Datos, a Semrush company, today published early findings from its Q1 2026 State of Search report, produced in collaboration with Rand Fishkin, co-founder and CEO of SparkToro. The report draws on large-scale clickstream data covering desktop behavior across the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom from March 2025 to March 2026. Despite relentless discussion about AI displacing traditional search, the numbers tell a more measured story - one of gradual expansion, not sudden disruption.

The report arrives at a moment when the marketing industry is grappling with shifting platform dynamics. As PPC Land has tracked extensively throughout 2025, publishers and advertisers have faced mounting pressure from zero-click searches and AI-generated responses absorbing traffic that previously reached external websites. This new data adds an important counterweight: for all the hype, AI tools collectively account for less than 2% of total desktop web visits in both the US and Europe.

The AI tools picture: real growth, small scale

According to the report, AI tools in the US showed a share of desktop events rising from 1.31% in Q1 2025 to 1.65% in Q1 2026. At the monthly level, the movement was even more striking: from approximately 0.41% in January 2025 to 0.93% by March 2026 - a more than doubling in 14 months. Crucially, according to the report, "the pace of growth strengthened following Q4 2025, suggesting that adoption is persisting beyond seasonal effects."

In the EU and UK, the picture was sharper still. Monthly data shows AI tool share nearly doubling from 0.54% in January 2025 to 1.08% by March 2026. At the quarterly level, the region recorded a new high in Q1 2026, reaching 1.72%, compared to 0.98% in Q1 2025. Fishkin noted in his commentary that "we haven't yet reached the peak of AI usage," adding that what remains "shocking is that we're still at less than 2% of visits going to AI tools, despite the relentless hype, media attention, and cultural discussion."

The gap between narrative and reality matters for marketers. Campaigns, budget decisions, and SEO strategies are being reshaped by predictions of AI dominance that the underlying usage data does not yet support. Growth is real. Scale is not.

Google's grip remains firm

Traditional search, dominated entirely by Google, held its position as the largest driver of desktop search activity across both regions. According to the report, Google's share of desktop search in the US declined to a low of 92.1% in December 2025 before recovering to 94.3% by March 2026. In the EU and UK, the pattern was similar: a dip to 93.9% in December, then recovery to 95.5% in early 2026.

Bing showed a short-lived Q4 spike in both regions. In the US, its share peaked at 5.33% in December 2025 before retreating to the 3.2-3.8% range in early 2026. In Europe, Bing reached 4.12% in December before falling back to 2.5-3.0%. DuckDuckGo peaked at 1.93% in January 2026 in the US before dropping to 1.21% by March. Yahoo continued its steady decline in both regions.

Fishkin was unambiguous in interpreting the user-level numbers: "Once again, we're seeing all-time highs in Google usage despite the naysayers in your LinkedIn and Twitter feeds." In terms of searches per searcher in the US, Google users averaged 102.5 searches in March 2026, rebounding from 95.3 in December. Fishkin described this metric as "the canary in the coalmine," arguing that if AI or social media were genuinely pulling users away from Google, the searches-per-user figure would fall. It has not.

Zero-click searches drop - a rare positive signal for publishers

One of the most notable findings concerns zero-click searches, which declined in both regions during Q1 2026. In the US, the share of searches ending without a click fell from 24.5% in December to 22.4% in March, the lowest level recorded in the period. In the EU and UK, the decline was even more pronounced: from 22.5% in December to 19.6% in March.

Organic click-through rose in parallel. In the US, the organic click share increased from 42.0% in December to 44.9% in March. In the EU and UK, it held within a 44-48% range, ending at 46.0% in March.

This data stands in notable tension with the sustained body of research on AI Overviews' traffic impact, which PPC Land has covered since early 2025. The Datos findings, which cover desktop-only behavior, suggest some improvement at the aggregate level even as studies by Ahrefs and Seer Interactive have documented severe click losses on queries where AI Overviews appear. Fishkin himself acknowledged the desktop-only caveat: "We're missing the two-thirds of searches that happen on mobile." He called the trend "a rare spot of hope for publishers and creators on the web" while stopping short of declaring a broader recovery.

Paid clicks remained stable in both regions. In the US, paid click share held between 2.1% and 2.3% through Q1 2026, above early-2025 levels. In the EU and UK, the figure held at 2.3-2.4%. Search refinement behavior - where users modify and resubmit queries rather than clicking results - held steady in the 15-16% range in the US, while declining slightly in Europe to around 14% by March.

Google AI Mode: fast growth from a small base

The report dedicates specific attention to Google AI Mode, the conversational search interface Google rolled out to all US users in May 2025 and later to international markets. According to the report, AI Mode's share of total desktop visits in the US rose from 0.06% in December 2025 to 0.16% in March 2026 - a 2.5x increase in a single quarter. In the EU and UK, where rollout came later, growth was even faster: from 0.06% in December to 0.21% in March, surpassing US levels by Q1 2026 despite the delayed start.

