How Shifts in Google Search Dominance and AI Innovation Could Impact Museum Marketing

In recent years, museums have relied heavily on Google Search as a primary driver of online visibility, audience engagement, and tourism research.

From travellers searching for ‘best museums near me’ to art enthusiasts looking for exhibition details, Google has long been the gateway to connecting audiences with cultural institutions.

However, a seismic shift is on the horizon. Google’s dominance in search is being challenged by emerging competitors, AI innovations, and changing user behaviour.

The Rise of AI Search Engines and New Competitors

OpenAI, the organisation behind ChatGPT, has recently introduced SearchGPT, a browser-based search engine offering real-time answers across categories such as news, maps, weather, and travel.

With travel and cultural exploration as key focus areas, SearchGPT directly challenges Google’s dominance in helping visitors discover museums and plan trips.

Additionally, platforms like TikTok are transforming search behaviour, particularly among younger audiences. According to recent surveys, 40% of Americans use TikTok as a search engine, and 10% of Gen Z users prefer TikTok over Google for search queries.

Museums might find that younger visitors learn about exhibitions, events, and collections through short, visually engaging videos rather than traditional web searches.

This shift raises critical questions for museum marketing teams: Are digital strategies optimised for these evolving search patterns? Are museums creating short-form content that thrives on TikTok and AI-powered discovery tools? Should museums be working with social media influencers?

Google’s AI Push: Gemini and AI Overviews

In response to this competitive landscape, Google has doubled down on its AI capabilities through Gemini, its advanced language model. Google has also introduced AI Overviews—a feature that uses generative AI to display summarised answers at the top of search results.

While these tools can improve user experience, they also raise concerns. Suppose AI Overviews provide immediate answers about museum hours, exhibition highlights, or ticket prices.

Will visitors still click through to museum websites? If fewer people land on a museum’s website, how will this affect ticket sales, memberships, and donations?

The Advertising Shake-Up

Historically, Google has been a reliable space for museum advertising campaigns, mainly through Google Ads. However, analysts predict Google’s U.S. search advertising market share will fall below 50% by 2025.

This decline is driven by competitors like Microsoft Bing (in partnership with OpenAI) and TikTok, which are eating into Google’s ad dominance.

For museums, this means diversification in digital advertising strategies is no longer optional—it’s essential. Institutions may need to allocate budgets across multiple platforms to ensure they’re effectively reaching audiences.

Regulatory Hurdles: What Museums Need to Know

Google’s future isn’t just being shaped by competition; it’s also being shaped by regulation. Ongoing antitrust cases question whether Google’s advertising model gives it unfair advantages. Depending on the outcomes, there could be dramatic changes to how search results and advertisements are displayed.

Museums might experience ripple effects, including changes to ad pricing, organic search algorithms, or access to analytics tools.

Preparing for a Search-Fragmented Future

The fragmentation of search means that museums will need to adopt more agile and diverse digital strategies:

1. Invest in Multi-Platform Presence: Museums should not rely solely on Google for digital visibility. Platforms like Bing and TikTok and AI search tools like SearchGPT must also be part of the strategy.
2. Optimise for AI Discovery: With tools like AI Overviews summarising website content, museums should ensure their metadata, descriptions, and SEO practices are optimised for AI-driven search engines.
3. Create Platform-Specific Content: Short-form videos for TikTok, structured data for AI tools, and rich media for traditional search engines must all work together.
4. Stay Agile with Advertising Budgets: Diversify advertising spending across multiple search and social platforms.

Museum Marketing and the Future of Search

The future of search is shifting beneath our feet, and museums must be ready to adapt. Whether embracing AI-powered search tools, experimenting with TikTok search strategies, or diversifying advertising spend, institutions that stay ahead of these trends will be better positioned to attract and retain audiences in a fragmented digital landscape.

For museum marketing teams, now is the time to rethink digital strategy and prepare for a world where search no longer belongs to a single giant—but is instead shared across an ecosystem of AI tools, platforms, and user behaviours.