Get to Know the New AI Search Habits Driving GEO and AEO

With the rapid rise of AI, search is no longer just about keywords, backlinks, and other traditional SEO strategies. It’s about context, conversation, and a little bit of instant gratification—marking the shift from search engine optimization (SEO) to generative engine optimization (GEO) and answer engine optimization (AEO).

AI-powered tools and answer engines like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google’s AI Mode and AI Overview are reshaping how users find and interact with search results. While we’re still in the beginning stages of AI search (and AI is known and designed to evolve quickly), new user search trends are clearly emerging.

The success of your digital content and search strategies depends on your understanding of these shifts—and your willingness to adapt as the digital landscape continues to evolve faster than ever.

How AI Is Currently Impacting Search Behavior

While not a comprehensive list, here are a few key user behavior trends to track as you fine-tune your content, GEO, and AEO strategies in the AI era. As these innovative tools continue to transform how people search (and what they expect from the results), understanding these shifts is crucial to keeping your content visible and effective.

(Want a quick overview of GEO and AEO? Check out our post: How Google’s AI Overview is Rewriting the Rules of SEO.)

Less Clicking, More Chatting

With new search features like AI Overview and AI Mode, users can get answers to their questions directly on the page—instead of a list of links that they can click through to find the answer. In AI Mode, users even have the option to ask follow-up questions directly in the chat.

Both AI Overview and AI Mode have generated a wave of zero-click searches, where users don’t have to leave the results page to find answers. This has reduced the click-through rate (CTR) and traffic from Google for many high-ranking websites.¹

High Expectations for Quick, Accurate Results

With these features come high expectations. Users expect to find accurate answers to their questions—and fast. They want answer engines to know what they’re looking for, even if their original question isn’t super specific.

Multi-Modal Search

As people get more comfortable with talking to AI, voice search is on the rise. Have you noticed the “Search by voice” icon in Google’s search bar?

This means that your content should be conversational—and clearly answer question-based searches. In other words, replace overly formal jargon and copy-and-paste keywords with helpful answers you would actually say to a friend or colleague.

Right next to the “Search by voice” icon, you’ll find “Search by image” in Google’s search bar, emphasizing the popularity of image search too.

By combining modalities (text, voice, image, audio, and video), users can go beyond traditional text-based searches to harness the strengths of various data types, often improving the relevance and accuracy of their search results.

Bouncing to Predictive Suggestions

We’ve mentioned how tools like AI Overview and AI Mode allow users to get answers to their questions without clicking or scrolling. But these summaries can sometimes spark curiosity, causing users to bounce around Google’s ecosystem—instead of onto your web page.

For example, people might get lost in Google’s “People also ask” section. They might also get distracted by new predictive searches in the search bar, which are suggested by the AI itself (using data and behavior patterns to personalize the user experience).

Search Traffic Is Surging Beyond Google

With the rise of AI, users are looking beyond traditional search engines to get the information they need. They’re turning to platforms like TikTok; YouTube; Instagram; virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa; and AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini (which will power new Apple offerings and upgrades involving Siri and beyond).

This means you should consider an omnichannel digital marketing strategy in which your content can be repurposed across different formats and digital environments. The days of focusing on one search powerhouse (namely, Google) are beginning to fade.

A Little Inspiration Before You Go

AI is reshaping the search landscape fast, and that certainly comes with its challenges (like zero-click search behavior and shrinking visibility in SERPs). But it also offers new opportunities to reach users right when they need your insights and solutions.

To succeed in this new search era, it’s essential to:

• Understand and embrace users’ conversation-first mentality
• Prioritize authoritative, trustworthy, and genuinely helpful content
• Ensure your web pages are machine-readable, voice-friendly, and (as always) user-focused
• Stay open-minded and nimble as the landscape rapidly evolves in real time

To dive deeper into the best practices of marketing in the AI era, check out: Optimization Dos and Don’ts in the AI Search Age.

Navigate Digital Disruptions with WebAgency

Whether you need a forward-thinking SEO/GEO/AEO strategy, help with your paid advertising campaigns, or just general guidance and clarity in the AI era, we can help. If you’re ready to align your digital strategy, marketing, and content to the opportunities and demands of today, drop us a line or call us at 603-891-0304.

1. Ryan Law and Xibeijia Guan, “AI Overviews Reduce Clicks by 34.5%,” Ahrefs, April 17, 2025, https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overviews-reduce-clicks/