What the data says about AI, search, and buyer behavior
Backed by insights from Siege Media, Wynter, LinkedIn & Gartner.
“Turns out, the sky isn’t falling – it’s shifting,” reads a line in this Siege Media study on how AI search is changing things in the marketing world.
And it’s 👏 so 👏 damn 👏 true 👏
Sure, things are changing. But they aren’t breaking as false hype plaguing LinkedIn and other marketing communities wants us to believe.
I’ve got data confirming this — the fruit of an hour-long sift through research reports patiently sitting in my Instapaper.
Here are some key takeaways:
From Q1 2024 to Q1 2025, Google’s average event share* was 9.42% in the US and 9.89% in Europe; ChatGPT’s was just ~0.3% in both (State of Search Q1 2025, Datos)
Put simply, AI is growing but Google still largely dominates.
In Rand Fishkin, SparkToro Co-founder & CEO’s words:
“Yes, AI tools are popular, and yes, they’re growing. But despite the media hype, AI is still a tiny fraction of overall usage in the US, EU, and UK.”
*Event share is the percentage of user interactions on a platform.
54% begin with a category search to identify possible vendors (The B2B Buyer Journey Research, Wynter)
The report explains most buyers google* a category name to comb through search results or look up SaaS tools on third-party review sites.
*From a recent Forrester report, we also know 89% of buyers use AI to research SaaS solutions — asking for popular tools in specific categories, comparing pricing, feature sets, and use cases.
Per Wynter, buyers look for answers to these 3 questions (in varying sequence):
What is the problem or business opportunity?
What does the perfect solution need to have?
What would be nice to have?
To-do: Create content answering these questions in a non-biased, experience-led way ^ Keep in mind: your content’s goal shouldn’t be to make the decision for the reader but to help them make the decision right for them.
Homepage clicks (that historically convert more than site pages) are up 29.6% (50-site study on homepage traffic, Siege Media)
You’re likely already seeing top-funnel traffic dip.
But here’s the upside: while AI eats up top-funnel traffic (reducing traffic to sitewide pages), it sends people to your home page — boosting conversions.
The way it works:
People search for solutions like yours → you show up in LLMs → buyers compare, do their homework → they visit your homepage directly.
All this leads to reduced traffic to site pages but increased traffic to home pages = increased conversions (provided you’ve a foundational content library, educating about your product and category).
To-do: Plan content around product-focused queries buyers are searching in AI tools. Example: What are the best [category] tools for [specific target audience, say small businesses of 1-10 employees] for [specific use case]. This will help you show up in generative AI (LLMs).
93.7% of marketers say trust beats product, price, and brand awareness in driving buying decisions (The Influence Report, LinkedIn)
Customer recommendations are 1.25x more influential than price competitiveness per the same source.
To-do: Weave customer testimonials and reviews in content across your home page, blog posts, social content, and webinars.
In 2024, brands saw just a 1% lift in mobile paid search and flat organic traffic vs. 2023, Q1-Q3 (Gartner Marketing Predictions).
As a result, Gartner notes over one-third of web content will be developed exclusively for AI and search engine consumption by 2026.
The way marketers are adapting to the future of search?
They’re updating their content strategy by investing in SEO (using deeper funnel/product-educational content that ranks in AI and search engines) and GenAI skills to adapt.
To-do: Use search as a distribution channel, not your full strategy. Also, don’t neglect foundational content work — answering buyers’ questions, explaining your product, writing like you’re talking to humans (direct, straight forward, and experience-backed).
In short, don’t just optimize for search. Optimize for buyer decisions.
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What’s a stat that stands out to you? And how are you adapting to the changing buyer behavior?
Not to be sappy, but this newsletter would still be a half-finished draft if not for you reading it. So thank you for being here 🙏
I’d say I’d give you my iced Spanish latte… but let’s not get carried away!
Oh and you’re in good company, habibi — marketers from some of the best PLG brands are reading this right alongside you:
