Consumer Engagement With AI-Powered Search Engines: Implications for the Future of Search Advertising Research and Practice

The rapid emergence and adoption of AI-powered search engines (AIPSEs; i.e., Google Gemini) present enormous opportunities and challenges for search advertising research and practice. Addressing these opportunities and challenges, this study employs an online observation method, examining consumers’ choice between AIPSEs and traditional search engines (TSEs; i.e., Google), motivations for using each search engine type, and use of these platforms. Results show heavier reliance on TSEs than AIPSEs, more elaborative keyword use on AIPSEs, and heightened use of AIPSEs in advice-seeking circumstances, among other notable findings. These results offer both theoretical and practical implications for the future of search advertising.