Welcome to the New Search Maze
The old search journey was simple: Open Google. Type a question. Click a result.
That world is gone.
The modern consumer’s journey to find information has transformed into a true maze, fragmented, fluid, and completely unpredictable.
Today, a customer might discover a new product in a TikTok video, look for reviews and photos on Instagram, validate the brand’s credibility on Google, compare prices and features on ChatGPT, search for honest opinions on Reddit, and finally watch a tutorial on YouTube… all before adding anything to their cart.
Search has exploded outward.
And this explosion demands a totally new approach to visibility, content, and SEO.
Based on studies that map this behavioral shift, it reveals five essential takeaways.
If your brand misses them, you risk becoming invisible in the places where modern consumers actually search.
Let’s break them down.
Takeaway 1: Google Is No Longer the King, Just One Piece on the Board
Google is still powerful… but no longer the place people search.
Although Google remains a dominant force, its absolute reign is being challenged. Data shows a clear erosion in its share: in just six months, Google’s portion of general information searches dropped from 73% to 66.9%.
But this doesn’t mean Google is dying.
It means consumers now use multiple search engines with specific intent:
- Social media → discovery, inspiration (“What are people using?”)
- Google → validation and fact-checking (“Is this real?”)
- AI tools (ChatGPT, Gemini) → fast comparison and clarity (“Which option is better?”)
- Reddit → unfiltered opinions (“What’s the truth?”)
- YouTube → demonstrations (“How does this work?”)
For ecommerce brands, the message is simple:
A SEO strategy focused exclusively on Google is no longer enough to reach the consumer throughout their entire decision-making journey.
Your customers don’t move in a straight line anymore, and neither can your visibility.
Takeaway 2: This Shift It’s a Revolution Happening Right Now (and fasting)
Search habits aren’t evolving slowly. They are changing faster than any digital behavior we’ve ever tracked, and the numbers revealed in HighVisibility’s 2025 Study on Evolving Search Behaviors confirm this acceleration:
In the last six months:
- Daily use of AI for search doubled (14% → 29.2%)
- People who never used AI plummeted (28.5% → 16.3%)
- ChatGPT’s share of general searches tripled (4.1% → 12.5%)
The #1 reason behind this massive adoption is efficiency, as illustrated by what people are saying:
“I started using ChatGPT instead of Google because it’s faster.”
This means the window for a slow, gradual adaptation is closing quickly. Ecommerce that fails to act with urgency risks falling behind in a landscape that is being redefined month after month.
Takeaway 3: “SEO Is Dead” Is the Myth of the Year. It Has Simply Evolved
Contrary to the apocalyptic headlines, SEO is not dead. In fact, it has become more critical than ever, serving as the foundation that supports visibility across every new platform.
Modern SEO now powers visibility everywhere because AI models rely heavily on optimized websites to generate answers.
Traditional SEO remains essential for two main reasons:
- AI models need clean, optimized content to think.
ChatGPT and Gemini don’t invent information.
They source from:
- well-organized websites
- pages with clear semantic structure
- authoritative content
If your site isn’t optimized, AI can’t “understand” you.
- Google is still the final decision filter.
Even if a search begins on TikTok or inside an AI model… It often ends on Google.
People check:
- legitimacy
- reviews
- brand trust
- site quality
SEO is still the foundation, but the goal has evolved from Search Engine Optimization to:
Search Everywhere Optimization
Takeaway 4: Your Customers Have Become Sophisticated Search Strategists
The days when users relied on a single default search engine are over. Today, they are sophisticated strategists who actively choose the ideal platform for each type of need or search intent. Businesses must understand this behavior to deliver the right content, in the right format, in the right place.
Here’s the new logic: (though the journey is far from linear):
- For discovery and inspiration: Social platforms like TikTok and Instagram (Where trends ignite)
- For quick research and comparisons: AI tools like ChatGPT (Where AI summarizes options instantly)
- For validation and local search: Search engines like Google (Where authority and trust live)
- For transactional purchases: Marketplaces (Where price and speed matter most)
This strategic selection means that your brand’s most detailed blog post becomes invisible to a user in “discovery mode” on TikTok, just as a viral video is useless for someone seeking final validation on Google.
Matching content to context has become the new competitive advantage.
It’s not enough to simply be present; you must speak the right language on each platform, aligned with the user’s mindset at that exact moment.
Takeaway 5: The New Success Metric: Being Cited, Not Just Ranked
In an era dominated by AI-generated answers, the new SEO race is no longer about being just clicked, but about being referenced.
This shift was pioneered by two major concepts:
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
Appearing in snippets and voice answers.
Older idea, focused on: “How do I give Google the perfect direct answer?”
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) was formalized in a Stanford University study to explain how LLMs, which operate on probability, decide which sources to cite over others.
AI models choose sources based on:
- clarity
- authority
- semantic structure
- reliability
- consistency across platforms
So the new KPIs mapped for success are:
- Citations: When an AI links directly to your site
- Mentions: When an AI references your brand name
- Ranking Within the AI Narrative: Your placement inside an AI-generated list or summary
In other words:
The goal is not to appear as a link to the answer, but to become the source of the answer.
This is the future of SEO. And it requires a completely different structure of content, metadata, and semantic signals.
The End of the Single Path: Welcome to the Multi-Platform Search Era
The predictable Google → click → website journey is over. We now live in a complex, multifaceted, simultaneous ecosystem where each user creates their own path and every platform plays a specific role.
SEO isn’t dead; it has transformed into the framework that connects this new universe:
- social algorithms,
- generative engines,
- traditional search engines,
- video platforms,
- marketplaces,
- AI models.
The crucial question is no longer “How do I rank on Google?” but:
“How do I ensure my brand can be found (and cited) everywhere my audience searches for answers?”
This is the skill that will separate visible brands from invisible ones.
This is the new era of search.
Ready to position your brand for the new search era?
Explore Vasta’s SEO, CRO, and Dev solutions, or follow our CEO, Igor Silva, on Instagram and YouTube for real-world ecommerce strategies and benchmarks.