PPC Land reported in December 2025 on Google's testing of seamless AI Mode integration directly from search results pages on mobile, a design change that lowers the friction for users to enter the conversational interface. That strategy appears to be producing results in the clickstream data. Fishkin observed that "AI Mode grew faster in March than any month yet" in both regions, interpreting this as evidence that "Google's getting more aggressive about pushing it, and users are responding." He added that the trajectory "could end in double digit percentages."

The overall share remains below 0.2% in the US and 0.25% in Europe, however, putting AI Mode firmly in the early-adoption phase.

The AI tools competitive landscape: Claude accelerates, ChatGPT leads

Among individual AI tools measured by share of desktop users, ChatGPT remained the dominant platform in both regions, though with some softening. In the US, according to the report, ChatGPT peaked at 37.08% in September 2025 and ended Q1 2026 at 34.80%. In the EU and UK it eased slightly but held above 44%, finishing at 44.82% in March.

Gemini showed the most consistent expansion of any platform in the measurement period. In the US, it climbed from 10.41% in November 2025 to 16.06% in March 2026. In Europe it rose from 12.29% in November to 18.88% in March. This trajectory reflects the Google-Apple partnership announced in January 2026 and Google's systematic integration of Gemini across Search, Android, and Workspace products. PPC Land has tracked the evolving AI market share picturesince early 2025, when ChatGPT held an 86.6% worldwide share before competitive erosion began.

Claude, developed by Anthropic, posted the strongest acceleration in Q1 2026 of any tool tracked. In the US, its share of desktop users rose from 3.58% in January to 8.54% in March. In the EU and UK, it increased from 3.77% to 9.61% over the same period. Fishkin's commentary addressed this directly: "The common media narrative of ChatGPT stagnating while Gemini and Claude rise appears to be entirely valid. I wouldn't be shocked to see either or both of those properties dislodging ChatGPT from the lead position in the next two to three years."

Perplexity, Copilot, and DeepSeek remained at single-digit or sub-5% levels in both regions, with no significant directional movement during the quarter.

Search destination domains: Reddit rises, ChatGPT slips, Amazon enters the top 3

Among the top 15 domains visited immediately after a desktop search in the US, YouTube retained the top position in both Q1 2025 and Q1 2026. The most striking movements came further down the ranking. Reddit rose from third place in Q1 2025 to second in Q1 2026. Amazon moved from 12th to third. Wikipedia strengthened its position, rising to fifth. Facebook fell from second to fourth, while X dropped from seventh to 13th. WhatsApp, Google.com, Stack Overflow, and Canva exited the top 15 entirely, replaced by Fandom, Microsoft, Walmart, and eBay.

ChatGPT's position in the traditional search destination rankings fell from fifth to ninth - a significant drop that reflects both the growth of commerce platforms post-search and shifts in how users structure information-gathering sessions. According to the report, "this shift highlights increased prominence of information-driven search behavior," with Reddit and Wikipedia benefiting disproportionately.

In Europe, the pattern was similar. YouTube held first place, Reddit rose to second, and Wikipedia climbed to third. Amazon entered the top five. ChatGPT dropped from fifth to seventh. X dropped out of the top 15 entirely, and Fandom, SteamPowered, and Pinterest entered the ranking.

For AI-originated traffic - the domains users visit after interacting with an AI tool - Google and YouTube held the top two positions in both regions. Microsoft rose into the top three in the US. Amazon climbed from 11th to sixth in US AI-destination rankings, and from outside the top five to fifth in European rankings, indicating that product-oriented queries are becoming a meaningful use case within AI-assisted browsing.

Sora disappeared from the AI destination rankings entirely. According to the report, "Sora's retirement was announced on 24 March 2026."

Query length: users are getting more specific

A technical detail in the report that carries practical implications for search marketers concerns query length distribution. According to the data, mid-length queries of six to nine words continued growing in Q1 2026 in the US, with six-word queries reaching 6.3% and seven-word queries 4.4%. Queries of 15 or more words rebounded to 1.7% by March after a late-2025 dip. Five-word searches held stable at between 9.2% and 9.5%, indicating that longer queries are additive rather than replacing shorter ones.

In the EU and UK, six-word queries rose toward 4.7-4.8%. Seven- and eight-word queries also trended upward. Five-word searches held between 7.7% and 8.0%.

The report describes this as users "refining how they search rather than changing platforms." For paid search teams, longer queries tend to carry more specific commercial or informational intent, and their growth shapes keyword strategy and match-type planning.

E-commerce: Amazon softens, seasonal patterns dominate

E-commerce activity showed clear seasonality in the US. Event share rose from 2.73% in Q1 2025 to a peak of 3.60% in Q4, before retreating to 2.98% in Q1 2026. Amazon continued to dominate US e-commerce, holding between 47% and 50% of desktop users, though its share of webpage visits softened to 44.6% by March. eBay showed modest visit share growth, reaching around 9% in Q1 2026, while Walmart remained broadly flat. Temu and AliExpress continued fluctuating without clear directional movement.

