Alphabet reports AI Mode query growth outpaces revenue growth

Alphabet recently reported its fastest growth in Google search queries in five years alongside its slowest search revenue growth rate of 2026, dropping below analyst expectations. Google executives attributed the revenue slowdown in part to lower monetization from rapidly growing AI Mode queries. The author argues that currency swings and other listed factors are largely temporary, while the structural yield gap in AI Mode answers remains the central challenge Google is addressing by scaling in-answer advertising. Open article →