Traditional Search Still Dominates in the Age of AI

By Andrew Juma – Founder of The AJ Center, an award-winning end-to-end digital marketing firm. Follow Andrew on LinkedIn.

June 8, 2025

Despite the buzz around AI chatbots, traditional search remains the primary gateway to online knowledge, according to the latest Q1 2025 “State of Search” report from Datos in partnership with SparkToro. Data from tens of millions of desktop users across the U.S., U.K., and EU shows desktop Google usage steadily holding over 90% of desktop queries—far outpacing AI-powered tools like ChatGPT, whose share remains in the low single digits (andyabramson.com, sparktoro.com, facebook.com, datos.live).

In the U.S., traditional search commands a 10.55% market share of desktop query volume, compared to just 0.55% for AI tools; the EU and U.K. mirror this with 10.25% versus 0.71%.

Analysts remain cautious about proclamations of “search is dead.” SparkToro CEO Rand Fishkin asserts that not only has Google’s dominance persisted, but overall desktop query volume surged by around 22% in 2024 alone—a jump equivalent to “multiple ChatGPTs” in terms of search volume (smamarketing.net, searchpilot.com, muckrack.com). SearchPilot CEO Will Critchlow echoes this sentiment, noting that Google added roughly one trillion new searches in a single year—more than in the previous seven combined.

Still, the environment is shifting. While Google’s share remains high—StatCounter pegged it at around 89.7% globally in March 2025, down from 93% in March 2023—the rise of AI chatbots and alternative search engines suggests gradual erosion. Apple’s Eddy Cue even admitted a decline in Safari-based Google searches in April, indicating emerging vulnerabilities. The fact remains: traditional search is evolving, but far from obsolete.

The Surge of Zero‑Click Searches

One of the clearest signals of search’s transformation is the rise in zero-click searches—queries that do not result in users navigating away from SERPs. In March 2025, 27.2% of U.S. Google desktop searches ended without any click, up from 24.4% a year earlier. For EU and U.K. desktop users, zero-clicks climbed from 23.6% to 26.1% (wordstream.com, scrumdigital.com, andyabramson.com, searchengineland.com, upandsocial.com).

These trends are corroborated by Search Engine Land and others, which also reported increasing zero-click incidence.

Multiple forces drive this trend. Google’s rich snippets, knowledge panels, People Also Ask (PAA) boxes, and AI Overviews mean users often find answers directly on the SERP. SGE (Search Generative Experience) is now atop Google results, offering synthesized responses that meet user intent without requiring clicks (arxiv.org, scrumdigital.com, originality.ai).

Originality.ai noted that by late 2024, nearly 60% of global searches ended with no click—and mobile exceeded 75%.

Rand Fishkin emphasizes that zero‑click does not mean “zero impact” for brands—it’s a branding and visibility opportunity, but not direct traffic (upandsocial.com, scrumdigital.com). Yet publishers caution that AI Overviews could “decimate” their organic performance, urging a new paradigm to adapt (digitalcontentnext.org).

Even as search volume grows, fewer clicks per query means the ratio of visits-to-queries is shifting—a complexity that Google’s executives subtly acknowledged in recent earnings calls (searchpilot.com).

3. Google’s Ad Click Dominance (and Decline)

While Google remains the dominant ad channel by far, its ad click share is facing small but notable declines. In March 2025, 84.2% of all desktop ad clicks across the U.S., EU, and U.K. occurred on Google properties. Microsoft Bing accounted for 9.5%, with Amazon trailing at 2.9% (sparktoro.com, searchpilot.com).

Yet Google’s ad dominance is shrinking slightly. In March 2024, its share of ad clicks was 86.5%. The decline is consistent across regions: the U.S. dropped from 85.6% to 82.8%; the EU from 86.2% to 84.5%; the U.K. from 88.3% to 85.4%. Most of this loss appears to be Amazon’s gain, particularly in product-related and e-commerce queries.

This subtle shift matters. Even small losses in ad click share could imply billions in long-term revenue migration, especially if Amazon and Bing’s traction continues. Microsoft’s AI integrations in Bing and Amazon’s intent-driven advertising could pose credible, if still distant, threats to Google’s paid search dominance.

