Search & Rescue: How Marketers Can Recover from Changing Search Behavior

When it comes to how people search online, 2025 has been a roller coaster of a year. While traditional search held its ground, AI tools exploded into mainstream behavior and users began navigating the web in ways that look nothing like the linear, click-driven paths marketers once relied on. Overall, search has changed in a way that fundamentally reshaped how people discover information, evaluate options, and make decisions.

We’re experiencing a new search reality, one where attention matters as much as traffic, visibility matters as much as ranking, and trust matters more than ever.

How Search Has Changed in 2025

The State of Search Q3 2025 report from Datos and SparkToro is one of the most comprehensive behavior-level studies of how people use search and AI discovery tools today. The data reveals a search landscape that didn’t fracture under the rise of AI (as some predicted) but instead expanded into a multi-layered ecosystem of queries, zero-click paths, refinements, summaries, and platform-native interactions.

Let’s take a closer look at what story the numbers tell and how these changes are changing search strategy as we enter 2026.

Traditional Search (aka Google) Isn’t Going Anywhere

Many marketers predicted that the rise of AI tools and large language models (LLMs) would erode Google’s dominance and completely tank traditional search, but surprisingly, the report revealed that the opposite has happened.

Traditional search engines have proved remarkably resilient in 2025. The data shows that traditional search has a steady hold, rising from 9.96% of desktop events in 2024 to 10.38% in 2025. Google continues to reign supreme among search engines, owning a staggering 95% of all US desktop queries. In fact, the average desktop user made 90–100 Google searches per month.

In other words, even in the face of AI tools gaining traction, people haven’t abandoned traditional search. “Google it” remains the reflex for everything from quick checks to in-depth research.

AI Is Becoming Its Own Search Category

AI didn’t dethrone search in 2025, but it did create an entirely new discovery category alongside it.

According to the Datos and SparkToro study, AI tools’ share of desktop events grew from 0.24% (April 2024) to 0.72% (September 2025), and while those numbers are small, they have nearly tripled in the last year. If we take a closer look at specific tools, 37.08% of US desktop users visited ChatGPT in September 2025.

At the same time, the adoption of AI tools has stabilized at around 1.3%, which suggests people are settling into real, ongoing usage rather than experimenting.

Rather than replacing Google, AI has become its own high‑intent environment where users ask broader questions, seek explanations, compare options, and test ideas. It’s not a Google killer but its own search path that reshapes how people research and make decisions.

On-Platform Engagement Is Rising Across Search Engines

In 2025, we’ve seen a rise in on-platform engagement. A significant share of user activity—14.4% of all Google searches—stayed inside Google’s ecosystem rather than flowing outward to websites. Users are more likely than ever to interact with the results page itself—reading summaries, scanning AI‑generated overviews, checking maps, comparing products, or refining their query.

For marketers, it means focusing solely on driving clicks is no longer viable. A growing percentage of visibility happens without a site visit, and winning requires influencing the search experience directly. Brands need to find ways to show up and engage with their on-platform audience without leaving the search results page or they’ll miss out on nearly 15% of their visibility opportunities.

Zero-Click Behavior Is Now Mainstream

What happens these days when someone searches on Google?

• 6% of searches resulted in a click to an external website
• 7% of searches ended in no click at all
• 2% of searchers were followed by another search
• 4% of searches stayed on Google or ended up somewhere in Google’s ecosystem (maps, weather, hotels, etc.)
• 1% of searchers led to a paid result

I want to highlight the second result: more than a quarter of all Google searches ended without a click.

Zero‑click behavior refers to search sessions where the user finds what they need without clicking on any result—no website visit, no external action. This behavior is now deeply embedded in how people search.

Overall, zero-click outcomes have grown by 3% since 2024. These numbers are driven by Google’s AI overviews, LLM-powered summaries, rich search engine result page (SERP) models (People Also Ask, etc.), and Google’s growing set of native information surfaces.

