Is AI Making Your SEO Efforts Obsolete?
If you're running a small business, you've likely heard the buzz: AI is changing everything. It’s a narrative that can cause a lot of anxiety, especially when you’ve invested time and money into building your website’s SEO. Are all those efforts about to become worthless?
Before you abandon your marketing strategy, it’s important to look at the real-world data, not just the headlines. The latest "State of Search Q2 2025" report, which analyses millions of online interactions across the US and Europe from April 2024 to June 2025, offers a much clearer picture. This post will cut through the hype and translate the report's key findings into actionable insights for your business. The reality is that we're seeing a gradual evolution in how people search, not an overnight revolution.
Google Still Rules, But the Rules are Changing
First, let's put one major concern to rest: your efforts to rank on Google are still incredibly important. The latest data shows that Google continues to dominate the search landscape, maintaining an overwhelming market share of approximately 95% for desktop web searches in both the US and Europe from Q2 2024 to Q2 2025. In short, Google is still the main stage where you need to be seen.
However, what it means to "be seen" is starting to change. The report highlights a significant and growing trend: the rise of "zero-click" searches. This is where a user's query is answered directly on the search results page (SERP) through features like AI Overviews and rich snippets, so they never have to click through to a website. This behaviour has seen a notable increase in the US since March 2025.
What does this mean for your business? It means that simply ranking is no longer enough. Your content now needs to be clear, concise, and structured in a way that Google can easily pull it out and feature it as a direct answer. Your goal is to be the source for that valuable snippet on the results page. This makes having high-quality, straight-to-the-point content on your website more crucial than ever for maintaining visibility.
AI's Real Role in Search (It's Not What You Think)
While headlines might suggest an AI takeover of search is imminent, the data paints a picture of a steady climb rather than an explosive revolution. According to the report, the adoption of AI tools has more than doubled in the US and almost tripled in the EU and UK over the past year.
However, it's crucial to put this growth into perspective. These tools still account for a tiny fraction of overall online activity. By June 2025, AI tools made up just 0.64% of user activity in the US and 0.85% in Europe. This tells us that while AI is becoming more popular, it's not replacing traditional search; it's creating a new, distinct category of online behaviour.
So, what are people actually doing with these AI tools? The report shows they are being used for specific, task-oriented searches. After using an AI tool, users are increasingly heading to platforms that help them accomplish a particular job:
-
Developer tasks: GitHub rose to become the #3 most visited site from AI tools in both the US and Europe.
-
E-commerce: Amazon rose to the #4 spot in the US, suggesting AI is playing a greater role in the path to purchase.
-
Media discovery: YouTube remained the #2 destination in both regions.
For a small business, this is a key insight. Your customers aren't necessarily replacing "how to fix a leaky tap" searches on Google with an AI query. Instead, they're using AI for more specialised tasks. Understanding this distinction is vital to knowing where—and how—to focus your marketing efforts in this evolving landscape.
Your Customers Are Searching Everywhere
A common assumption is that a user's journey starts on Google and ends on your website. The data, however, tells a different story. The "State of Search" report reveals that the top destinations from a Google search are often other massive content platforms.
In Q2 2025, for desktop users in the US, YouTube and Reddit were the number one and number two most-visited domains after performing a search, respectively. This trend holds true in Europe, where Reddit also climbed to the #2 spot.
What this means for your business is that these platforms are no longer just social channels; they are powerful search engines in their own right. Your potential customers are going directly to YouTube to find "how-to" videos and to Reddit to find authentic reviews and community discussions. A strong website is still the foundation of your digital presence, but it's not the only place your customers are looking for answers.
For small businesses, this signals a critical shift. Having a multi-platform content strategy is no longer a "nice-to-have" – it's a necessity. To effectively reach your audience, you must be present and discoverable on the platforms where they are actively searching for information, solutions, and community validation.
Summary: Your 3-Step Action Plan for a Smarter Search Strategy
The digital marketing landscape is in a state of constant evolution, not sudden upheaval. For a small business, navigating this change doesn't require tearing up your playbook, but rather making strategic adjustments. Based on the data, here is your 3-step action plan:
-
Double Down on High-Quality SEO for Google. With Google still commanding roughly 95% of the search market, your presence there is non-negotiable. However, with "zero-click" searches on the rise, the focus must shift. Your goal should be to create clear, concise content that directly answers your customers' questions, making it easy for Google to feature your business in its direct answers and AI Overviews.