4. ChatGPT’s Surprisingly Modest Desktop Usage

The media narrative has often centered on ChatGPT’s explosive growth, but its desktop search impact remains small. In the U.S., ChatGPT accounted for just 0.55% of all desktop queries in March 2025. It did slightly better in the U.K. (0.81%) and EU (0.61%)—but those are still modest compared to Google’s 10.55% share (searchpilot.com, muckrack.com).

Even when aggregating all major AI tools (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, Pi), AI search accounts for only about 1% of desktop queries globally. This data tracks with OpenAI’s own traffic numbers, which show the vast majority of ChatGPT’s 1.8 billion visits are mobile—and many users are simply experimenting.

Perplexity.ai is the closest challenger among AI-native tools, gaining about 1.8 million unique monthly desktop users in the U.S. as of March 2025. But even that pales compared to Google’s hundreds of millions. The big picture: AI tools may be loud, but they’re still a faint signal in desktop search behavior—for now.

5. Brand Search Is Holding Up (and Growing)

Despite concerns that AI chatbots will reduce branded search behavior, data shows the opposite: branded queries are rising. Among Google desktop searches in March 2025, 41.4% included a brand name—up from 38.3% in March 2024. This is particularly pronounced in the U.S., where 44.5% of searches were branded (sparktoro.com, searchpilot.com).

These searches include navigational intent (“Nike shoes,” “Netflix login”), branded research (“Apple Vision Pro reviews”), or purchase queries (“buy Tesla Model Y”). The consistent rise in branded queries suggests consumer affinity and brand awareness continue to drive a significant share of search volume—something AI Overviews and generative snippets haven’t yet disrupted.

Rand Fishkin notes that brand is now the “most defensible SEO strategy.” If AI reduces traffic from non-branded queries, marketers must invest in building brand loyalty so users search specifically for them—ensuring relevance in both traditional and AI-driven SERPs.

6. TikTok as a Search Engine: Still Niche (But Growing)

The notion that TikTok is replacing Google for search—especially among Gen Z—is popular but premature. Datos’ Q1 2025 data shows TikTok handles just 1.1% of total U.S. desktop search queries. However, this is up from 0.6% in March 2024, indicating rapid growth (searchengineland.com, businessinsider.com).

TikTok performs especially well in entertainment, beauty, and how-to niches. For example, search volumes for “eyeshadow tutorial,” “festival outfits,” and “Taylor Swift Easter eggs” are significantly higher on TikTok than other platforms among younger users.

However, TikTok’s search format lacks deep links, filtering, and query refinement. Users scroll through videos, not structured answers. Still, with search ads, affiliate links, and AI tools like AskTikTok emerging, ByteDance is clearly aiming to monetize search behavior. Brands should monitor TikTok SEO strategies as they evolve.

7. Publishers Brace for Traffic Declines from AI Overviews

Google’s AI Overviews, now rolled out widely in the U.S., are rattling publishers. These summaries appear atop the SERP, providing direct answers scraped from publisher content—often without credit or clicks (originality.ai, digitalcontentnext.org, smamarketing.net).

Digital Content Next, a trade group representing publishers, has criticized the rollout as “decimating” organic traffic. Their April 2025 open letter argues AI Overviews devalue journalism by extracting and paraphrasing content with no compensation.

This issue parallels controversies around Google News in the early 2010s and recent AI copyright lawsuits. While Google says publishers can opt out via structured data, that’s a tough sell: opt out, and you risk being excluded entirely. Opt in, and you may lose traffic anyway.

Publishers are exploring strategies such as obfuscating content, using paywalls, or even litigating. The question: Can trust, discovery, and monetization coexist in an AI-dominated SERP?

8. Search Traffic Is Growing, But Traffic Per Query Is Shrinking

Perhaps the most important—and subtle—trend in the Q1 2025 “State of Search” report is this: total desktop search volume is up significantly, but the number of visits per query is down.

In the U.S., Google desktop query volume rose from 65 billion in Q1 2024 to 79.5 billion in Q1 2025—a 22% increase. Yet overall desktop search-driven traffic to websites increased just 8.3% in that time. That means fewer clicks per query—largely due to zero-click results and AI summaries (searchpilot.com).

The implication: even if your traffic stays flat, you’re likely losing share of attention. SEO strategy must evolve from simple “traffic acquisition” to “attention optimization.” Winning on brand, capturing rich results, and being referenced in AI responses will become the new SEO metrics.