How AI Search is Changing User Search Behavior (and What It Means for You)

It’s irrefutable — 2025 was the year of AI.

ChatGPT rose in popularity. Google launched AI Overviews. Perplexity dropped their AI-powered browser.

It’s been all AI, all the time (at least in the search world).

With this shift has come some fundamental changes, especially with the way people search.

AI has, and will continue to, change user search behavior. But just how has it done that?

How AI is changing user search behavior

AI is shifting the way people search. Here are some key areas where search is changing and what it means for your business:

People are diving deeper

AI search is altering how deeply people look into a topic. 

Now, you may be thinking, “How can that be? Things like AI Overviews are giving people an answer, and then they’re leaving, and they’re not clicking.” 

To some degree, that is true, especially for basic, simple queries that don’t require much follow-up (think queries like “Are grapes poisonous to dogs?” or “What is the best white sugar alternative in baking?”). 

But for more complex queries, people are diving deeper, and it’s because of AI.

AI search engines make it incredibly easy to ask follow-up questions and get clarification about information shared. If someone was doing research on a traditional search engine, they would have to go back to the search engine to ask another question and try to get clarification that way. 

But with AI search engines, people can easily ask follow-up questions based on the information the AI engine shared with them. The AI engine already has the information of reference for context, making it easy for it to provide the best follow-up information.

What this means for your business

There are two key things to keep in mind with this:

1. Your decision-makers will likely be more informed

Because AI makes it incredibly easy for people to dive deeper and ask more questions, it can mean that your decision-makers are more informed by the time they contact your business.

They may also know a lot more about you, what you offer, and how you operate, because they’ve done deeper research.

Having more informed decision-makers leads to:

• Shorter and more efficient sales cycles
• Better conversations (decision-makers ask better, deeper questions because they’re already informed)
• Improved alignment (leading to better win rates)
• Greater understanding of value

More informed decision-makers helps make the sales process easier and enables you to focus your efforts on the more crucial, conversion driving tasks.

2. Content will become your lifeline

With people diving deeper into topics, they’re reading more content. That means that having a robust content strategy will be crucial for your success in 2025 and beyond. 

You’ll want to ensure you’re creating thorough, helpful content that informs readers and helps guide them in their decision-making process. 

People are conversing

Perhaps one of the biggest ways that user search behavior is changing is the way people search. Before AI search became popular, people were searching short phrases and keywords to find information they needed. Long queries were rare — being brief was in.

Now, with the rise of AI search, it’s all about conversation. People are asking longer questions. They’re asking follow-up questions. They’re providing full-sized prompts with every detail AI needs to help it produce the answer the user looks for.

So now it’s not about using short phrases and keywords to find the information you need, but instead people asking conversational questions, in natural language, to get answers.

What this means for your business

The rise of AI search means that you need to go beyond just targeting certain keywords and phrases. If anything, you’ll want to take the current keywords and phrases that you target and find conversational queries surrounding those terms that you can now focus on targeting.

So for example, if you previously targeted the keyword “best basketball sneakers,” you might now start targeting conversational phrases like “what are the best basketball sneakers for kids?” or “what are the best basketball sneakers for wide feet?” 

Essentially, you’re going to want to expand the keywords you target into conversational phrases that you can use to reach people on AI search platforms.

Refinement and alterations of conversation mid-way through

With traditional search, people aren’t stopping midway through their search journey and saying “wait a minute, what does that mean?” or asking for clarifying information. 

But now with AI search, this is a really common behavior. 

People will conduct queries looking for information, and as they’re consuming the information, they may find that something is confusing or doesn’t make sense, and so they ask for clarification.

Essentially, this means that the user’s journey is getting even less linear than it was before. It also means that based on the information the user finds, their journey may pivot and they’ll head a different direction. 

What this means for your business

This shift in user search behavior means that you need to create content that addresses the progressive intent of your audience. You need content that covers all aspects, especially when it comes to the decision-making process. 

So content that’s typically in the middle of the funnel (like comparisons, FAQs, and top/best pages) are going to become extremely valuable for helping you push users down the funnel.

Answers first, source second

Another big shift in user search behavior is the mentality of “answers first, sources second.”

Every search starts with the desire to have an answer, no matter the query type. But with traditional search, it was often a mixture of answer and source together. 

People were often looking at the search results to see what answers it would produce, and then also considering the source where it’s coming from. 

For example, if someone searched “how to start a 401k,” they’d look for a page that indicates it’s sharing the information the searcher needs. Simultaneously, they’re seeing the article is from NerdWallet, a trust authority in the financial sector. So, they click.

AI has shifted that behavior.

Because AI search engines operate on an answer-first basis, people are looking at the responses from the AI engine and then evaluating their credibility by looking at the source (if a citation is present).

So now, instead of simultaneously looking at the answer and confirming the source, people are looking at the answer, deciding if they trust it or not, and then looking at the source (when provided).

What this means for your business

Building brand trust is crucial if you want to adapt to the changing search landscape. If you’re getting cited in AI search results, you want people to view you as a trusted authority and know the information is valid.

That means you’ll want to focus on building your brand’s trustworthiness and authority across the web. You can do that by:

• Having author bios with credentials on your content pages
• Integrating expertise from people at your company
• Anticipating next questions in content and answering them immediately
• Getting published or shared by industry authorities and experts
• Being consistent with your messaging

Less clicks, more grab-and-go

AI is shifting user search behavior from being a sit down restaurant experience, to a grab-and-go gas experience. Previously, users were conducting a search, clicking on links, and hanging around to skim through the information and find what they need. 

Now, with AI, users are taking the information and going.

This is supported by the fact that 60% of searches end without a click.

Users are shifting more towards wanting quick answers to their questions and avoiding sifting through pages of information to find them. 

What this means for your business

You need to provide the answer to questions quickly and succinctly. People want answers quickly, which means you need to provide them even quicker. Save your cute stories and anecdotes for later — You need to provide the answer first, then dive into details about it.

Whether you’re writing content for your website, answering an FAQ, or giving product specs, provide the answers/information people need immediately.

Keep your strategy agile to stay ahead of the shift in search

AI search will continue to change the way people look for information. If you want those people to find you, you need to adapt your search strategy to reach the new way people search. Investing in an AI SEO strategy will help you stay agile as search behaviors change.

Need a partner that can help you do it? WebFX, the team behind SEO.com, offers comprehensive AI search optimization services to keep you in front of people no matter where they search. Connect with us today to learn more!