20% of Americans use AI tools 10x+/month, but traditional search hasn't dipped

Another interesting research by SparkToro. This lines up with what we’re seeing working with SaaS companies. A few patterns stand out:

- Informational traffic is dropping since people can grab answers instantly from AI Overviews or LLMs without visiting the site.

- Traffic sources are more diverse now. Long-tail queries are showing up again, and discovery happens across more places than just Google.

- SEO hasn’t died, it’s shifted. It’s less about search engine optimization and more about search everywhere optimization. That makes strategy tougher, but also more interesting.

- The traffic that does land tends to be higher intent. Fewer drive-by visitors, more people ready to take action.

So while there was fear that AI would gut search and kill SEO, the effect has been different. It hasn’t removed the work, it has changed the shape of it. And in practice, that means more strategy, more experimentation, and actually more demand for the kind of work we do.