Desktop search behavior stabilized throughout 2025 rather than fragmenting dramatically toward artificial intelligence platforms. Traditional search engines held roughly 10% of total desktop events while AI tools grew from 0.42% to 0.77% of activity, reflecting gradual adaptation rather than wholesale migration to new interfaces.

Datos last week released its State of Search Q4 2025 report analyzing clickstream data from tens of millions of desktop users across the United States, European Union, and United Kingdom between October and December 2025. The quarterly analysis reveals that user behavior showed more refinement than disruption during the final three months of the year.

"Fundamentals remain intact: traditional search still accounts for roughly 10% of total desktop activity, while AI tools collectively remain under 1%, suggesting interface change is outpacing behavioral migration," according to the report released January 28, 2026, by Datos in partnership with SparkToro.

Google maintained 93-95% of desktop searches in the United States throughout 2025, with only minor month-to-month variation. The search engine's European presence proved equally dominant at 94-96% of searches in the EU and UK, showing no material erosion despite AI feature rollouts and competitive pressure.

Bing remained the second-largest search engine in both regions, showing stable performance with slight growth toward year-end. DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, and Baidu demonstrated limited volatility across the measurement period.

Search intensity revealed meaningful differences in user engagement. Google users performed 92-104 searches per month on desktop in the United States, with typical seasonal dips in November-December. European users demonstrated similar patterns at 93-110 searches monthly.

The research documented a notable year-over-year decline in Google searches per searcher in the US market. "It's a nearly 20% decline in the US, though only 2-3% in the EU/UK," observed Rand Fishkin, SparkToro co-founder and CEO, in commentary accompanying the report.

This decline likely stems from AI-powered features answering questions without requiring additional searches. "I suspect that AI answers have dramatically altered the way many users engage with Google, answering their questions before they ever need to click on an organic result or perform a second/third/fourth search," Fishkin explained.

AI Mode adoption remains limited but growing

Google's AI Mode represented just 0.06% of US desktop events by December 2025, up from 0.01% when tracking began in May. While the absolute magnitude remains small relative to standard search interactions, the steady upward trajectory signals growing exposure among early adopters.

European adoption followed a delayed timeline reflecting later rollout. After emerging in October 2025, AI Mode usage climbed to match US levels by year-end at approximately 0.06% of events.

"This is a big one to watch," Fishkin noted in the report. "Google could very easily push AI Mode more aggressively with UI/UX changes, but so far, they've kept it very subtle and opt-in."

The steady growth suggests early adopters find value in the conversational interface. Google reported 75 million daily active users for AI Mode during the third quarter 2025 earnings call, with the feature shipping over 100 improvements throughout the period.

Query length increases signal behavior refinement

The most visible shift in search behavior appeared in query formulation rather than platform selection. Users increasingly constructed longer, more explicit searches rather than short keyword combinations.

In the United States, the fastest relative growth occurred in searches containing 6-9 words. Queries with 15 or more words showed similar volume to 7-word searches while exhibiting greater volatility, suggesting experimentation with detailed, conversational phrasing.

European patterns mirrored this evolution. The largest increases appeared in both 6-word queries and searches exceeding 15 words, though very long queries remained less common and more stable than in the US market.

"Americans experimenting so much more aggressively with very long queries is fun to see in the data," Fishkin commented. "I'll be watching to see if other countries and languages eventually make this change as well."

The query length distribution indicates users are becoming more comfortable expressing complex information needs directly in search interfaces. This adaptation likely reflects familiarity with conversational AI tools and natural language processing capabilities.

Zero-click searches fluctuate without accelerating

Searches ending with no clicks to external websites remained elevated throughout Q4 2025 but showed stabilization rather than continued growth. In the United States, zero-click searches fluctuated between 24-26% through most of the quarter before settling around 24.5% in December.

European data followed similar patterns, with zero-click rates reaching 22.5% in December after modest fluctuation. The stability contrasts with earlier growth periods when AI Overview expansion drove substantial increases.

