Google is still the most common starting point for product research, but it no longer has anywhere near the dominance it once did. A survey of 983 consumers found traditional search engines leading with 38% of research journeys starting there, with ChatGPT or another AI assistant already claiming nearly a quarter of starting points. Marketplaces and social media each pull in a meaningful share too, leaving traditional search with well under half of all research starting points.

Essential Statistics

• 38% of consumers start product research with Google or another traditional search engine.
• 24% start with ChatGPT or another AI assistant.
• 19% start with Amazon or another marketplace.
• 11% start with social media.
• Reddit or online communities account for just 1% of starting points, with other sources making up the remaining 7%.

Key Takeaways

• Traditional search still leading suggests Google remains a meaningful starting point, but its 38% share suggests it’s no longer the default assumption it once was.
• AI assistants claiming nearly a quarter of starting points suggests this channel has moved from experimental to mainstream in a relatively short window.
• Marketplaces capturing almost a fifth of starting points suggests a sizable share of research now begins directly inside a shopping environment rather than a search engine.
• Social media’s modest but real share suggests this channel plays more of a starting role than many marketers may currently be crediting it for.
• This split suggests any research-stage strategy built solely around search engine optimization is already missing roughly six in ten potential starting points.

Actionable Insights

• Audit your current research-stage content and visibility efforts to see how much is built around traditional search versus AI assistants, marketplaces, and social media. If it’s overwhelmingly search-focused, this data suggests real exposure gaps elsewhere.
• Invest in AI visibility and structured content that AI assistants can reference, since this channel already claims close to a quarter of research starting points.
• Strengthen your marketplace presence and optimization if you sell physical products, since marketplaces capture nearly a fifth of research starting points on their own.
• Don’t dismiss social media as a discovery channel even if it isn’t your top performer, since this data shows it plays a real, if modest, role as a starting point.
• Track where your own traffic and leads report starting their research and compare it to this distribution to identify any channels you may be underinvesting in relative to where research actually begins.

‘Search is still the biggest door in, but it’s one door among several now. If your visibility strategy only covers Google, you’re missing most of where research actually starts.’ – Neil Patel