Search is evolving into an environment where questions increasingly get answered before the click. As a result, marketers must now optimize for visibility, clarity, and brand recognition inside the SERP itself.

We’re Living in a Trust Economy

The most consistent pattern in the data is where people choose to go after they search: platforms with reputations for reliability, community validation, credibility, or factual consistency.

The top search destinations in both 2024 and 2025 remained unchanged: YouTube, Reddit, Amazon, Wikipedia, and Facebook. And significantly, when it comes to the top AI-assisted destinations, Wikipedia and even the National Institutes of Health website continue to rank.

These trends tell us that trust is the primary filter users apply before they click, scroll, or believe what they see.

The internet is flooded with AI generated content, so users are starting to lean harder on recognizable, credible brands and thought leaders. Platforms that have earned long-term trust, whether through community conversations, authoritative sourcing, or transparent editorial standards, are becoming the anchors of user behavior.

Knowledge Is Power (& AI Engines Agree)

AI tools still depend on high‑authority sources to ground their answers, and users gravitate toward those same sources when they want to verify, validate, or dive deeper.

It creates an authority feedback loop: AI systems surface information from trusted platforms, users click into those platforms because they trust them, and those platforms become even more central to AI-assisted browsing. Today, authority is a prerequisite for inclusion in AI-driven results.

For marketers, this shifts priorities. It’s no longer enough to simply publish content. Brands must demonstrate expertise, accuracy, and credibility across multiple surfaces.

Users Rely on Digital Ecosystems

Search behavior now extends far beyond traditional pages and landing destinations. People move fluidly between interconnected ecosystems: Google for discovery, YouTube for visual learning, Reddit for real opinions, Amazon for product research, Wikipedia for factual grounding, and ChatGPT for synthesized understanding.

The stability and growth of these platforms across both search and AI assisted browsing confirm that users don’t rely on a single website or single channel but on ecosystems of information.

That’s why the mindset of “SEO = optimizing a website” is outdated. The new approach is search everywhere optimization, which means your brand appears, contributes, and builds trust across all the surfaces where users seek answers.

What Marketers Need to Do to Win in 2026 (& Beyond)

The rules of search marketing have fundamentally shifted, and so has how we measure success. Instead of chasing rankings or squeezing more clicks out of diminishing clickthrough rates, we’re focusing on showing up where people already search, earning trust across multiple ecosystems, and shaping the information paths that guide discovery long before someone reaches your website.

The brands that win in 2026 and beyond will be the ones who treat search as a multi-platform visibility strategy.

Invest in Zero-Click Optimization

With nearly a quarter of end without a click, then winning in 2026 means becoming the result people remember, not just the result they visit. Zero‑click optimization involves delivering value inside the search result itself: the snippet, the summary, the overview, the knowledge panel, the dropdown.

If users are staying on the SERP, your influence has to reach them before they ever reach your site.

This approach requires content that anticipates questions, removes ambiguity, and gives Google (and AI systems) the confidence to feature your answers. It also requires a brand presence strong enough that when your name appears in a snippet, users register it instantly.

Ways to win inside the SERP:

• Create content purpose‑built for featured snippets, AI overviews, FAQs, and structured data.
• Develop clear, concise answers that match user intent.
• Use schema markup to help Google interpret and feature content.
• Build brand familiarity so users recognize your name in SERP even without clicking.

Zero‑click visibility won’t replace traffic, but it will dramatically increase brand recognition, authority, and influence, which ultimately drives demand.

Build Ecosystem Authority (Not Just Domain Authority)

Winning in search now requires more than a strong website. You need to create a presence across the full landscape where your target audience evaluates information.

Authority is no longer measured only by backlinks or content volume; it’s measured by visibility, participation, and credibility within the ecosystems users trust. It requires showing up with relevance and consistency across platforms where searchers go to learn, verify, compare, and decide.

