Alphabet says its investment in artificial intelligence is contributing to stronger growth in Google Search usage, including commercial queries. The update came in the company’s Q3 2026 earnings statement and is notable for businesses that depend on Google for website traffic, lead generation and advertising performance.

While the announcement is based on the company’s own statements to investors, it adds to the broader signal that AI features are becoming more central to how people search, compare options and interact with commercial content online.

What happened

In its Q3 2026 earnings update, Alphabet said its AI investments are driving overall Search query growth year over year. CEO Sundar Pichai said this includes growth in commercial queries, and described the company’s year-over-year query growth rate as the highest in the last five years.

Alphabet also reported year-over-year revenue growth across major parts of the business, including Google Search and Google Cloud. The company’s comments suggest it sees AI not only as a product layer, but also as a driver of user behaviour inside core Google services.

Why it matters for European businesses

For European companies, the practical importance is not only Google’s financial performance. The more relevant issue is that AI appears to be changing search behaviour at scale. If users are asking more questions, refining searches more often, or using AI-assisted search journeys before clicking through to websites, businesses may need to adapt both SEO and paid search strategies.

Growth in commercial queries matters in particular for companies selling products or services online. It may indicate that users are increasingly relying on Google’s AI-enhanced search experience during purchase research, supplier discovery and service comparison.

This can affect several areas:

• SEO: businesses may need to optimise for more conversational, intent-driven and comparison-oriented searches.
• Paid search: changes in query volume and user journeys can influence campaign structure, keyword strategy and return on ad spend.
• Website content: product, service and category pages may need clearer answers, stronger differentiation and more structured information.
• Analytics: traffic patterns may shift as AI features alter how often users click through and at what stage of the buying journey they visit a site.

For European SMEs, this is especially important because many rely heavily on Google as a primary acquisition channel without large in-house search teams.

Who may be affected

The impact is likely to be strongest for organisations that depend on discoverability in Google Search.

• E-commerce businesses competing for product visibility and high-intent commercial traffic.
• Service-based SMEs that rely on local and non-brand search queries for leads.
• Marketing teams and agencies managing SEO and paid search performance.
• Publishers and content-driven websites affected by changes in search behaviour and click-through patterns.
• B2B companies whose buyers use search for supplier research, comparison and shortlisting.

What companies should consider

Businesses do not need to react to one earnings statement as if it were a formal product or policy announcement. However, the direction of travel is clear: AI is becoming more embedded in search, and search strategy should increasingly account for AI-shaped user behaviour.

• Review search performance by intent: identify whether informational, comparison and transactional queries are changing in volume or conversion quality.
• Strengthen commercial landing pages: make pricing, features, trust signals, delivery information and differentiators easy to understand.
• Expand content for decision-stage searches: create pages that answer comparison, use-case and buying questions in plain language.
• Monitor paid search efficiency: watch for shifts in cost, click-through rates and conversion patterns as search journeys evolve.
• Improve measurement: combine search console, analytics and ad platform data to detect whether AI-driven discovery is affecting traffic mix or lead quality.
• Build brand demand: if AI search changes how generic queries work, stronger brand recognition may become more valuable over time.

Alphabet’s statement does not by itself define how Google’s AI search features will affect every sector. But for European businesses, it is another sign that search is not standing still. Companies that treat SEO, content and paid search as part of a connected AI-era discovery strategy are likely to be better positioned than those relying on older keyword-only approaches.