SearchPulse Q2 2026: Building Confidence in an Increasingly AI-Dominated Search Landscape

AI power users are not Gen Z, they are early-career professionals

It’s a common misconception that the youngest age groups drive adoption of the newest technology. Our SearchPulse data tells us that it’s actually the 25-34 segment leading the way. This age group has the highest proportion of regular ChatGPT users at 58%. Regular use of Google AI Mode also jumps from an 18% national average to 28% specifically among 25–34-year-olds.

The 25-34 segment is at a unique intersection. They're digital natives who grew up alongside social media, and they're now several years into their careers, actively looking for ways to use technology to advance professionally. With workplace and productivity pressures, this tech-native group is likely embedding AI into daily tasks more than other age groups.

The takeaway: As with any AI-driven strategy, target people’s motivations rather than surface-level content that rides on the AI hype. Many in the 25-34 age segment are professionals who have normalised the use of AI and are likely to seek solutions that integrate into their workflows and help them achieve existing goals. Understanding this is key to applying an AI strategy that lands with their cohort.

Older users are deliberately scrolling past AI to find human reassurance

Even as AI overviews and AI-generated summaries become a default experience on many platforms, some users are still hesitant to engage with them. Two in five people (40%) deliberately scroll past AI overviews to click a traditional web link. A striking 54% of consumers aged 65+ either never click links in AI summaries or completely refuse to engage with AI overviews at all.

We know, based on the principle of ambiguity aversion, that when people face uncertainty, they lean into what is familiar. For older users, this means leaning on predictable and familiar search patterns, like organic links in Google Search, instead of AI-generated overviews. Brands and marketers need to keep this nuance in mind. Whilst some audiences, like the 25-34 age segment, readily adopt AI and are happy to experiment, segments such as 65+ draw their confidence from familiar platforms instead.

The takeaway: Protect your foundational organic SEO and use human authority signals to capture older audiences who consciously bypass AI summaries. If using AI-generated content, ensure they are ‘human verified’ and make it visible in the content to maintain the reader’s trust, especially in older segments.

Gen Z is not zero click; it is verification click

Over the past few quarters, we’ve seen the 18-to 24-year-old segment show a greater preference for video content and social media platforms. In Q1 2026, we saw this segment favouring TikTok as a search channel. This quarter, YouTube has officially dethroned Google Search as the #1 search engine for this demographic, with 59% using YouTube for searching regularly and only 54% for Google Search.

This quarter’s data also showed a distinct behaviour emerging for how this group interacts with AI Overviews, specifically when making purchases. 45% of 18–24-year-olds "always" or "often" click links within AI Overviews to verify product information before making a purchase. This behaviour deviates from the ‘zero click’ search pattern. The Gen Z do click, and they actively seek information to gain confidence about the information they see.

The takeaway: Showing up in AI Overviews is not enough, especially for Gen Z. Your content strategy needs multiple layers. Consider structured, citable content that earns AI Overview placement for discovery, and authentic videos and shorts on YouTube and TikTok for validation.

Delegated commerce is emerging, but payment still needs human control

Whilst many people are open to using AI for simple information gathering, there are still barriers when it comes to letting AI make the purchase. Nearly half (46%) of respondents in our research are actively uncomfortable letting an AI assistant complete checkouts or payments on their behalf.

This has a lot of implications for e-commerce. Whilst AI shopping agents can make the process faster, which may be good for facilitating sales, stripping away the final purchase step entirely can induce anxiety and eliminate a buyer’s sense of involvement in the process. Whilst it may seem counterintuitive, adding friction such as leaving room for manual input after an AI has made a purchase decision can help ensure a buyer feels explicit ownership over the transaction.

The takeaway: Simplify product discovery but introduce friction at the purchase stage. Intentionally designing a clear, manual review page right before checkout that explicitly confirms exactly what the user is paying for can give back a sense of autonomy and control even with AI speeding up the process. Are you ready to optimise for confidence, not just visibility?

These are just some of the headline insights on search behaviour shifts that we’ve found this quarter. If you want to build your own confidence about search habits and find out more, download our Q2 SearchPulse Report now.