The Done Economy, part 2 of 9. A series from Prufloop™.
If you run a business, you've heard of SEO: search engine optimization. It's the work of getting your website onto the first page of Google. A whole industry grew up around it, along with paid ads and lead services that charge you every time a potential customer raises a hand.
All of it is built on one assumption: a person is looking at a screen. Someone types a search, scrolls, clicks, reads, and decides.
That assumption is breaking.
People are clicking less
In 2025, Pew Research Center looked at real Google searches from 900 U.S. adults. When Google showed an AI summary at the top, people clicked a regular search result in 8% of visits. When there was no summary, they clicked 15% of the time. They clicked a link inside the summary itself in about 1% of visits.
The answer is starting to replace the click.
Meanwhile, AI assistants are becoming a normal way to look for help:
- 34% of U.S. adults said they had used ChatGPT in early 2025, about double the share in 2023 (Pew).
- OpenAI said in February 2026 that ChatGPT had more than 900 million weekly users.
- In BrightLocal's 2026 survey of U.S. consumers, 45% said they use ChatGPT or other AI tools to get recommendations for local businesses. A year earlier it was 6%.
Google searches that led to a click on a regular result
U.S. consumers who use AI tools for local business recommendations
Sources: Pew Research Center (2025, 900 U.S. adults); BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2026.
Show the data
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Click on a regular result, no AI summary | 15% |
| Click on a regular result, AI summary shown | 8% |
| Click on a link inside the AI summary | 1% |
| Use AI for local recommendations, 2025 | 6% |
| Use AI for local recommendations, 2026 | 45% |
Bill Gates saw this coming. In 2023 he wrote that AI agents would change how we use computers, and that "you won't have to use different apps for different tasks." You'll just say what you need.
From being found to being chosen
When an AI assistant is doing the looking, the rules change. An assistant doesn't get tired of scrolling. It doesn't care about your ad copy. It wants answers it can act on:
- Is this business licensed and insured?
- What does it charge, and for what?
- Is it open at the time my person needs?
- Can I book it right now, without a phone call?
- Did it do good work last time, according to something more reliable than a star rating?
We call the work of being ready for that Agent Execution Enablement, or AXE. SEO is about getting found by a person. AXE is about getting chosen, booked and finished by an agent acting for a person.
| SEO and lead gen | AXE | |
|---|---|---|
| Who's looking | A person scrolling | An AI assistant acting for a person |
| The goal | Rank on page one | Get chosen, booked and finished |
| What's sold | A click or a lead | A completed, proven job |
| When the business pays | Before the work | When the job is marked done |
| What earns trust | Reviews and ads | Verified credentials and real outcomes |
Why this matters most for local services
Some predictions about AI and search have run ahead of the facts. Gartner predicted in 2024 that search engine volume would drop 25% by 2026. Google's own numbers say search is still growing. We don't think search disappears.
But for local services, the change is already real. Booking a plumber was never really a search problem. The hard part was everything after the search: getting a price, getting a time, getting someone to show up, and knowing the job was done right. That's exactly where an assistant that can act is most useful, and where today's lead systems fall shortest.
Lead sites like Angi and Thumbtack, and Google's own Local Services ads, stop at a wall. They help you find someone and pass your request along. They don't book a real slot on the pro's calendar, they don't check the work got done, and they charge the pro before any work happens.
AXE is what's on the other side of that wall.
What a business needs to be ready
In short, a business that wants to be chosen by AI assistants needs its facts in order: real credentials, real prices and terms, real open times, a way to be booked directly, and a record of finished jobs. That's not a marketing project. It's an honesty project. We'll get into exactly how it works in the next post.
What replacing SEO means
Replacing SEO isn't about a new way to rank. For pros, it means clearer, more targeted work: booked jobs that fit what they do, instead of a stream of shared leads. For customers, it means less noise and more transparency: real prices, real availability and proof the job got done. And the money changes with it. Ad spend for lead generation is changing completely: instead of paying up front for clicks and shared leads that may never turn into work, businesses pay a share of real, booked work, charged when the job is marked done. SEO got you found. AXE gets it done.
Next: How AXE works: verify, expose, book, prove, pay
Sources
- Pew Research Center, AI summaries and clicks (July 2025): Pew via The Register
- Pew Research Center, 34% of U.S. adults have used ChatGPT (June 2025): Pew
- ChatGPT weekly users, February 2026: Search Engine Land ChatGPT stats
- BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2026: BrightLocal
- Bill Gates, "AI is about to completely change how you use computers" (Nov 2023): CNBC
- Gartner search volume prediction (Feb 2024): Search Engine Land
Prufloop is a trademark of Prufloop. AXE is a category term, not a trademark.