The context
With the meteoric rise of generative AI since the end of 2022, SEO strategies and professions are evolving. This is true in terms of production and editorial strategies, but also in terms of new search habits among internet users. For brands and retailers, generative AI has shaken up good search engine optimisation (SEO) practices on the Google Search engine, whose number of queries jumped 21% in 2024 in the U.S.A. By integrating summary functionality with AI, AI Overview (currently available in around 100 countries), the volume of queries was up 21.6%. Google remains dominant in the search market, but a market share is eroding. In 2024, Google was at 91.5% worldwide according to Semrush, compared to 92.5% in January 2020. In February 2025, this share decreased slightly to 90.15%, with 139.9 billion visits, including 6.4 billion unique visitors.
Brands and retailers are considering generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Claude, with varying degrees of urgency. This is because the tidal wave predicted by Gartner in February 2024, which announced a 25% drop in queries on traditional search engines by 2026, has not materialised. According to a study carried out by Eskimoz among 200 customers in Europe (all sectors), AI engines accounted for 0.4% of their total web traffic in January 2025. In February, this figure was 0.55%. However, growth is strong. In a year, it increased 29-fold.
Overall, it is as if the arrival of ChatGPT has benefited the entire Search market. According to the IPSOS study ‘New uses of Internet search’ (1000 respondents, publication on March 27, 2025), 85% of respondents say they use Google at least once a day, and 13% ChatGPT. To the question “Which platform do you think you will use more in the future?”, 54% answered Google compared to 17% ChatGPT.
On the user side, these AI engines are attracting a growing audience. According to Demandsage, in February 2025, ChatGPT had 3.8 billion monthly users worldwide (up by 138%), or 400 million active users each week (up by 22% compared to January) and 122.58 million each day. The Open AI platform (2024 turnover: US$3.7 billion up 130%, after 700% in 2023) processes more than a billion requests every day. Also of note: according to an Adobe‘s study published on March 17, 86% of traffic on these platforms in the U.S.A. comes from laptops and tablets. This is in stark contrast to the share of laptops in e-commerce, which is only 34%.
On the brand side, it is not yet possible to activate a ‘paid’ (or SEA) strategy on these AI engines.
Journaliste économique pour mind Retail depuis 2024, j’analyse la transformation digitale du commerce.
