U.S. Google searchers are searching far less than a year ago, according to a new Datos/SparkToro report. The data suggests Google isn’t losing users — it’s losing repeat searches.
While Google still dominates search, it’s changing in significant ways. Fewer searches per user means fewer opportunities for clicks, ads and traffic — even if total search volume looks steady.
Google desktop searches per user fell nearly 20% year over year, based on clickstream data from tens of millions of U.S. users.
- That drop stands in sharp contrast to Europe, where searches per user declined by just 2% to 3%.
- Even with fewer searches per person, traditional search still makes up about 10% of all U.S. desktop activity — a share that stayed nearly flat throughout 2025.
What’s causing it
What’s driving the drop? AI-powered answers and instant results are the most likely cause, according to the report:
- Users increasingly get what they need without multiple follow-up searches.
- Zero-click searches remain high but are no longer accelerating, leveling off in the low-20% range by year-end.
- Repeat searches and clicks within Google-owned properties show only minor changes, indicating behavior has settled at current levels.
AI is reshaping how people search, but not in the way some expected. Rather than pulling users away from search entirely, AI is being layered into existing search behaviors.
Despite all the hype, AI tools still account for less than 1% of total U.S. desktop activity — just 0.77% — even after a year of strong growth. Google’s AI Mode, in particular, remains small, representing only about 0.06% of U.S. desktop events as of December, though its adoption continues to grow steadily.
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Queries get longer. One of the clearest behavioral changes is how people search:
- Mid-length queries of six to nine words are growing fastest in the U.S.
- Very long queries of 15 words or more remain rare but show higher volatility, signaling experimentation.
- Overall, users seem more comfortable expressing complex needs directly in search.
Discovery gets harder. Search-driven discovery is more concentrated — and tougher to break into. Post-search destinations remain essentially unchanged, according to the report:
- YouTube, Reddit, Amazon, Wikipedia, and Facebook still dominate.
- ChatGPT climbed to No. 7 among U.S. search destinations, making it one of the few meaningful movers.
- Quora dropped out of the top 15.
Traffic heading to just a few dominant platforms
Traffic from AI tools is increasingly concentrated among a small group of established platforms rather than flowing to new or independent publishers. In the U.S., ChatGPT remains the dominant AI tool, reaching roughly one-quarter to one-third of desktop AI users, while Google’s Gemini has emerged as a clear second, growing steadily through 2025 and overtaking DeepSeek. Other AI tools, including Claude, Perplexity and Copilot, continue to serve niche audiences with no breakout adoption to date.
Rand Fishkin, co-founder and CEO of SparkToro, said in the report:
“The big highlight here is the decline in # of Google searches/searcher from 2024–2025. It’s a nearly 20% decline in the US, though only 2–3% in the EU/UK. Other studies have shown that Google is sending less traffic than in years past, especially to the long-tail of the web, and I suspect that AI answers have dramatically altered the way many users engage with Google, answering their questions before they ever need to click on an organic result or perform a second/third/fourth search.”
The report: Q4 State of Search report
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