American Google searchers are searching for less time than last year, according to a new Datos/SparkToro report. The data suggests that Google isn’t losing users – it’s losing repeat searches.
Why do we care. Google still dominates search, but it’s changing in important ways. Fewer searches per user means fewer opportunities for clicks, ads, and traffic – even if search volume seems strong.
In numbers. Google desktop searches per user are down about 20% year over year, based on click data from tens of millions of US users.
- That decline contrasted sharply in Europe, where searches per user fell 2% to 3%.
- Even though there are fewer searches per person, traditional search makes up about 10% of all US desktop activity – a share that will likely remain flat in 2025.
What pulls down. AI-powered responses and instant results are the most likely causes, according to the report:
- Users are increasingly finding what they need without using a lot of tracking searches.
- Zero-click searches are still high but not fast, rising to a low of 20% by the end of the year.
- Repeated searches and clicks within Google properties show only minor changes, indicating that the behavior has settled to current levels.
AI is reshaping search. AI is put into the search, it doesn’t pull users into it. Despite the persistence of AI, the report found:
- AI tools still account for less than 1% of total US desktop employment (0.77%), even after strong year-over-year growth.
- Google AI Mode remains small, at about 0.06% of US desktop events in December, although adoption continues to increase steadily.
The questions are getting longer. One of the most obvious behavioral changes is the way people search. According to the report:
- Medium length queries of six to nine words are growing rapidly in the US
- Very long questions of 15 words or more remain rare but show high flexibility, which indicates testing.
- Overall, users seem more comfortable expressing complex needs directly in search.
Adoption becomes difficult. Search-driven acquisitions are highly focused — and hard to break into. Destinations after the search remain unchanged, according to the report:
- YouTube, Reddit, Amazon, Wikipedia, and Facebook still rule.
- ChatGPT climbed to No. 7 among US search engines, making it one of the few logical converters.
- Quora is out of 15.
Few of the AIs are outstanding. Traffic from AI tools flows mostly to established platforms – Google, YouTube, GitHub, and Wikipedia – and not to new or independent publishers. Among the AI platforms:
- ChatGPT remains the leading AI tool in the US, reaching nearly one-third of desktop AI users.
- Google’s Gemini emerged as the clear number 2, growing slightly in 2025 and surpassing DeepSeek.
- Other tools, including Claude, Perplexity, and Copilot, remain niche without breakout discovery.
What they say. Rand Fishkin, founder and CEO of SparkToro, said in a report:
“The biggest highlight here is the drop in # of searches/on Google from 2024–2025. We’re down about 20% in the US, although only 2-3% in the EU/UK. Some research has shown that Google is sending less traffic than in previous years, especially on the long web, and I suspect that AI responses have required more user responses before Google clicks. It’s an organic effect. or perform a second/third/fourth search.”
Report. Q4 Search Status Report
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