How Consumers Are Using AI Search

The rise of AI-powered search is reshaping how people discover and interact with brands.
According to Bain & Company’s latest analysis, usage of ChatGPT surged by nearly 70% in the first half of 2025, with shopping-related queries growing by 25%. For marketers, this shift is more than a trend—it signals a fundamental change in customer behavior and how marketing performance should be measured.

From Clicks to Zero-Click Journeys

Customers are no longer treating AI tools as an experiment—they’re relying on them for answers and product guidance. Instead of visiting multiple websites, many users end their journey with an AI-generated summary. That’s a dramatic shift in how discovery works and where influence happens.

Key numbers underline this shift:

• Around 80% of users rely on AI summaries in at least 40% of their searches (Bain & Company).
• Nearly 60% of searches end without a click, as customers find what they need in the AI’s response (Bain & Company).
• Many brands are seeing 15–25% declines in organic traffic as a direct consequence (Bain & Company).
• Google’s AI Overviews appear in over 50% of queries, up from 25% a year earlier (Xponent21).
• When summaries are shown, users click links only 8% of the time, compared to 15% when no summary appears (Pew Research).
• An Ahrefs study shows a 34% drop in click-through rate for top-ranking pages when AI summaries are present (Brooks Digital / Ahrefs).

What Marketers Should Do

This new search reality requires a new playbook. Ranking high on Google is no longer enough—the goal is to appear inside AI answers.

• Optimize for AI crawlability: Use structured, semantic content and high-intent, long-tail keywords that AI systems can parse.
• Expand content formats: Beyond text, create video, visual, and interactive assets that AI can surface in summaries.
• Redefine success metrics: Move beyond clicks to track brand visibility in AI responses and measure influence at the summary level.
• Adapt quickly: With AI Overviews now showing in more than half of queries, waiting means falling behind.

Why It Matters

Customers are adopting AI faster than brands are adapting. If marketers don’t adjust, they risk being invisible in the very channels where decisions are shaped. The winners will be those who not only protect their traffic but also establish authority inside AI-generated answers—gaining early-mover advantage in this new era of discovery.

Sources: Bain & Company – How Customers Are Using AI Search, Pew Research, Ahrefs via Brooks Digital, Xponent21