The State of Search report for Q2 2026 just dropped, and the takeaways are much the same as in preceding reports.

There is no evidence of traditional search being displaced at scale.

In fact, Google itself may be the biggest beneficiary of changing AI search behaviour.

Google still controls more than 92% of traditional desktop searches. People are bringing more informational and commercial research queries to search, not fewer. At the same time, a growing share of search activity is staying within Google or moving to Google-owned properties.

The State of Search Q2 2026 report was produced by Datos with commentary from SparkToro co-founder Rand Fishkin. It uses clickstream data from tens of millions of desktop users across the US, UK and EU between April 2025 and June 2026.

Traditional Search Is Not Being Displaced

Traditional search still generates substantially more desktop activity than standalone AI tools.

In Q2 2026, traditional search accounted for 10.52% of US desktop activity compared with 1.83% for AI tools. In the EU and UK, the split was 11.63% versus 1.91%.

Traditional search generated 9.4 times more activity than standalone AI tools in the US during June. The gap was 8.2 times in the EU and UK.

Google also maintained an overwhelming share of traditional search.

• It held between 92.4% and 94% of US traditional desktop searches throughout Q2.
• Its share remained at or above 94% in the EU and UK.
• Google reached 90.21% of the US desktop panel in June, up from 87.87% a year earlier.

Search frequency remained within Google’s established range as well. The average Google searcher completed 98.26 searches in the US and 100.83 in the EU and UK during June. Rand Fishkin called searches per searcher “the one I watch” and noted no dip beyond normal seasonality.

AI search is growing alongside Google. It is not replacing it.

AI Reach Is Not The Same As AI Activity

Plenty of people now use AI tools. I do every day. However, most have not made them the centre of their online discovery behaviour.

In June 2026:

• ChatGPT reached 36.05% of US desktop users and 41.91% in the EU and UK.
• Gemini reached 19.53% and 22.88% respectively.
• Claude reached 11.51% in the US and 12.6% in Europe.

Those figures measure monthly reach. Someone only had to visit the service once to be counted, and the audiences overlap. They cannot be added together or interpreted as shares of search activity.

The activity data tells a different side of the story.

Standalone AI tools generated only 1.05% of US webpage visits and 1.19% of European visits in June.

AI usage is still growing quickly. Its quarterly share of desktop activity increased from 1.37% to 1.83% in the US and from 1.34% to 1.91% in the EU and UK year on year.

ChatGPT’s destination ranking also points to augmentation in the search journey. It climbed from ninth to seventh in the US and from eighth to seventh in Europe among domains visited after a traditional search. Traditional search remains one route users take to AI.

People Are Using Search For More Research, Not Less

This is the big one because it flies in the face of what many claimed ChatGPT would do.

If ChatGPT were taking over research-oriented search at scale, informational queries on traditional search engines should be weakening.

The report shows the opposite.

On Google in the US:

• Informational queries increased from 59.69% in Q2 2025 to 65.12% in Q2 2026.
• Commercial research increased from 16.42% to 17.65%.

The European data followed the same pattern:

• Informational intent increased from 55.39% to 61.31%.
• Commercial research rose from 14.99% to 17.47%.

Navigational searches declined across every major search engine while queries became more detailed. Six and seven-word searches continued to grow, and very long queries increased in Europe.

Users are not reserving complex questions for ChatGPT or Claude. They are also bringing more complex questions to Google.

Google-Owned Properties Are The Biggest Winner

People are not leaving Google for ChatGPT at scale.

They are staying inside Google.

The combined share of searches that stayed on Google or moved to another Google-owned property increased sharply in the Q2 of 2026 compared vs Q2 2025.

This includes Google Maps, weather, hotels and similar Google experiences within this category. It does not provide a property-by-property breakdown, so we cannot say how much of the increase came from Maps, YouTube or any other individual product.

We can say that Google’s combined share of post-search activity grew by:

• 26% year on year in the US.
• 66% in the EU and UK.

Google is effectively capturing more of what happens after a search by satisfying user demand within its own ecosystem.

This can partly explain why organic traffic has become harder to earn, as Google can now resolve more of the user’s journey before an external click becomes necessary.

This Is Not Simply Another Zero-Click Story

Zero-click searches declined year on year while activity on Google-owned properties increased.