Organic clicks increased during late Q3 and Q4, peaking as the year ended and remaining elevated. Clicks to Google-owned properties stayed broadly stable, while repeat searches showed only marginal variation.

"The number I'm always watching like a hawk is the green bar in both charts – that shows us what percent of search clicks are going to non-Google-owned properties who aren't paying for the traffic," Fishkin explained. "What we're seeing in this data is relative stability for desktop searchers."

AI tools show concentrated adoption patterns

ChatGPT dominated AI tool usage, maintaining 25-37% of desktop users in the United States across 2025. The platform demonstrated seasonal fluctuation but retained clear market leadership throughout the measurement period.

Gemini emerged as the strongest secondary platform, growing from 4-5% user share early in 2025 to 10-11% by year-end. This consistent month-over-month growth allowed Gemini to overtake DeepSeek as the second-largest AI tool.

Perplexity, Claude, Copilot, and DeepSeek showed moderate variability without breakthrough adoption. Each maintained relatively stable positions throughout the quarter.

European patterns proved even more concentrated. ChatGPT averaged 34-46% of desktop users across 2025, demonstrating stronger dominance than in the US market. Gemini again showed consistent growth, rising from approximately 4% to 14% by late 2025.

"The new narrative that Google is gaining the upper-hand in AI is certainly reinforced by these charts," Fishkin observed. "Gemini tripled in a year, while ChatGPT grew less than 50% with a slowing trajectory."

Post-AI search destinations favor established platforms

After using AI tools, desktop users overwhelmingly navigated to established platforms rather than discovering new destinations. Google, YouTube, GitHub, Microsoft, and Amazon occupied the top five positions in both Q4 2024 and Q4 2025 in the United States.

ChatGPT's rise as a post-search destination proved notable, climbing from position 14 to position 7 year-over-year. Gemini entered the top 10 in Q4 2025, reflecting growing integration into research workflows.

Developer and research platforms strengthened their positions. GitHub rose to third place while NIH remained within the top 10, highlighting AI's role in coding, research, and technical workflows.

European patterns closely mirrored US rankings. YouTube led, followed by Reddit, Wikipedia, Facebook, and Amazon. ChatGPT rose one position to number 7, matching its US performance.

"The most interesting domains on this list are those that don't appear in the 'top search destinations' list," Fishkin noted. "NIH, Canva, Anthropic, Github, and Gemini illuminate the difference in intent between AI 'searchers' and traditional search users."

Traditional post-search destinations remain stable

YouTube maintained dominant position as the leading destination after traditional searches, with Reddit, Amazon, Wikipedia, and Facebook forming a consistent top five in the United States. The ordering remained remarkably stable year-over-year, indicating limited disruption in search-driven discovery.

ChatGPT climbed to position 7 in Q4 2025, up from position 9 in Q3 2025. This represented the most significant change within the top 15 rankings.

Quora exited the top 15 while Apple and Microsoft moved lower in the ranking. The shifts suggest modest rebalancing rather than fundamental ecosystem transformation.

"This is one of the more depressing charts we show," Fishkin commented. "The degree to which almost nothing moves at all bums me out. That lack of movement indicates a less competitive, dynamic, and innovative search environment."

Search intent distribution shows continuity

Informational queries continued dominating desktop search across all engines and regions. In the United States, informational searches accounted for 55-63% of queries in both Q4 2024 and Q4 2025, underscoring search's enduring role in information discovery.

Commercial research intent remained broadly stable year-over-year with only minor fluctuation across engines. Direct purchase intent stayed minimal and stable, remaining below 2% across all search platforms.

European patterns followed similar distributions. Informational intent dominated at 52-59% of queries across engines in Q4 2025. Navigational and commercial research intent showed only minor engine-level variation with no material change to overall intent mix.

"I keep expecting to see bigger changes in the percentage of searchers seeking a particular website, but this data is really helpful in adjusting my expectations," Fishkin reflected. The stability suggests Google's AI features satisfy information needs without fundamentally altering why users search.

