‘Gen Z drive inquiries’ — Google says over 5trn searches recorded yearly

Brendon Kraham, Google’s vice-president of search and commerce, global ads solutions, says the search engine processes over five trillion inquiries annually, with Generation (Gen) Z leading the surge.

Gen Z is a name used to describe individuals born between 1995 and 2012.

Speaking during a media briefing on Wednesday, Kraham said curiosity remains the driving force behind Google’s search dominance, with 15 percent of searches being entirely new queries yearly.

He also noted that artificial intelligence (AI) is significantly transforming search behaviours.

“We see more than five trillion searches annually,” Kraham said.

“And again, I think a testament to that ongoing curiosity is that 15 percent of the searches that come to Google are net new every year, and that has been true for over a decade.

“As people have infinite curiosity, they come to Google, they do a lot of searches, and they keep coming back, because, again, it is just so central to how people experience the world around them.

“And at the end of the day, implicit in what I was talking about is that every technological shift – and I said this before – has expanded what search can do, and that’s why we’re so incredibly excited about this moment of what AI can do to make a search more powerful, both the inputs and the way people search, and then also the kinds of answers that we can give them.”

He noted that AI overviews, powered by Google’s Gemini model, have enhanced the search experience by providing more intuitive and detailed responses.

According to Kraham, AI overviews now reach over a billion global users each month, making searches more engaging and efficient.

“We launched AI overviews last year. As you probably know, it’s now available in 100 countries around the world, and it’s reaching more than a billion global users every month,” he said.

“So billion users experiencing AI overview. One of the biggest questions that I get is, What are you learning, and how is it working?

“And again, I think it’s important to ground in the hypothesis that AI will help us in this mission, that it will be expansionary. That’s exactly what we’re seeing.

“The people who use AI overviews and what they search for – again, a good positive indication, – are more satisfied with results.

“That is something that we care deeply about: trust and satisfaction, and then ultimately, also a deep prioritisation and engagement with outbound links to the ecosystem and when people are using AI overviews, they visit a greater diversity of websites than if those results were not then AI overviews.”

Gen Z, according to Kraham, is at the forefront of the transformation, leveraging AI-powered tools to search in more conversational and complex ways.

“The other thing is, of course, ads and monetisation are incredibly important here, and we know that people who use AI overviews are finding ads helpful, which means, again, plenty of opportunities for businesses to connect with users on this front,” he said.

“I think there’s a big conversation sometimes about younger generations, and we’re finding that these new AI-powered features certainly are helping younger users, and they’re even searching more as a result of it.

“The population that actually searches more with Google on a daily basis are signed-in users, 18 to 24 years old.”

OVER 80% OF ADVERTISERS NOW USE AI TO TARGET CONSUMERS

According to Kraham, AI is revolutionising the advertising industry, with over 80 percent of advertisers now leveraging AI to refine their targeting strategies.

He noted that AI-powered tools enable advertisers to analyse vast amounts of data and predict consumer behaviour with remarkable accuracy.

“Today, more than 80 percent of advertisers are already using at least one AI-powered search ad product. So really deep and broad adoption of AI-based solutions, even in the core things like search,” he said.

“We just recently released some research that considers having about 130 different touch points across the Gita day, and that’s across streaming, scrolling, searching and shopping.

“And again, these behaviours are not that new, but they are acting on them in different ways than before.”

At the core of Google’s evolution, Kraham said, is the company’s commitment to enhancing search efficiency and keeping pace with shifting consumer behaviours.

Kraham reaffirmed that AI-powered search solutions are here to stay, enabling users to interact with information in more dynamic and meaningful ways.