In the US, zero-click share fell from 27.8% to 25.3%. In the EU and UK, it fell from 24.9% to 22.9%.

Users are still taking action. More of that activity is happening through Google:

• Opening a Maps listing
• Getting directions
• Calling through a Business Profile
• Watching a YouTube video
• Checking hotel availability
• Interacting with Shopping results
• Using another Google-owned search experience

Some of those interactions can still produce a commercial outcome. A phone call from Google Business Profile may be more valuable than a website visit, but it changes where the value appears and how it needs to be measured.

Traffic Down Or Flat. Conversions Up.

Across client accounts, I have seen a recurring pattern in 2026:

Traffic down or flat. Conversions up.

The State of Search report does not measure website conversions, so it cannot prove the cause. It does provide a plausible mechanism.

Traffic is not always down, but comparative pages may often see click drop with impression increases.

This is because Google is helping users build more understanding before they click an external result. The users who eventually reach the website may be further through the decision process and more likely to convert.

Before visiting a plumber’s website, someone can already see the service area, hours, reviews and phone number in Google. An ecommerce customer can compare prices, availability and reviews through Google Shopping before opening a product page.

There is less back-and-forth between search results and external websites. More understanding is being built before the organic click.

This can produce more impressions but fewer sessions, without producing fewer customers.

Google May Be The Biggest Beneficiary Of AI Search

Google already owns a search habit built over more than 20 years, along with the distribution and audience behind it.

It can, and already has, added AI answers to Search without asking users to adopt a separate platform.

AI Overviews and AI Mode allow Google to handle the longer, research-heavy questions that might otherwise move to ChatGPT. Google can then keep users within Search or route them to Maps, YouTube, Shopping, hotels and other Google-owned properties.

Google AI Mode accounted for only 0.13% of US desktop activity and 0.29% in the EU and UK during June. But users can also receive AI-generated answers through AI Overviews and other Google results without leaving what the report classifies as traditional search.

AI does not necessarily replace Google. It can strengthen Google’s ability to answer more queries and retain more of the resulting journey. 

And while the survival of Google Search does not guarantee the survival of the old search-to-website click model, people do want to explore and experience brands for themselves.

Besides, if conversions from organic are trending up, that data point tells me people still want and need the brand website to fully convert. That much is obvious.

What This Changes For SEO

Generative engine optimisation (GEO) covers visibility in AI-generated results. Regardless of measurement, good SEO remains the foundation for good GEO. If you want to be across AI results, SEO is where you start.

Increasingly though, SEO performance can no longer be judged through website traffic and rankings alone.

The practical response is to keep SEO as the primary acquisition discipline while measuring the surfaces where discovery and action now occur.

For local businesses, that includes:

• Google Business Profile views
• Calls and booking actions
• Direction requests
• Maps visibility
• Reviews and review velocity
• Service, category and opening-hour accuracy

For ecommerce businesses, it includes Merchant Center data, Shopping visibility, product feeds, price and availability information, reviews and YouTube content.

Across every business model, SEOs should:

• Track organic clicks and conversions relative to impressions.
• Separate falling demand from falling click-through rate.
• Measure calls, bookings and other actions completed on Google.
• Build recognisable brand demand that does not depend on one interface.
• Treat AI search visibility as an additional layer rather than a replacement for SEO.
• Track citations, mentions and referral traffic from AI platforms separately.

Businesses need to be present across Google’s ecosystem because that is where users increasingly research and act. They also need first-party assets such as useful websites, customer data, email audiences and strong brands because Google controls the rules, visibility and reporting on its own surfaces.

Search Is Not Disappearing. It Has Evolved

The report’s five closing takeaways reinforce the same pattern:

• Traditional search remained resilient. AI grew without displacing search.
• AI competition intensified. ChatGPT led, while Gemini, Claude and Google AI Mode gained.
• Search behaviour evolved. Queries became longer and more research-oriented.
• Platform ecosystems became more connected. Google retained more post-search activity, while AI assistants increasingly became destinations for one another.
• Growth came from reach and engagement. Audience share alone did not explain platform activity.

Together, these themes show evolution without displacement. Search remains dominant, but the path to an external website is becoming less direct. Google is keeping more of the journey, so SEO measurement must extend beyond rankings and website sessions.