Google’s upgrades to search and AI is putting traditional affiliate models in a tough spot.
Google’s expansion of Search Live and the introduction of AI memories is breaking the “old playbook” for affiliates.
Google has expanded Search Live to all markets and languages in which AI mode is available.
Previously only available in the US and India, this new expansion will now include over 200 countries and territories. This gives users across the world the ability to have interactive conversations using both camera and voice.
This is part of a wider push to integrate AI into search and remove friction. As Liza Ma, director, product management, search at Google, puts it: “Search Live is designed for those moments when you need real-time help, and typing out a query just won’t cut it.”
Alongside this, Google is rolling out chat history and AI memories for Gemini for users to switch between AI tools, importing memories, context, and chat history from other AI apps directly into Gemini.
The two features are likely to have a significant impact on the affiliate industry, with each removing a potential check in points for marketers, and could threaten to change everything the industry knows about SEO, affiliate marketing, and search.
Zero-click push
“This absolutely pushes things further toward zero-click,” Michael Norris, chief marketing officer at Youtech explains.
“Google’s been heading this way for a while. This just makes it more obvious. The better the answers get in the interface, the less reason there is to click out. That’s a tough spot for affiliates.”
As much as 60% of all Google searches in the US end without a single click, according to Semrush, via Ekamoira. This figure, based on an earlier study by Semrush, skyrockets to 93% when Google’s AI mode is used.
A separate study by Exposure Ninja (2026) shows that 75% of Google searches on mobile in the US end without a click.
The time honoured calculation of more visibility equals more traffic equals more revenue has crumbled, and the search journey has been completely transformed.
AI memories
The integration of AI memories into Gemini could bring a distinctly more tailored experience to AI use and also to, in future, ads.
“Starting to roll out today, our new memory import feature can easily bring an understanding of your key preferences, relationships, and personal context directly into Gemini,” writes Maryam Sanglaji, group product manager, Gemini app, at Google.
“Once you import these memories, Gemini will understand the same key facts you’ve shared with other apps, like your interests, your sibling’s name, or where you grew up. Instead of starting over from scratch, you can quickly get Gemini up to speed on what matters most to you.”
This means that personal preferences, like brand loyalties, product recommendations, and user information (location, likes and dislikes) can be carried over from other chatbots into Gemini, giving advertisers and marketers a more detailed profile of users.
While Gemini does not currently feature ads, Google’s senior vice president of knowledge and information has refused to rule out the possibility of running ads in the platform, so this memory import could soon become very relevant to advertisers.
SEO takes a back seat
With AI increasingly involved in the discovery journey, SEO relevance is quickly fading, especially given that Google’s dominance in search is already wavering, according to a report by Graphite.
“On SEO versus GEO or AEO, rank is only part of the goal now, in addition to the output. If your content isn’t getting pulled into the answer, you basically don’t exist. Being number one matters a lot less if the user never sees the results page,” Norris adds.
The AI content marketing industry is expected to grow from $5bn this year to over $17.6bn in 2033, and content formatted specifically for LLMs is three times more likely to be cited.
Google is still dominating search with a 90.82% market share, according to Statista as of December 2025. Although ChatGPT is gaining traction with over 2.5 billion prompts per day and is arguing the case to be considered as an alternative search engine in the UK.
That, Norris explains, is where the industry must evolve. There is a way forward for affiliates, but they need to shift into more specialised, knowledge driven approaches that AI cannot replicate.
“For affiliates, this is where a lot of the old playbook breaks. Thin comparison pages and recycled listicles won’t hold up when AI can generate the same thing instantly. We’re already seeing this play out too,” he says.
“Sites like CNET and Sports Illustrated got called out for mass-produced AI content, and a lot of large affiliate networks have quietly taken hits after pushing scaled, low-value pages.
“The ones that win are going deeper with real expertise, real opinions, content that actually adds something the model can’t just stitch together,” he concludes.
