There’s a simple reason Google is making sweeping changes to its iconic, decades-old search engine: users are making complicated requests.
“People are asking much longer and harder questions that no longer have a clear response anywhere on the internet,” said Robby Stein, vice president of product for Google Search.
Stein spoke to CNN about a new feature that lets Google generate custom visuals, interactive graphics, and even mini-apps running on Google’s search page in response to queries, by piecing together sources from across the web. It’s one of many updates the internet giant announced at its annual conference this week.
The most valuable real estate on the internet is evolving to reflect the new ways people find information online, the latest example of how artificial intelligence is changing the internet across search, social media, online shopping and more.
Users asking longer and more complex questions
People are starting to use longer, more specific search terms instead of succinct generic keywords, according to Google, and are increasingly beginning their searches in apps like ChatGPT, experts say. Fake, AI-generated influencers are causing a stir on social media. And people are increasingly using AI to compare and buy products.
It’s getting impossible to avoid using the internet without somehow encountering AI, despite growing anxiety about the tech and its impact on jobs, safety and the environment.
“After a while, it just becomes part of the way you live,” said Joseph Turow, a University of Pennsylvania media professor who will soon be releasing a book about AI’s impact on internet advertising.
Google says its search box is getting its biggest upgrade in 25 years. The new search field expands to fit more text and makes it easier to add other media to a search — like photos, files and Chrome browser tabs.
The goal is to shrink the number of steps for a user to complete a search, according to Stein. That includes tasks like performing a search based on a photo or switching to Google’s AI Mode before asking a follow-up question.
AI Mode searches rapidly growing
Searches that involve questions based on snapping a photo or circling something on a phone screen are growing 60% year-over-year, Stein said.
Searches in AI Mode, or the version of Google tailored for back-and-forth interactions, have more than doubled every quarter since they launched a year ago, and AI Mode queries are triple the length of a regular search on average.
Data from SEO and marketing firm Semrush indicates some people are starting to search Google the way they type to ChatGPT. Searches containing 11 words or more increased from 3.27% to 5.37%, and conversational queries jumped from 5% to 20%, while keyword-style searches decreased.
Yet the median query still contains just three words, suggesting that most people still search the old-fashioned way.
Robert Langenback, president of SEO marketing agency Eight Oh Two Marketing, said he’s observed people typing in more searches that range from three to five or five to 10 words instead of two to three words.
“(AI has) really almost trained people how to search differently,” he said.
AI expanding into social media and shopping
People generally use a mix of AI apps like ChatGPT and Google. More than 20% of ChatGPT referral traffic goes to Google, Semrush found after analyzing 1 billion lines of US clickstream data.
Google is typically used for direct questions or transactions, while ChatGPT is used for summarizing information, making comparisons and drafting materials.
AI’s reach extends far beyond search. Take Aitana Lopez’s Instagram profile.
Online she looks like any other social media influencer, with photos showing her posing at events, working out and sharing beauty tips to nearly 400,000 followers.
But she’s not real. Lopez is one of the most prominent AI-generated characters to rise to internet stardom, along with Lil’ Miquela, Lu do Magalu and Granny Spills.
Nearly 80% of marketers have increased spending on creator content that uses generative AI in the last 12 months, according to social agency Billion Dollar Boy.
Tech giants are also pushing AI deeper into social media. Meta is integrating its Muse Spark model into apps like WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook, while Google announced Gemini Omni, a new AI model that people can use to generate realistic avatars of themselves.
Traffic to US retail sites from AI services grew 393% year-over-year in the first three months of 2026, according to Adobe, with Meta, Amazon, Google and OpenAI all introducing AI shopping tools.
Human websites still remain important
Google this week introduced a new “universal” shopping cart that allows users to add items from different retailers across the web.
Amazon recently folded its Rufus shopping assistant into a new tool called Alexa for Shopping, which incorporates the AI helper into the online retailer’s search bar so shoppers can ask it to compare products and pricing history.
But even as AI directly answers shoppers’ questions at the top of Google, Stein says there’s still a need for quality websites created and maintained by humans.
Google says it still sends billions of clicks to websites every day, although Pew Research data last year found that Google users are less likely to click links when viewing an AI summarized answer.
Langenback says that while his clients are seeing less traffic, the traffic they are getting is leading to higher engagement.
“You just have to be ready to adapt, because (search) could look a lot different six months or a year from now,” he said.
Source: CNN
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