-
Start Using AI as a Specialised Tool, Not a Replacement for Search. While the use of AI tools has more than doubled in the US and almost tripled in Europe in the last year, it still accounts for less than 1% of total search activity. The report shows that users are turning to AI for specific tasks, with top destinations including developer sites like GitHub, e-commerce giants like Amazon, and video platforms like YouTube. Treat AI as a powerful assistant for specific jobs, not as a replacement for your core search strategy.
-
Expand Your Content Strategy Beyond Your Website. Your customers are searching everywhere. The report clearly shows that the top destinations from a Google search are often other major platforms, with YouTube and Reddit leading the pack in both the US and Europe. These sites have become search engines in their own right. To be found, you need to be creating content where your customers are already looking for answers.
The lines between traditional search, AI tools, and content platforms are blurring. Navigating this new environment requires an integrated approach. This is precisely why we're building Marketing Mary—to provide a single, intelligent platform that helps SMEs manage their SEO, leverage AI for powerful, specific tasks, and execute a multi-platform content strategy efficiently. It's about giving you the tools to market better, faster, and cheaper in a world that never stops changing.
Frequently Asked Questions
How quickly are AI tools actually growing?
While AI tools are still a small part of total search, their user base is growing at a significant rate. The "State of Search Q2 2025" report shows that in the US, the share of desktop users using AI tools like ChatGPT grew from around 21% in May 2024 to nearly 30% by May 2025. The growth was even more pronounced in Europe, rising from approximately 24% to just under 40% in the same period. ChatGPT remains the clear market leader in both regions.
Just how common are "zero-click" searches?
They are more common than you might think and the trend is growing. According to the report's analysis of Google searches,
27.8% of all US desktop searches in June 2025 ended with no click at all. For comparison, 41.9% of searches resulted in a click on an organic result. This highlights why having content that can be featured directly on the results page is so important.
Are people searching less on Google than they used to?
This is a subtle but important trend. While Google's overall market share is stable, the average number of searches performed per person shows a slight decline. The report's data on US desktop searchers shows a peak of around 108 searches per user on Google in November 2024, which gradually decreased to about
92 searches per user by June 2025. This may suggest that while nearly everyone still uses Google, they might be using it slightly less frequently or more efficiently than before.
What are the main competitors to ChatGPT that people are using?
While ChatGPT is the dominant player, several other AI tools are carving out a niche. The report tracks the usage of other platforms, including:
-
Gemini (Google)
-
Claude (Anthropic)
-
Perplexity
-
Copilot (Microsoft)
Of these, Gemini has shown the most consistent, albeit slow, growth in both the US and Europe.
If our business starts using AI for marketing, what are the biggest technical hurdles?
Adopting AI effectively goes beyond just using a chatbot. The key technical challenges include:
-
Developing an effective system to retrieve your specific business data so the AI can use it (a Retriever-Generator, or RAG, structure).
-
Creating specialised AI agents that can handle different marketing tasks (like writing social media posts vs. analysing data) and work together seamlessly.
-
Ensuring the absolute privacy and security of your business and customer data.
-
Maintaining the quality and relevance of the AI-generated content to ensure it aligns with your brand.
How does a platform like Marketing Mary ensure AI content isn't just generic robot-speak?
This is addressed by setting strict, multi-level quality standards for all AI-generated content. For instance, our system requires every piece of content to pass several checks before it's delivered.
-
Brand Voice Match: The content must score over 75% for consistency with your company's unique brand voice.
-
Grammar and Readability: The content must have a perfect grammar score and be easy to read (a Flesch score of 60-70).
-
SEO Optimisation: The content must naturally include target keywords at an optimal density (2-3%).
-
Originality: The system includes plagiarism detection to ensure all content is original.
How is an integrated AI platform different from the many single-purpose AI writing tools out there?
The key difference is strategy and scope. Single-purpose AI tools are "point solutions"—they do one thing, like write a blog post or design an ad. An integrated platform like Marketing Mary is a holistic solution that manages the entire marketing process from end to end.
This starts with the AI Strategy Engine, which analyses your business, market, and customers to develop a tailored marketing plan. Only then does the AI Execution Suite take over to create and deploy content across multiple channels—from website articles and emails to social media and paid ads—that is perfectly aligned with that strategy. This strategic, all-in-one approach is what sets a comprehensive platform apart from a simple content generator.
