Is the Future of Search Dead? Inside the Rise of Zero Click Searches in 2026

Every time a fresh State of Search report drops, I find myself wondering: are we witnessing the twilight of traditional search, or just another twist in its long, winding saga? This latest Datos x SparkToro Q2 2026 report sure sparked my curiosity. AI is booming, but search engines haven’t been kicked to the curb—not by a long shot. In fact, more folks than ever are cozying up inside Google’s sprawling ecosystem. Here’s the kicker — June marked a record low for clicks to the open web, which begs the question: are we becoming digital hermits, trapped in Google’s garden, or is this just the new normal? Also, who’d have thought Wikipedia would make a triumphant comeback, climbing the charts despite the rise of AI answers? Some fascinating shifts are afoot—paid clicks are dropping even as Google’s ad revenues stay sky-high, and the EU/UK and U.S. are taking very different paths with AI Mode usage. It’s enough to make you reconsider where we’re truly headed in the search game. Curious to dig into the nitty-gritty? LEARN MORE.

The latest Datos x SparkToro State of Search Report is out, and it’s something of a doozy. AI is certainly on the rise, search still hasn’t been replaced (it’s not even in the process of), and more people than ever stay in Google’s ecosystem.

Headline Findings:

• June was a record low for the open web (via Google search).
• Just 40% of searches in the U.S. and 40.7% in the EU/UK send a click to the open web.
• In the U.S., 17.1% of all searches go to Google-owned properties. In the EU/UK, it’s up to 20.4%.
• AI Mode usage has plateaued, maybe even dropped in the U.S. The EU/UK has more than twice the % of visits to AI Mode (0.29%) than the U.S. (0.13%).
• ChatGPT’s share of desktop users has fallen in the EU/UK by 4 percentage points or more.
• Knowledge and AI websites gained in popularity; Google dropped out of the top 15 (in the U.S.).

Rather than read it in its entirety, you can watch or listen to me talk about it here:

Nothing hugely surprising of course. However, there are a couple of points that piqued my interest without making it into the headline findings.

Paid Clicks Are Decreasing

Given the extraordinarily good state of Google’s revenues, I’m surprised to see such a significant reduction in paid clicks between March and June 2026. In the U.S., they dropped from 2.3% to 1.3% and in the EU/UK, 2.4% to 1.4%.

Maybe Google has decided now’s the time to try something novel given how strong their advertising revenue base is. This does also coincide with record levels of users that stay on Google, or click through to another Google-owned property:

• U.S.: 17.1%.
• EU/UK: 20.4% (up from 17.1% in the previous month).

Maybe they have expanded AI Overviews in more territories recently (French rollout took place in July 2026), or given AI Mode a more significant push. We know these surfaces do not monetize as well advertising-wise as traditional interfaces.

This data corroborates in the EU/UK, but not in the U.S. One to hypothesize over.

Wikipedia Is On The Rise

In Europe, Wikipedia went from being the seventh most visited domain from search in Q2 2025 to the third most visited in Q2 2026.

This feels like the antithesis of what we’d expect to see – who visits websites anymore?

Some people obviously, which is encouraging. My only slight hunch is that users are looking for ways to corroborate the information they are ingesting at a furious rate from less reliable sources.

Or, I suppose, Wikipedia may be ranking more effectively.

Navigational Searches Fell, But Informational Search Rose

Navigational searches fell hardest on smaller engines – Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Bing, et al. – all saw more significant drops in navigational searches than Google’s 22.9% – 16.4% in the U.S. market.

But informational searches rose significantly. In the U.S. market, informational searches accounted for 59.69% in Q2 2025 compared to 65.12% in Q2 2026. The EU/UK saw a comparable rise over that same time period – 55.39% to 61.31%.

I’m not a statistician, but if this is based on share of search alone, then the “drop” in navigational searches could be down to the far more significant rise in informational searches.

We know that AI visibility has measurable downstream impact and that AI excels in the research phase. While search is becoming less valuable here, AI usage may be increasing subsequent informational searches in Google.

There is, of course, far more in the report around desktop usage, searches per user, query length to name but a few. But to me, these are the headlines.

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