Online Visibility in the AI Era: Is Advertising Still Worth It?

On 29 October 2026, Dutch broadcaster NOS reported that the share price of Alphabet, Google's parent company, fell about 13 percent on the New York stock exchange. Almost 500 billion dollars in value disappeared in a single day, one of the biggest stock market drops ever. Investors were alarmed by a negative cash flow of 9.1 billion dollars, only the second loss-making quarter since Google went public in 2004. Why does this matter for you as a business owner? Because NOS names two causes that directly affect how customers find you: declining advertising revenue from the search engine and users switching to chatbots such as ChatGPT. In this article I explain what online visibility means today, what it does to your advertising strategy, whether you can advertise in AI, and why a site on Base44 can rank organically in AI results.

Table of contents

1. What is online visibility?
2. What does AI do to clicks?
3. What does this mean for your advertising strategy?
4. Can you advertise in AI?
5. Why a Base44 site can earn organic AI visibility
6. What can you do right now?
7. Frequently asked questions
8. Conclusion

What is online visibility?

Online visibility is the degree to which your brand, product or service shows up at the moment a potential customer asks a question. It used to mean a high position in the list of blue links or an ad at the top. Today visibility is spread across more places:

• Classic search results, organic and paid
• AI summaries in Google (AI Overviews and AI Mode)
• Chatbots and AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Perplexity
• Maps, reviews, video and social media

The core question has changed. It is no longer just 'am I in position 1?', but: am I mentioned, cited or recommended at the moment the question is asked, even if the customer never clicks a link? That is called GEO (Generative Engine Optimization): making sure AI systems understand, trust and use your content. Read more about our approach on the SEO and GEO optimization page.

What does AI do to clicks?

Several studies show that AI answers at the top of Google reduce the click rate on regular results. A randomized field experiment, covered by Search Engine Journal, found 38 percent fewer organic clicks on queries where an AI Overview appeared. Seer Interactive measured, across more than 5 million queries, a drop in organic click rate from 1.76 percent to roughly 0.6 percent at its lowest.

One nuance: in early 2026 that click rate partly recovered, from 1.3 to 2.4 percent. So the effect is large, but not a straight line downward. More importantly, according to Seer, brands cited in the AI answer earn 35 percent more organic and 91 percent more paid clicks than brands that are not. Being visible inside the answer is the new battleground.

What does this mean for your advertising strategy?

The honest answer: advertising is still worthwhile, but it works differently and needs to be used more smartly.

Why advertising is still worthwhile

• Paid traffic remains a direct, measurable route to customers, with control over message, landing page and budget.
• Ads are fast: SEO and GEO build up over time, a campaign can start tomorrow.
• For queries with buying intent ('quote', 'buy', 'near me'), an ad is still the shortest path to a lead.

Why relying only on ads is risky

• NOS reports that Google's advertising revenue is under pressure. Relying fully on paid traffic means depending on a model that is still shifting.
• Cost per click and competition can rise as more advertisers fight over shrinking space.
• Paid visibility stops when your budget stops. Organic authority keeps working.

Aspect	Advertising	Organic (SEO/GEO)
Speed	Immediate	Builds over weeks to months
Cost	Per click or impression	Investment in content and technology
Durability	Stops with the budget	Keeps working
Reach in AI answers	Via Google Ads campaigns	Via citations and mentions
Best for	Buying intent, launches	Authority, trust, broad findability

Our recommendation: do not see ads and organic visibility as a choice, but as a combination.

Can you advertise in AI?

Yes, and this area is changing fast.

• Google: advertisers can appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode through existing campaign types such as Search, Shopping and Performance Max. You do not buy a separate AI placement, Google decides based on relevance. The rollout differs by country and expands in phases, so check what is live in your market. See also the Google Marketing Live announcements.
• ChatGPT: OpenAI started advertising in 2026, in a pilot with high entry thresholds. For most small and mid-sized businesses this is not yet a realistic main route.
• Microsoft Copilot: ads from Microsoft Advertising campaigns can appear in answers.
• Perplexity: according to industry sources it has stopped advertising.

Do not start with a separate 'AI budget'. Make sure your existing Google Ads account is set up well, with strong landing pages, a clear offer and solid conversion tracking. That is where AI placements mostly come from. Overview of sources: Elementera.

Why a Base44 site can earn organic AI visibility

A common prejudice is that sites built with Base44 are hard to find because they run on JavaScript. That concern is understandable, since crawlers that do not execute JavaScript would see an empty page. But according to the Base44 documentation, the platform handles the technical foundation for SEO and GEO:

• Readable content without JavaScript: search engines and AI crawlers can read your pages, and the rendered content is refreshed on publishing and when data changes.
• robots.txt and sitemap are created automatically.
• Mobile-friendly layout for mobile-first indexing.
• A built-in SEO and GEO score with improvement suggestions.

Google does not look at which platform a site was built on, but at whether the content is findable, understandable and trustworthy. That decides whether you get cited:

1. Your own domain. Do not publish on a free test address.
2. Answer first. Put a short, concrete answer at the top of the page.
3. Structure. One H1, logical headings, short paragraphs and FAQ formatting.
4. Structured data (schema.org) for organization, FAQ, article and product.
5. Unique titles and meta descriptions per page.
6. Real expertise. Cases, figures, author names and reviews build trust.
7. Mentions elsewhere. Google Business Profile, industry sites and trade media strengthen your authority.
8. Speed and accessibility.

We run our own website on Base44 and apply this approach ourselves. Our experience: the platform choice is rarely the bottleneck. Content quality, structure and authority decide whether you appear in AI answers. Read more about building on this platform on Base44 website development.

What can you do right now?

1. Measure where you stand. Test whether your brand is mentioned when you ask your key customer questions in Google and ChatGPT.
2. Keep your ads for queries with buying intent and improve your landing pages.
3. Write answer-focused content about the questions customers really ask.
4. Check your technical basics: own domain, sitemap, schema and speed.
5. Build authority with reviews, cases and mentions outside your own site.

Frequently asked questions

1. What is the difference between SEO and GEO?

SEO focuses on ranking high in search results. GEO focuses on AI systems using and citing your content. In practice they reinforce each other.

2. Is Google still relevant?

Yes. NOS stresses that Google risks losing market share to chatbots, but Google remains a huge search platform and is adding AI itself. The goal is to be visible in Google and in AI assistants.

3. Should I stop advertising if organic clicks decline?

No. Adjust your strategy: focus on queries with buying intent, improve conversion and build organic authority alongside.

4. Can I advertise in ChatGPT?

A pilot is running, but with high entry thresholds and limited availability. For most small and mid-sized businesses, Google Ads and good content are the more logical route right now.

5. Can a Base44 site rank high in Google?

Yes, provided it is published on its own domain and has strong, structured and trustworthy content.

Conclusion

Alphabet's stock drop shows that search and advertising are in motion. Online visibility now means being mentioned where the question is asked, in Google and in AI. Advertising remains worthwhile for direct demand, but organic authority makes you less dependent. And a Base44 site can take part just fine, as long as content and structure are right.

Curious how visible your business is in Google and AI? Book a no-obligation call with me or send a message via the contact page. Also see our portfolio and pricing.

About the author

This article was written by Peter, Sales Director and owner of FLOR-IT. FLOR-IT is an Official Wix Enterprise Partner with more than 25 years of experience and over 1,500 websites delivered. We specialise in Wix Studio and Harmony, Base44, SEO and digital marketing, and work in Dutch, English, French and German.

Sources: NOS, Search Engine Journal, Seer Interactive, Base44 Docs, Google, Elementera.