Meta's ad revenue grew 26% last quarter while Google Search grew 12%, as people use chatbots instead of clicking search links

CNBC reports that Meta's ad revenue rose 26% from a year earlier to $63.1 billion in the third quarter, while Google's search division grew 12% to $63.4 billion. That 14-point gap is the widest in Meta's favor since 2021. CNBC says chatbots such as Claude and Meta's Muse are becoming an alternative to search, so consumers click fewer blue links, while people spend more time scrolling Instagram. Alphabet shares fell more than 12% after its earnings on Wednesday.

• If you spend on Google ads, look at your last three months of clicks and calls in your ad account, so you can see whether search traffic to your business is falling.
• Type your business and what it sells into a chatbot such as ChatGPT or Gemini and see whether it names you, then fix your website and listings where it gets you wrong.

Source: CNBC. This is our short summary of their reporting. The paragraphs marked "Our read" and the things to do are SeedFoundry's opinion. The summary is drafted with AI tools. Image: Meta, from its own announcement. How we source and credit