E-commerce landscape maintains hierarchy

Amazon dominated US desktop e-commerce throughout Q4 2025, consistently reaching 44-50% of desktop users. The platform captured the largest portion of visits, with a December increase consistent with seasonal shopping behavior.

eBay and Walmart formed a stable second tier, fluctuating around 13-15% and 11-14% respectively. Etsy remained a mid-tier player with steady but comparatively lower engagement.

European e-commerce showed more distributed competition. Amazon led in both user share and visits but with smaller margins relative to other platforms. AliExpress and eBay formed a strong second tier, showing greater month-to-month variability than US counterparts.

Target demonstrated unexpected growth in the US market during Q4. "My biggest surprise was Target's impressive growth in e-commerce in Q4 in the US," Fishkin noted. "They've long been stagnant, but it appears they're doing something right in the e-commerce world."

Content platform search shows concentration

YouTube remained the dominant destination for social content platform search, reaching the largest user share by a wide margin. The platform's position stayed stable throughout Q4, reinforcing its role as both content destination and search engine.

Reddit and Facebook formed a consistent second tier in the United States. TikTok and Instagram maintained smaller but persistent shares. Search intensity revealed YouTube users performed significantly more searches per user than any other platform.

Pinterest exhibited gradual increase toward year-end, suggesting growing adoption as a visual discovery platform. "Pinterest and TikTok as rising search destinations wasn't on my prediction list," Fishkin observed, "but given these charts, I'm going to be watching those more closely."

European patterns closely mirrored US distributions. YouTube led by wide margin with stable user reach throughout Q4. Reddit, Facebook, and Instagram followed as secondary destinations while TikTok maintained consistent position.

Marketing implications require strategy adaptation

The Q4 2025 data demonstrates desktop search behavior remains stable and mature, with incremental shifts rather than structural transformation. Traditional search continues anchoring discovery, with platform hierarchy and engagement patterns largely unchanged.

AI tools integrate into routine search behavior through steady growth and increased destination visibility. However, adoption remains limited relative to traditional search, suggesting AI represents an additional layer rather than wholesale replacement.

Users refine how they search rather than where they search. Longer queries and stable search intensity point to deeper engagement within existing ecosystems. Marketing teams optimizing for AI search must balance visibility requirements across both traditional and conversational interfaces.

The e-commerce and content discovery landscapes show continuity with gradual diversification. Core platforms retain leadership while secondary destinations gain incremental visibility across regions.

Zero-click search patterns show stabilization rather than acceleration, though traffic quality metrics may improve as users arrive with more specific intent after consuming AI-generated summaries.

Timeline

Summary

Who: Datos, a Semrush company, published the research analyzing clickstream data from tens of millions of active desktop users globally. The analysis examines behavior patterns affecting marketing professionals, publishers, and content creators seeking to understand search ecosystem evolution.

What: The State of Search Q4 2025 report revealed traditional search maintained approximately 10% of US desktop activity throughout 2025 while AI tools grew from 0.42% to 0.77% of total events. Users demonstrated behavioral adaptation through longer query formulation rather than platform migration, with searches containing 6-9 words showing fastest growth. ChatGPT retained dominant position among AI tools at 25-37% user share while Gemini emerged as strongest secondary platform, tripling from 4% to 12% adoption.

When: The report analyzes October-December 2025 data and tracks year-over-year trends from Q4 2024. Datos released the quarterly analysis on January 28, 2026, providing comprehensive view of search behavior evolution across the final three months of 2025.

Where: The research covers desktop search behavior in the United States, European Union, and United Kingdom markets. Traditional search dominance patterns proved consistent across regions, with Google maintaining 93-96% share in both US and European markets. AI Mode adoption showed similar trajectories after accounting for delayed European rollout.

Why: The analysis matters for marketing professionals navigating search ecosystem transformation as AI features expand across major platforms. Understanding that user behavior shows refinement rather than replacement helps teams develop optimization strategies balancing traditional search and conversational interfaces. The data demonstrates search fundamentals remain intact despite interface proliferation, allowing measured rather than reactive strategic planning for visibility across evolving discovery channels.

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