Is YouTube Dying? The Impact of AI Search

You've probably done it today without thinking. When you wanted an answer to a specific question, you didn't watch an eight-minute YouTube video. You asked an AI search tool and had your answer in eight seconds.

So is YouTube dying? Not quite, but AI search is changing how people behave online, and that matters if you're building a business off the back of a YouTube channel. I walk you through the data I'm seeing, what's happening in my own analytics, and what you can do in your videos to keep getting found. This isn't here to panic you. It's here to inform you.

Key Takeaways

• People are still searching for the same topics, but more of them now find answers in AI search instead of YouTube search.
• YouTube videos can still be discovered through Google and cited in AI answers, and that's now where much of my traffic comes from.
• To get cited in AI search, make videos keyword rich, clear and focused on one problem, then add what AI can't: your story, real results and your point of view.

Is YouTube Dying? What Google Trends Shows

A good place to start is Google Trends. You can look at search interest over one, two or five years, and filter by YouTube search specifically.

I looked at "how to make money online", one of the most searched phrases in my space, worldwide over five years. On YouTube search, it's been trending down since 2025 and into 2026. Large language models have been around for a couple of years, but it's in the last 12 months or so that people have started using them like search engines.

The same pattern shows up across my topics:

• "How to make money online": YouTube search trending down from 2025.
• "Online business": the same downturn from 2025 into 2026.
• "Kajabi": a clear dip on YouTube search over the last 12 months.

People haven't stopped searching for these things. They're just finding answers somewhere else. Ask yourself: when did you last watch a full-length YouTube video just to get a quick answer? I still watch plenty of YouTube, but for long-form strategy, not quick fixes.

How AI Search Changes Where People Find Answers

AI is now built into almost every search bar, whether it's Google's AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude or ChatGPT.

When I searched Google for "how to start on Kajabi", the top of the page was an AI overview. It laid out the basics: account setup, site details, domain, payments and creating your first product. If that answers the question, there's no need to scroll down to the traditional results. The ten blue links are no longer the most valuable spot on the page. The AI overview is.

Click into AI Mode and it becomes a conversation, so you can keep asking follow-up questions. Compare that with YouTube search for the same phrase: a list of videos you need to watch to get your answer. My bet is that YouTube's results page will start to look more like Google's in the not-too-distant future. I explain more about this shift in my post on Google AI Mode.

What My YouTube Analytics Show

In YouTube Studio, I looked at traffic sources over the last 90 days. External traffic is now higher than YouTube search, and almost 75% of that external traffic comes from Google search.

That isn't my blog posts showing up in Google. It's my YouTube videos, hosted on YouTube, being shown in Google results. People are still finding my videos, they're just finding them through Google. If you want to understand these numbers in your own channel, I break down YouTube traffic sources in a separate post.

Which Videos Get Found in Google and AI Search

• Google Gemini Gems: my best performer over 90 days, ranking on page one of Google and in Google's video tab. I wrote this up as a blog on Gemini Gems.
• Loom tutorial: ranking number one in Google search, but not appearing in the AI Mode results.
• Hotjar tutorial: being cited directly in AI search when someone asks how to use Hotjar. You can read the Hotjar tutorial here.

Being cited in AI is where you want to be. More people are using AI to search, and a well-structured video can show up on YouTube, in Google and in AI answers.

How to Get Your YouTube Videos Cited in AI Search

To give your videos the best chance of being cited by AI, structure them so they're easy to understand and match what people search for.

1. Make it keyword rich. Use the main keywords in your title, description and the words you actually say.
2. Keep it clear. Explain things simply so both people and AI can follow.
3. Solve one specific problem. A focused video is easier to match to a specific question.

I go deeper into ranking without ads in my post on AI search hacks.

Do What AI Can't Do

AI tends to surface videos that show there's a real person behind them, with a story and real results. So put your point of view across in everything you talk about.

• Share your story: how you got to where you are.
• Share real results: what actually happened when you did the thing.
• Share what you think: your opinion, not just a list of facts.

In my book, watching someone who's been through the journey is far more compelling than reading a bullet-pointed list.

Conclusion

YouTube isn't dying, but AI search has changed how and where people look for answers. More people now use AI tools than YouTube for quick questions, yet there's still a clear place for YouTube videos, especially when they're found through Google and cited in AI.

If you've noticed a dip in views, don't despair. Make keyword-rich videos that solve one problem, and layer in your personality, your story, your results and your point of view.