ChatGPT vs Google: where Irish customers are really searching now

Five years ago, 'Google it' was a verb. Today, in roughly half of Irish households with an under-40 in them, the equivalent phrase is 'ask ChatGPT'. That shift didn't happen gradually — it happened in eighteen months.

The numbers

• •ChatGPT and competing AI assistants account for an estimated 20–30% of all consumer search-style queries in Ireland in early 2026.
• •For under-35s, that figure is closer to 50%.
• •Google's own usage isn't collapsing — but its 'click to your site' rate is, because AI overviews now answer the question without anyone leaving the page.

How the buying journey changes

On Google, a buyer typed a query, scanned ten options, opened three or four tabs, compared, and chose. On ChatGPT, the buyer asks one question and is given one — sometimes two or three — recommendations. They tend to take the first one.

That compresses the entire research stage of the funnel into a single answer. If you are not in that answer, you are not in the consideration set at all.

What this means for your marketing budget

Money you currently spend competing for the third-page Google result is increasingly money set on fire. The same budget redirected toward AEO — schema, answer-first content, citation building — typically returns a higher and more durable visibility yield, because the engines are still being trained on who matters in each category.

The takeaway

Don't abandon SEO. Do add AEO alongside it. The businesses that own both surfaces in 2026 will have an outsized share of leads in 2027, full stop.