Only 11% of Marketers Expect Google Search to Be Their Customers' Main Starting Point in Two Years
A live survey of 35 marketers at HubSpot UNBOUND 2026 found 71% expect AI assistants to be their customers' primary discovery channel by 2028, while only 11% named Google search. Budgets are already following the shift: 80% of respondents are increasing or starting an AI search visibility budget next year, and 29% are moving dollars out of paid media into earned and content. ACCESS Newswire sponsored the conference and gathered the data during its 'Getting Cited' session, positioning its PR and earned-media services around visibility in AI answers.
Key figures
- Survey sample size
- 35
- Pct role changed past 12 months
- 91%
- Pct google search primary discovery
- 11%
- Pct shifting dollars out of paid media
- 29%
- Pct can measure ai visibility with tools
- 43%
- Pct ai assistants primary discovery by 2028
- 71%
- Pct increasing or starting ai search budget
- 80%
- Pct organic traffic down 10 to 25 pct this year
- 43%
AI analysis
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