Our Search Behavior is Changing Radically
Looking back over the past few years in digital marketing, it seems like only yesterday we were getting our heads around mobile-first indexing or the latest social algorithm shifts. Now, we're facing perhaps the most significant disruption yet: the rise of Artificial Intelligence in search.
It's a topic I've been nerding into lately, and it's forcing a fundamental rethink of strategies many of us — including founders, execs, and scaleup teams I've worked with — have relied on for years.
The playbook we built
For a long time, the digital playbook felt established. Classic SEO was the primary tool for organic visibility: meticulous keyword research, crafting quality content guided by E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), building backlinks, and ensuring our technical house was in order. The goal was clear — climb the rankings on Google, capture organic traffic, and convert visitors. Position 1 historically commanded a click-through rate of up to 40%.
Then came the AI wave.
AI search is a paradigm shift
AI search — exemplified by Google's AI Overviews and platforms like Perplexity, ChatGPT, and Gemini — isn't just a feature update. These tools use sophisticated models to understand the intent and context behind a query, not just the keywords. Instead of a list of blue links, they provide direct, synthesised answers right there on the results page.
This changes everything for user behaviour:
Zero-click searches are rising. If the AI Overview answers the question satisfactorily, why click further? Estimates suggest around 60% of searches might now end without a click to an external site — especially for informational queries.
Conversational queries take centre stage. Users are learning they can ask AI search more complex, natural language questions. AI is built to handle that nuance.
Reliance on AI summaries is growing. Convenience is king. Google reports billions of monthly interactions with AI, and platforms like Perplexity are se