The question of whether consumers use search engines to find products and services has been settled for years. The more pressing question, one that should guide every marketing budget decision, is how dominant search has become, and what the research reveals about the specific behaviors driving purchase decisions today.
The Baseline: Search as the Default Starting Point
Multiple large-scale studies converge on the same finding: search is where the buying process begins for most consumers. Research from Salesforce's State of the Connected Customer report found that 87% of buyers start their product searches online before making a purchase. A separate body of research from Google and Ipsos found that 53% of shoppers say they always research before buying, a figure that rises even higher for high-consideration purchases.
Even if a fraction of those represent commercial intent, the sheer volume makes search the largest single channel through which consumers encounter brands, products, and services.
Discovery and the Research Phase
Think with Google's consumer research offers some of the most precise data on search's role in product discovery. According to their findings, 49% of shoppers say they use Google to discover or find new products, making it the leading discovery channel ahead of brand websites, social media, and in-store browsing. Separately, 59% of consumers report using Google specifically to research a purchase before committing to a decision.
What this data reveals is a two-stage dynamic: search drives both discovery (finding out a product or service exists) and evaluation (comparing options before buying). Businesses that only optimize for the conversion stage are missing the earlier, often more consequential moment when a consumer is forming their consideration set.
For durable goods, software subscriptions, professional services, and other high-ticket categories, appearing during the research phase isn't just valuable. It's table stakes.
Local Search: Intent at Its Highest
For service-area businesses and local retailers, the local search data is particularly instructive. BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey, one of the most comprehensive annual studies of local search behavior, found that 98% of consumers used the internet to find information about local businesses in 2023. That figure has remained near-universal for several consecutive years, reflecting an entrenched behavioral norm rather than a trend.
Google's own research into mobile search behavior adds a critical conversion dimension: 76% of consumers who conduct a local search on their smartphone visit a related business within 24 hours, and 28% of those searches result in a purchase. These numbers indicate that local search queries carry some of the highest purchase intent of any marketing touchpoint. Users aren't browsing idly; they're actively looking for somewhere to go or something to buy.
The growth of high-intent modifiers in search queries tells the same story. Searches containing "near me," "open now," and "best [service] in [city]" have grown substantially over the past decade, reflecting a shift toward immediate, transactional search behavior.
B2B Is Not Exempt
Search-as-research is often framed as a consumer behavior, but the data from B2B contexts is equally compelling. Research from Forrester and Google's B2B buyer study found that B2B buyers conduct an average of 12 or more online searches before engaging with a specific vendor's website. By the time a prospect fills out a contact form or requests a demo, they have typically already consulted search results, read third-party reviews, compared competitor offerings, and formed strong preliminary preferences.
This fundamentally changes what "lead generation" means in a B2B context. The sale is often partially made, or lost, in the search results long before any direct engagement occurs.
Implications for Marketers and Business Owners
The research points to several actionable conclusions:
- Visibility across the funnel matters more than ever. Because consumers use search at both the discovery and evaluation stages, businesses need content strategies that address both informational queries ("what is the best type of X?") and transactional ones ("buy X near me"). A presence at the top of the funnel builds brand familiarity that pays dividends at conversion.
- Local search is a direct revenue driver. The 76% visit-within-24-hours figure from Google means that local search optimization (Google Business Profile, local citations, review management) has a measurable and relatively short sales cycle. For many local businesses, it represents the highest-ROI channel available.
- The research phase is where brand preference is formed. Studies consistently show that consumers arrive at purchase decisions having already narrowed their options. Being absent from the research phase means competing only on price and availability, a losing position in most markets.
Conclusion
The research is unambiguous: search is the dominant channel through which consumers at every stage, from casual browsers to high-intent buyers, discover, evaluate, and ultimately choose products and services. For marketers and business owners, this isn't a reason to simply "do SEO." It's a reason to treat search visibility as a foundational business priority, with strategy and investment to match.