In the EU and UK, Amazon held between 41% and 44% of users and around 26-27% of page visits. AliExpress and eBay remained second-tier platforms. Allegro, significant in Poland, was the highest-engagement platform by searches per user in Europe, holding between 10 and 12 searches per user through the period.

Fishkin's comment on the US data: "It is nice to see Amazon declining in the US a bit. Hopefully, more diversity in behavior will lead to opportunities for other retailers."

Search intent: informational up, navigational down

Across all engines measured in the US, informational intent - defined as searches seeking information about a topic - rose in Q1 2026 compared to Q1 2025. On Google, it reached 64.55%, up from 55.52% a year earlier. Commercial intent, covering searches about products or services, grew across all platforms, with Yahoo and DuckDuckGo reaching 24.9% and 24.6% respectively. Navigational intent declined across all engines. Purchase intent remained minimal at under 2% on all platforms.

In the EU and UK, informational intent rose on Google to 60.7% and on Baidu to 58.6%. Commercial intent increased on Bing and DuckDuckGo. Navigational intent fell consistently across platforms.

The pattern suggests users are arriving at search engines with more research-oriented questions and conducting fewer direct navigational visits, which has implications for both SEO content strategy and the allocation of paid search budgets toward upper-funnel keywords.

Timeline

  • January 2025: AI tools hold 0.41% desktop event share in the US; 0.54% in EU/UK; Google holds above 94% search share in both regions; ChatGPT at 25.18% US desktop user share
  • March 2025: Google AI Mode launches for Google One AI Premium subscribers in the US; multimodal capabilities added April 7; Datos begins tracking AI Mode visits
  • May 1, 2025: Google removes waitlist for AI Mode, opening access to all US users over 18
  • May 2025: Google AI Mode visits in the US first appear in Datos panel at 0.01%; EU/UK at 0.00%
  • June 11, 2025: Google begins testing AI Mode button directly in homepage search bar
  • July 9, 2025: Google integrates AI Mode into Circle to Search on 300 million Android devices
  • August 2025: Google AI Mode visits in EU/UK appear for first time in Datos panel at 0.01%
  • September 2025: ChatGPT peaks at 37.08% desktop user share in US; Google AI Mode US visits at 0.05%; Gemini at 8.72% in US
  • October 2025: Google US search share dips; Bing begins Q4 climb
  • November 2025: Gemini accelerates to 10.41% in US and 11.18% in EU/UK; Claude at 3.58% and 3.77% respectively
  • December 2025: Bing peaks at 5.33% in US and 4.12% in EU/UK; Google US share dips to 92.1%; EU/UK share dips to 93.9%; Google AI Mode US visits at 0.06%; EU/UK at 0.06%; Google tests AI Mode access from search results page on mobile
  • December 2025: Zero-click share in US at 24.5%; EU/UK at 22.5%
  • January 2026: Google recovers search share to 95.5% in EU/UK; DuckDuckGo US peaks at 1.93%; Similarweb data shows ChatGPT falls to 64.6% global share as Gemini surges to 22%; Google-Apple Gemini deal announced
  • February 2026: Google AI Mode US visits rise to 0.10%; EU/UK to 0.11%; Claude US share rises to 5.26%
  • March 2026: Google recovers to 94.3% US search share; AI Mode US visits reach 0.16%; EU/UK reach 0.21%; Claude US reaches 8.54%, EU/UK reaches 9.61%; Gemini US reaches 16.06%, EU/UK reaches 18.88%; Zero-click US at 22.4%, EU/UK at 19.6% - lowest in the period; Sora retirement announced March 24
  • April 27, 2026: Datos and SparkToro publish Q1 2026 State of Search report

Summary

Who: Datos (a Semrush company) and SparkToro, with commentary from Rand Fishkin, SparkToro co-founder and CEO. The report analyzes behavior from a panel of tens of millions of active desktop users in the US, EU, and UK.

What: The Q1 2026 State of Search report documents search behavior, AI tool adoption, e-commerce activity, and content platform engagement across the US and Europe from March 2025 to March 2026. Key findings include AI tools below 2% of desktop visits despite consistent growth, Google recovering to 94.3% US search share by March, Claude and Gemini accelerating while ChatGPT stabilizes, Google AI Mode reaching 0.16% in the US and 0.21% in the EU/UK, and zero-click searches falling to their lowest levels in the period.

When: The report covers data from January 2025 through March 2026. Datos shared early access to PPC Land on April 27, 2026. The official public report launches April 28, 2026, at 10am EDT.

Where: Data covers desktop users in the United States, European Union, and United Kingdom. Datos is headquartered at 14 Wall Street, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10005.

Why: The report matters because it provides large-scale behavioral data against which industry narratives about AI's displacement of search can be tested. For marketing professionals, the numbers have direct implications for SEO investment, paid search allocation, platform diversity strategy, and brand visibility across an increasingly fragmented set of AI and traditional search surfaces.

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