It appears as though investor optimism is surging, with the Nasdaq Composite index up 35% so far this year. This is exactly the type of rebound that investors wanted after the market tanked in 2022. 

Although stocks broadly are doing well, there are some individual businesses that look like good portfolio additions right now. Indeed, there are a lot of things to like about Alphabet (GOOGL 0.23%) (GOOG 0.23%) in particular. 

Here's why it's a top tech stock that you can buy and hold for the next decade. 

Worries about artificial intelligence 

Late last year, the tech world was upended when ChatGPT made its debut. The chatbot, which is powered by artificial intelligence (AI), can provide conversational answers to user prompts. Microsoft increased its stake in OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, with the tech giant integrating the service into its Bing search engine. Surely, this was the beginning of the end of Google Search, right? 

This hasn't proven to be the case at all. Data from Statcounter shows that Google's share of the search engine market slightly increased since November 2022, while Bing's shrunk. Because Google Search, through its ad sales, accounted for 57% of Alphabet's revenue in 2022, it's the company's crown jewel. Worries about its demise were certainly prevalent. 

But investors tend to overreact in the short term and underreact in the long term. I believe this was the case when news broke about Microsoft's partnership with ChatGPT. The thinking was that Alphabet was far behind when it came to this new technology. But in reality, the business is a clear leader in the space, thanks to its capital and talent resources. And this means that Alphabet shareholders can have confidence in the company's ability to successfully navigate the competitive landscape over time. 

Moreover, at its I/O conference, CEO Sundar Pichai announced new ways that the business plans to incorporate AI throughout its vast ecosystem. Popular services -- like Workspace, Maps, and Photos, for example -- will utilize the technology. 

Growth drivers 

Alphabet has numerous segments that can fuel growth for the overall business over the long term. Increasing sales 28% in the last quarter, Google Cloud Platform is one of them. The cloud segment, which posted an operating profit of $395 million in Q2, has a third-place spot in the nascent industry. And this places it in a powerful position to benefit from corporations increasing their IT spending on cloud infrastructure services. 

We also can't forget about YouTube, the top user-generated video service with over 2 billion monthly active users. YouTube commands more TV time in the U.S. than streaming leader Netflix. And with YouTube TV, the segment is already a force to be reckoned with as a full-on alternative to traditional cable-TV offerings. In fact, YouTube TV has more subscribers than Hulu's live-TV service. 

Plus, the National Football League's Sunday Ticket will certainly help draw in more customers, making its $2 billion price tag to secure the rights worth it. Video entertainment is highly competitive, but YouTube can go toe-to-toe with anyone in the industry. 

Waymo is a younger and more unproven division of the juggernaut that is Alphabet. This is the company's self-driving technology unit. It just inked a partnership with Uber to bring Waymo's tech to the ride-hailing platform. If Waymo one day becomes the top operating system built into new cars, it could bring about another huge data source for Alphabet, which could potentially lead to the creation of another meaningful revenue driver through subscriptions or advertisements. 

Look at the valuation 

Alphabet shares have had a good year thus far, rising 39% in 2023 (as of July 25). And in the last decade, the stock has returned a stellar 442%, crushing the broader Nasdaq by a wide margin. I'm sure investors wish they had added the business to their portfolios back then. 

However, the stock still doesn't look expensive today. It trades at an EV-to-EBIT (enterprise value to earnings before interest and taxes) multiple of 20, which is about in line with its trailing-10-year average valuation. I think this makes buying Alphabet shares almost a no-brainer decision right now.