A new report from Datos and SparkToro reveals a striking shift in U.S. search behavior: Google searches per desktop user are down nearly 20% year over year. Importantly, Google isn’t losing users, but it’s losing repeat searches.
This distinction matters.
While Google still dominates search and continues to account for roughly 10% of all U.S. desktop activity, fewer searches per person means limited moments to show up, fewer chances to earn clicks, and more competition for a shrinking pool of attention.
In short: discovery just got harder.
What’s actually happening?
According to the report, the drop in U.S. searches per user stands in sharp contrast to Europe, where the decline is only 2–3%. The difference points to behavior, not platform abandonment.
The reason? AI-powered answers and instant results.
Users are increasingly getting what they need in one search instead of several. Follow-up queries are disappearing because search results that are often enhanced by AI are resolving questions faster and more completely.
A few key pointers from the data:
- Zero-click searches remain high, leveling off in the low-20% range.
- Repeat searches and clicks inside Google-owned properties have changed only marginally, suggesting this new behavior has stabilized.
- AI isn’t replacing search — it’s being layered into it.
AI tools still represent less than 1% of total U.S. desktop activity, despite the hype. Although Google’s AI Mode is growing, it still remains very small. The real impact is subtler: AI is reducing the need to search again.
Search queries are getting smarter and longer
One of the most apparent behavioral shifts is how people search.
Mid-length queries (six to nine words) are growing fastest in the U.S., signaling that users are more comfortable expressing nuanced or complex needs directly in search. Very long queries (15+ words) remain rare, but their volatility suggests experimentation as people test how much context search can handle.
For brands, this reinforces an important reality: search intent is becoming clearer upfront, but there are fewer chances to capture it.
Discovery is concentrating, not expanding
The report also confirms what many publishers and marketers have been feeling for a while: search-driven discovery is becoming more concentrated.
Post-search destinations haven’t changed much. The same platforms continue to dominate:
- YouTube
- Amazon
- Wikipedia
One notable mover: ChatGPT climbed to No. 7 among U.S. search destinations, while Quora fell out of the top 15.
Even within AI platforms, traffic overwhelmingly flows to established players like Google, YouTube, GitHub, and Wikipedia. New or independent publishers are not seeing meaningful lift from AI discovery.
As SparkToro co-founder Rand Fishkin put it, AI answers are increasingly resolving questions before users ever need to click an organic result or perform a second or third search.
Why this matters for brands
The headline isn’t “SEO is dead.” It’s more nuanced and more urgent.
When searches per user decline:
- Each search carries more weight
- Competition intensifies at the top of the results
- The margin for weak, generic, or duplicative content shrinks
Visibility is no longer about being present. It’s about being chosen in fewer, more decisive moments.
What brands should focus on now
This shift calls for smarter, more intentional strategies and not panic. A few principles stand out:
- Optimize for clarity, not volume: Content that directly answers real, complex questions is more likely to win when users aren’t searching twice.
- Prioritize authority and usefulness: AI and search algorithms increasingly favor sources that demonstrate credibility, depth, and relevance.
- Think beyond traditional SEO: Discovery now spans search, social, video, communities, and AI-assisted platforms. Relying on one channel is riskier than ever.
- Invest in content that earns trust: When clicks are fewer, trust becomes the differentiator — not keyword density.
The bottom line
Search isn’t disappearing, but it’s becoming more efficient, more concentrated, and less forgiving.
For brands, that means fewer chances to show up, but greater rewards for showing up well. The era of easy discovery is fading. What’s replacing it is a landscape where strategy, substance, and relevance matter more than ever.
And that’s where the real opportunity lies.