How Are Google AI and ChatGPT Changing Search Behaviour?(Updated July 2026)

Search behaviour didn't just shift, it kept moving. AI Overviews now trigger on close to half of all Google searches, up from roughly a third a year earlier. Pew's most recent count puts ChatGPT usage among US adults under 30 at 61%. The takeaway hasn't changed, it's only sharpened: if your business isn't built to be understood by both, you're not just losing rankings, you're losing the conversation before it starts.

*AI Overview trigger rate: BrightEdge / Advanced Web Ranking, March 2026. ChatGPT usage among US adults under 30: Pew Research Center, February 2026.

Search Is Changing Faster Than Ever

If you’ve been following our blog, you’ll know we’ve talked a lot about how AI search works and why it matters for businesses. But now, we have the numbers and they show we’re already living in a generative-AI search world.

Not long ago, search behaviour was predictable: type a query into Google, click one of the top results. Today, it’s anything but. Generative AI is front-and-centre. Users expect direct answers, fast, and often don’t need to click at all.

The Hard Data: How Search Behaviour Has Shifted

Here's what's happening right now:

• Nearly half of all Google searches trigger an AI Overview, often taking up the most valuable space on the page.¹

• 61% of US adults under 30 have used ChatGPT.²

• 80% of consumers now rely on AI-generated summaries for at least 40% of their searches.³

• 2.5 billion people use Google's AI Overviews globally each month.⁴

• Queries are getting longer and more conversational, closer to natural speech than keyword fragments.

• Zero-click searches, where no website gets the visit are rising, pulling traffic away from traditional SEO channels.

These are massive shifts and they're not slowing down.

¹ BrightEdge / Advanced Web Ranking, March 2026.² Pew Research Center, February 2026.³ Bain & Company.⁴ Google I/O 2026 keynote, May 2026.

Why This Matters for Kiwi Businesses

If you’re not appearing in AI summaries, you’re invisible at the exact moment your customer is asking for help.

For New Zealand businesses, this is both a challenge and an opportunity. Many competitors still haven’t moved beyond basic SEO. If you optimise for generative search now, you can leapfrog them.

What GEO Really Means

Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is the next evolution of SEO. It’s about making sure your content is understood, trusted, and cited by AI models — so you’re present in AI Overviews, ChatGPT answers, and other generative results.

See Part 2: Will GEO Replace SEO, or Just Become Part of It? →

What You Can Do Right Now

• Add structured data and schema markup to your site so AI tools can read it.

• Refresh and update content regularly to stay trustworthy.

• Monitor where you appear (or don’t appear) in AI answers.

• Diversify traffic — don’t rely solely on Google clicks.

Conclusion

The way people find information didn't quietly evolve, it flipped. Nearly half of Google searches now resolve inside an AI Overview and most young adults have already made ChatGPT part of how they look things up. None of that is a future trend to prepare for. It's the current baseline.

The businesses that treat this as optional are the ones who'll notice last, once the gap is already wide. The ones paying attention now are the ones deciding what "being found" means for the next decade of search, instead of reacting to it after the fact.

AI can't recommend what it doesn't understand.