A Timeline of AI & Search
If you've searched for anything online recently, you've interacted with AI—whether you realised it or not. AI has been shaping search results for a decade, evolving from simple ranking enhancements to complex, generative responses that influence how users engage with information. Some key Google AI Milestones:
2015: Google introduced RankBrain - their first AI system -focussed on identifying how words are related to concepts.
2018: Google introduced BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) – an AI powered language model that focussed on understanding the context around searches.
2020: Google introduces Passage ranking – an AI system used to identify relevancy of individual sections of a page rather than the entire page.
2022: Multisearch powered by AI – allowing users to search using a combination of both images (Google Lens) and text.
2024: Google Search Generative Experience (SGE) – generative AI integrated into search results, delivering AI-Overviews or AI-generated summaries and conversational search responses.
Google AI Overviews
One of the most visible changes has been AI Overviews – AI-generated summaries served at the top of search pages. AI Overviews is an evolution of ‘featured snippets’ which were served as short answer to a question taken from a high authority website. AI Overviews are different because they integrate several sources into one response. This change makes SEO responses much more unpredictable for brands.
As of early 2025, AI Overviews are appearing for a relatively low number of searches (29.9% of Keywords and 11.5% of Total Search Volume). However, they are much more likely to appear in top of funnel searches (74% of Problem-solving queries and 69% of Specific Question intents). Source: Authoritas Research January 2025.
We expect to see AI integrated responses grow.
With AI-driven responses growing, businesses must adapt to ensure their content is recognised as a trusted source.
NB: AI Overview is the Google product but other search engines have similar products (such as Bing Generative Search).
How AI Is Changing User Behaviour in Search
In a never-ending cycle, as technology changes – people change the way they use it. With the ‘overnight’ mass acceptance of generative AI as an “assistant”, user search behaviour is quickly shifting.
Users are now searching in full sentences and questions, expecting AI to understand detail and context rather than relying on keyword-based searches.
Example: instead of searching for “best protein powders” we expect to see more complex search queries such as ”What’s the best protein powder for muscle recovery for a 45 year old female after a marathon?” This shift highlights the need for brands to optimise content for detailed and specific audiences and natural, question-based queries.
The growth of voice and visual search has further changed how users find information, with more people using AI voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, as well as image-based search tools like Google Lens.
We are seeing the rise of zero-click searches, where AI-generated summaries answer queries directly in search results. As a result, users increasingly rely on AI-curated results, FAQ snippets, and personalised search experiences to find what they need without ever navigating to your site OR a competitors site!
How to Stay Visible in an AI-Powered Search Landscape
Consumers are searching differently and Search Engines are finding and presenting information in new ways. Brands must adjust their strategies to remain discoverable.
Here’s what you need to do:
Watch Out - Changing Consumer Behaviour | How brands can optimise their sites and assets to be visible where there customers are searching for them |
Consumers are looking for a fast answer to complex questions (which AI Overviews often provide). | It is critical that you understand your audience and how/why they are searching for your products and services
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Consumers are increasingly utilising multimodal search (text, voice, image). | Optimise for Google Lens and AI-powered visual discovery tools
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Consumers are increasingly bombarded with low-quality AI-generated content and are looking for high quality, trusted sources. |
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Consumers are “searching” in new and multiple channels – social media, chatbots, and emerging search engines. | Be where your customers are.
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Consumer behaviour and technology will continue to evolve rapidly. | Monitor search trends and adapt accordingly by tracking performance metrics.
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Case Study: Tracking AI-Driven Search Traffic
While we can’t (currently) track how many times site content appears as part of a generative AI result, we can track how much traffic big AI tools (ChatGPT & Google Gemini) are sending to your site.
Like all customer journey tracking, tracking AI traffic helps us better understand our customers, our strengths, and our opportunities.
We are doing this for some of our clients and tracking AI traffic is giving us early insights into:
Which pages may be AI traffic magnets. We can focus on what makes these pages useful for generative AI and apply these learnings to other relevant pages.
If AI-driven visitors are interacting differently with our site – we can adjust UX, CTAs and content.
Benchmarking AI-driven traffic against organic and paid sources to refine marketing mix and investment
Monitoring trends and future proofing – track shifts in AI referrals over time to anticipate changes.
Continuously Adapt or Risk Losing Visibility
AI is no longer just a tool for refining search results—it is reshaping how and where users search. Those that focus on this changing consumer behaviour have a new opportunity. Those that don’t risk losing visability in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
We won’t promise you quick fixes or hacks to get your brand into AI Overviews—because that’s not how sustainable search success works. What we can do is help you stay ahead of evolving search behaviors by ensuring:
Your customers can easily find you, no matter how they search.
Your website is structured for both people and crawlers to understand
Your online reputation is strong (and if not, we can help you fix it)
Technical issues aren’t holding you back from being visible wherever your customers are.
Search is always changing fast. Let’s make sure your brand isn’t left behind. Get in touch today.