Search doesn’t look like it used to - and if you work in social media or marketing, you’ve probably felt that change, even if you haven’t quite put it into words yet.
Search is no longer just typing into Google
For years, search felt simple.
You had a question. You typed a few keywords. You clicked a link. Job done.
But that’s not how people behave anymore - especially younger audiences.
Search now looks more like:
- Asking TikTok for outfit ideas
- Using Instagram to find restaurants
- Speaking questions out loud
- Using images to work out what something is
- Opening multiple tabs and researching in real time
People aren’t just looking things up anymore.
They’re exploring, comparing, validating and learning — often before they ever interact with a brand.
Search has become a process, not a moment.
Why this matters for brands
One of the biggest mindset shifts for marketers is recognising that search is no longer just a performance channel.
It’s shaping demand much earlier in the decision-making process.
People are figuring out what they want before they even know which brand they want it from. By the time someone lands on your website, they often already have opinions, preferences and expectations.
And where do many of those opinions come from?
Social content.
Why everyone is talking about Gen Z
A lot of this conversation centres around Gen Z - and for good reason.
They’re the most active searchers, the earliest adopters of new tools, and the quickest to shift their habits.
But here’s the important part:
This isn’t just about Gen Z.
It’s about the future of search behaviour more broadly.
Younger audiences tend to adopt new habits first, and those habits gradually spread across other generations. What feels new or niche today often becomes normal within a few years.
We’ve already seen this with social media.
Now we’re seeing it happen with search.
From keywords to conversations
People don’t search in stiff, robotic phrases anymore.
They search the way they speak.
The way they think.
The way they’d ask a friend.
Queries are longer, more specific, more conversational.
And the journey itself is far from linear.
Search journeys now loop, branch and shift direction as people gather information and refine what they need. The traditional marketing funnel doesn’t really reflect this behaviour anymore.
And that has significant implications for content.
The role of social in modern search
This is where social media becomes impossible to ignore.
Platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube are no longer just entertainment channels - they’re discovery engines.
People use them to:
- Find inspiration
- Learn new skills
- Research products
- Compare options
- Validate decisions
Social content now sits right at the very beginning of the customer journey — long before someone clicks “buy”.
What this means for businesses
For brands, this shift is both exciting and challenging.
Visibility is no longer just about ranking on Google. It’s about showing up where people are already exploring, asking questions and forming opinions.
Content is no longer just about promotion. It’s about helping, guiding and educating.
And the brands that win attention are the ones that understand how people actually behave - not how traditional marketing models suggest they should behave.
The bigger picture
It’s easy to think of Gen Z as a separate audience.
But a more useful way to look at it is this:
They’re a preview.
A preview of how search, discovery and decision-making will continue to evolve.
Search is becoming more visual.
More conversational.
More social.
More human.
And for marketers, that changes everything.
It’s no longer just about being searchable.
It’s about being discoverable.