- July 10th 2025
- Blog,Content Strategy,SEO Strategy
Search behaviour is changing – but it’s not as scary as you think!
Search behaviour is changing, and it’s causing concern, caution and sometimes downright panic depending on who you talk to! It’s manifesting as part of the global narrative about how humanity’s adoption and reliance on AI will rock civilisation as we know it. Yikes! In this case, LLM (Large Language Model) applications seem to eradicate the need for independent research (ie search engines) entirely. This is where some people start screaming that SEO is dead. It’s not, of course, because that’s only half the story. The need for search is still there, it’s just different.
The reason that search behaviour is changing isn’t solely down to technology itself, it’s because of the way humans choose to use it. That’s why it’s so important not to get swept up in somehow trying to manipulate or predict the tech, constantly trying to please algorithms. At Leapfrog, we think that putting the human first will help us all to understand and adapt to changes in search behaviour. Most importantly, we want to calm the waters and appreciate that it is change we’re looking at – not total annihilation!
Human-led SEO
Human-led SEO is different; it starts with the person behind the search, not the algorithm. Understand your customer, where they search, how they search, even when they search, and let this underpin your SEO and content strategy. You should think about where they are when they’re not searching; which social platforms and news feeds they tend to use. Search and brand are increasingly linked, and so this understanding will eventually feed into how your customer will find you in a search when it’s important.
Brand values
A recent study by Ahrefs shows that nearly half of searches made on Google are branded searches. These people know what they want to find out about; the product or service they require is already in their awareness. So the real legwork has to be put into positioning your brand into that awareness through multiple channels. This is probably the biggest change in how search will work as a marketing tool. It will become less and less common for search engines to fuel that initial brand awareness.
As part of your content strategy, try working backwards. What searches are already being made containing your brand name? Is there a common question that can be answered by a new piece of content that draws on looking at keyword research this way? By thinking like this, you’ll be able to use existing keyword tools in a wider way. You’ll be able to understand how your audience perceives your brand and create content that ties into the questions and interests that already exists.
Keywords
Do keywords still matter then, if search isn’t drawing users in with generic high intent search terms? Of course! It’s important here to remember that not all searches are the same, and service based ‘near me’ searches are different to product or retail searches. As we continue to evolve, then, it’s likely that we’ll see a more pronounced diversification between location based searches and pain point searches.
We already harp on about the importance of NAP (name, address, phone) on headers and footers, along with external listings that support location based signals for Google. This foundation principle still functions with AI search, so not a lot has changed. People are asking LLMs for local listings instead of using Google, but they’re likely to receive a list of businesses that is pretty much the same as what you’ll find on the Google map view. So you’ll want to maintain those core SEO principles if locality is important for your business.
AI overview
When it comes to pain point search behaviour, the AI overview has had a huge impact. AIO has more than doubled in the 3 months since March 2025 which has changed the search results page for good. Both organic listings and Ads are considerably bumped down the page. So does Google’s AI Overview mean a drop in traffic? Short answer, yes. It’s already been widely reported that CLRs (Click Through Rates) are down. The humans behind the searching will more often get what they need from the AI overview of their search and not need to click further. It makes perfect sense and is absolutely in line with human nature.
It’s worth asking, though – would those same humans who clicked onto your content 3 years ago to get an answer to their question have converted into a customer? Who knows, maybe, depending on the query and pain point that your content was answering. But also maybe not. AI overviews still mention brands, business names, and services. So your strategy should take in building visibility and presence within these AI overviews rather than seeking clicks at this point. Your aim is for your brand name to be in the next search that this person makes.
LLM search
Of course, many searches might not even touch a traditional search engine. We mentioned above that users are choosing LLMs for lists of services or businesses. For these searches, traditional SEO basics still hold true and will ensure your business is mentioned, even if there’s no clickable link. More impactful is how your target market might be asking ChatGPT or Gemini straight out for an answer to their pain point rather than go to Google. The important thing to think about here isn’t the fact that they’re doing this, it’s why. They know they don’t want the additional clicks that come with search engines, so why would they start there in the first place?
The good news is that if you’re not getting mentioned in a Chat GPT answer to a generic advice query, neither are your competitors! This movement is a really important reminder to broaden the sources of your brand name so that when it comes to high intent search behaviour, you already have some presence.
Back to basics
And so we come back to brand and presence. It’s all really foundational stuff and really goes to show that ultimately, humans are pretty basic. So it makes sense to keep strategies that way too. With search behaviour evolving, the most solid strategy to move with that change is to maintain the basic principles that really matter.
Create helpful content that makes your brand a source of interest in itself. It makes your website the destination rather than Google. Understand your human customers and their behaviour. Broaden your presence as much as possible. Build connections within your industry that builds your authority and visibility. These aren’t magical solutions to combat the advance of the machines, but they’ll ultimately appeal to the humans who will connect with your products or services. Which, at the end of the day, is what we all want!
Another excellent approach is to work with an agency who actively navigates the changes happening in AI and search behaviour. Get in touch to chat about how we can work together!
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