Common questions

Will Google remove the ten blue links completely?

Forrester does not say that. His forecast is that the ranked page gets demoted to one step away, reachable on purpose but no longer the default. Google's Web filter, launched in May 2024, already shows only text-based links as one view among several, so the page has somewhere to live.

Is AI Mode the default in Google Search right now?

No. At I/O 2026 Google made Gemini 3.5 Flash the default model inside AI Mode, not AI Mode the default experience. Google's Rajan Patel also said it does not plan to make AI Mode the default for Chrome searches. Forrester notes the default has not flipped yet.

Should plumbers and pest-control companies stop doing SEO?

No. Ranked results still exist, and Similarweb found traditional search sends people out to other sites on 17% to 19% of queries, far above AI Mode. The smarter move is to keep the basics sharp and also check how you appear in AI answers.

How can I tell if my business shows up in AI answers?

Ask the same question a customer would in Google, ChatGPT and Perplexity, and see who gets named. For a faster read on your local search position, get the free Local Visibility Score. Check again every few months, because these results change.