Authority must be built across YouTube (tutorials, explainers, reviews), Reddit (community participation where appropriate), LinkedIn (professional credibility), Amazon (if selling products), Wikipedia (brand accuracy), and GitHub (for technical brands). Each of these surfaces reinforces the others.

When users encounter a brand repeatedly across different ecosystems—and see consistent value each time—credibility compounds. Ecosystem authority makes your brand the default answer even before a query is typed.

Prioritize Brand as a Search Strategy

Brand has quietly become one of the most important levers in modern search because users increasingly click based on familiarity. When someone recognizes and trusts a brand, they don’t need to rely on navigational searches to find it, nor do they need to scroll through pages of results. They simply choose the name they know.

Strong branding also shortens the decision cycle. A familiar, trusted brand reduces friction, lowers perceived risk, and increases the likelihood that users will return, click, or convert, even in a zero-click environment.

Building that kind of brand equity requires consistency. Thought leadership, recognizable messaging, and a clear narrative across platforms help position your company as the authoritative answer in your category. When searchers see your insights repeatedly on LinkedIn, your explanations on YouTube, your participation on Reddit, or your voice reflected in AI summaries, they begin to trust you long before they reach your website.

Create Content for Humans & Algorithms

Search in 2026 operates on two layers: the human layer and the algorithmic layer. AI overviews, LLM-generated snippets, and contextual summaries pull information from content that is clear, structured, factual, and authoritative. If content is vague, overly promotional, thin, or poorly sourced, AI systems are less likely to use it, and humans are less likely to trust it.

Content must be written with dual audiences in mind. Humans need clarity, expertise, and usefulness. AI systems need structure, precision, and signals of credibility. The more your content reflects real expertise—supported by evidence, examples, and well-organized explanations—the more likely it is to be surfaced, cited, or summarized by both Google and AI assistants.

Content optimized for both audiences becomes leverage: It influences SERPs, improves AI visibility, strengthens reputation, and reinforces trust.

Design Frictionless Multi-Touch Journeys

The modern buyer journey is a web of micro-moments across dozens of platforms. A user may start with a Google query, shift to Reddit to check real opinions, move to YouTube to understand a concept visually, ask ChatGPT for synthesis, navigate to Amazon to compare solutions, and then return to search later when they’re closer to taking action.

Frictionless multi-touch journeys reduce drop-off, reinforce trust, and create connections that feel organic and user led rather than forced or funnel-driven.

Instead of treating these as separate touchpoints, brands must create experiences that feel continuous no matter where the user goes. Organizations have to maintain consistent messaging, recognizable brand cues, and modular content that adapts naturally to each platform’s format and user expectations.

Rethink How You Measure Visibility

Traditional metrics like traffic and clickthrough rate only tell part of the story now. Zero-click behavior means users can see your brand, learn from it, and trust it without ever arriving on your site. That influence still matters, and marketers must measure it.

Understanding your true search impact requires tracking visibility metrics, impression share, branded search volume, and engagement across ecosystems like YouTube, Reddit, and LinkedIn. It also means paying attention to how often AI systems reference or summarize your content, which is quickly becoming a competitive indicator of authority.

SERP influence, not just site visitation, must guide your strategy going forward.

Conclusion

Search hasn’t been replaced, but it has changed and expanded. Traditional search remains a cornerstone of digital discovery, AI has become a parallel search ecosystem, and platforms that have earned user trust continue to dominate.

The winners in 2026 won’t be the brands chasing clicks. They’ll be the ones who understand how users navigate information today and adapt their strategies accordingly.

If you want support building a modern search and visibility strategy that aligns with how people actually search in 2026, we’re here to help. At OneIMS, we work with companies to build multi-platform search visibility, strengthen ecosystem authority, and develop content that earns trust across every discovery surface.

Schedule a consultation today to get started. We’ll walk you through the opportunities, the roadmap, and the strategy to help you win in the new era of search.