Google V Gen Z Search

What Gen Z Search Behaviour Reveals About the Future of Intent

The signal: How Gen Z sets the standard for everyone else

Younger generations are rewriting the rules of Search for everyone. Discover what Gen Z search behaviour reveals about how intent is forming, and why AI is becoming essential to interpreting it.

Search behaviours are shared and learned across households. As tools become more intuitive, familiarity grows and those behaviours spread.

©MMXXV MARKETING WEEK

Sponsored by

+20%

+4%

Increase in John Lewis's average profit across Google Search

Increase in John Lewis's target return on Search ad spend

As Gen Z adopts new tools, their habits rarely stay confined to their own age group. Younger users are normalising interactions like voice- and camera-led Search, creating what generational historian Dr Eliza Filby describes as a “trickle-up” dynamic. “This reverses the traditional direction of cultural influence,” Filby explains. “Culture used to move down the generations. With disruptive behaviours, it now moves up.” “When a teenager starts using their camera to search for an outfit or asks a question out loud at the dinner table,” she adds, “those behaviours are observed, copied and quickly become the norm.” This makes Gen Z an important indicator for marketers. Signed-in users aged 18 to 24 issue more queries each day than any other age group.1 That intensity makes them an early signal of how Search behaviour is evolving. “It’s not age alone that shapes behaviour; it’s the wider context,” Filby says. “Search behaviours are shared and learned across households. As tools become more intuitive, familiarity grows and those behaviours spread.” For marketers, the implication is clear. Gen Z is not a niche segment. Their fluid approach to Search is the blueprint for relevance across every generation.

Gen Z’s habits reveal a fundamental shift in how intent takes shape. Search journeys are no longer neat or linear. They loop, branch and adapt, breaking away from the traditional marketing funnel. A single session might start with a broad query such as “things to do in Tokyo”, shift into exploring neighbourhoods through images and end with a specific check for “hotels in Shinjuku near a train station”. “In the past, people learned to simplify their searches because technology required it,” says Sinclair. “Now, AI enables people to express intent naturally. They search what they see, ask follow-up questions and refine as they learn.” This shift is reflected in the volume. Google’s data shows that Lens queries are one of the fastest-growing types of Search, now exceeding 25 billion queries a month.2 And younger users who have tried Circle to Search now use it to start more than 10% of their searches.2 Intent now unfolds across a sequence of interactions rather than a single keyword. This creates a large volume of unique, highly specific signals that manual keyword lists simply can’t capture at scale. “Searches are moving beyond keywords to reflect how people actually speak and think,” Sinclair notes. “Search is the connective tissue, translating curiosity into signals marketers can act on at scale.”

The shift: From linear funnels to richer intent

As intent becomes richer, more visual and more conversational, the challenge for marketers shifts from access to interpretation. AI is essential for decoding these signals in real time. By identifying patterns across millions of unique journeys, it surfaces demand that static keyword lists and manual planning inevitably miss. “Even subtle shifts in language can transform intent,” says Sinclair. “‘2026 jeans trends’ signals broad exploration, but ‘barrel jeans that aren’t too baggy’ signals readiness to narrow options and act. AI can detect those shifts and adapt instantly, helping brands respond as intent becomes clearer.” This more conversational way of searching is now playing out at massive scale. AI Overviews now reaches more than 2 billion monthly users across more than 200 countries and territories.3 As more people go deeper with AI Overviews, they’re increasingly happier with their results and they search more often.4 Rather than attempting to predict every possible keyword or pathway, marketers should focus on strengthening fundamentals such as creative quality, accurate data and clear business objectives. These inputs help AI connect brands with people who are already more informed and closer to a decision. “Demographics still provide context,” Sinclair explains. “But intent determines relevance in the moment.”

The solution: Why AI is now central to search effectiveness

Search now lets people compare and evaluate options directly on the results page, meaning clicks often happen later in the journey. “When someone does click through today, they are often arriving with clearer intent and greater confidence,” Sinclair explains. “That changes what a click represents, even if the metric itself stays the same.” For marketers, this does not mean abandoning established measurement frameworks, such as last-click attribution. It means interpreting them in context. Accurate conversion tracking and strong first-party data are essential to recognising Search’s contribution earlier in the journey and ensuring performance is evaluated on business outcomes rather than volume alone. The aim is not to attribute every decision to Search, but to ensure that its role in shaping decisions is visible where results are measured. When measurement foundations are sound, intent signals become far more reliable and can guide smarter investment decisions.

The measurement implication: Interpreting value as intent becomes richer

1 Google Internal Data, May 2025 2 Google Internal Data, April 2025 3 Google Internal Data, July 2025 4 Google I/O, 2025

Scott Sinclair, Google

Searches are moving beyond keywords to reflect how people actually speak and think.

The growth opportunity: Fluid loyalty and capturing demand

As people use Search to compare, evaluate and narrow their options in real time, brand choices are increasingly made in the moment. As a result, loyalty is becoming less fixed and more situational. “Gen Z does not take brand claims at face value,” says Filby. “They want proof, participation and agency.” As those expectations spread across age groups, brands increasingly earn loyalty by being relevant, useful and trustworthy in the moment. “People are arriving with a brand in mind less often,” Sinclair says. “We increasingly see a shift towards product- and solution-led queries.” People arrive with a need, and Search helps them explore who can meet it. When loyalty is fluid, market share is increasingly shaped in moments rather than built gradually over time. In those moments, visibility and relevance create opportunities for brands to be discovered, compared and chosen, translating behavioural shifts into tangible commercial outcomes. The brands most likely to succeed are those that look beyond generational labels and invest in capabilities that make intent visible wherever it emerges. As Sinclair puts it: “The pace of change isn’t slowing. The opportunity for marketers is to build systems that can learn and adapt alongside their audiences and turn that learning into growth.” In that context, Gen Z matters not as a segment to target, but as a signal of how intent is evolving for everyone.

Dr Eliza Filby, generational historian

Scott Sinclair, Google

The pace of change isn’t slowing. The opportunity for marketers is to build systems that can learn and adapt alongside their audiences and turn that learning into growth.

Every day, across billions of searches, people are finding richer ways to ask the questions that matter, using images, voice and more conversational language. As search behaviours and technology evolve together, people have moved beyond simple keyword lookups. Search is now used to explore ideas, seek validation and work through solutions in real time, often refining their needs before engaging directly with a brand. The motivation to search hasn’t changed, but the way intent is expressed has become more confident, detailed and complete. “Search used to be treated mainly as a performance channel,” says Scott Sinclair, head of Search at Google. “Now it shapes demand far earlier in the decision process. It’s where people explore, compare and clarify what they need, and where brands can respond before intent is fully formed.” This evolution has put a spotlight on Gen Z. As the most active searchers and earliest adopters of new tools, they are often seen as a generation apart. But is the industry's intense focus on Gen Z actually justified, or should we be looking at them differently, not as a separate audience to target but as a preview of where all search behaviour is heading?