How AI Is Reshaping the Behavioural Landscape of Paid Media
By Erin Smith, Performance Media Executive
Search behaviour is no longer defined by short, fragmented queries but by detailed, conversational prompts that reveal clear intent from the outset. Conversational prompts have fundamentally altered how intent is expressed and captured.
Users now approach platforms like ChatGPT and Google Gemini with specific needs, constraints and preferences, effectively skipping the exploratory phase that once defined the top of the funnel. As Search Engine Land notes, “the changing length of search queries marks a behavioural shift,” with users now providing far more context than they would in a traditional search engine, resulting in more specific, personalised queries and longer engagement.
This is particularly evident among younger audiences, where consumer behaviour is becoming more conversational by default. Gen Z users, for example, are the most likely to use full-sentence queries, treating search engines less like tools and more like companions, asking “What is the best…” rather than relying on shorthand inputs. This shift forces paid media practitioners to rethink how and where they allocate budget, moving away from broad, high-volume keyword targeting toward high-intent, long-tail opportunities that increase the likelihood of conversion. When a user submits a complex query, AI systems now run multiple backend searches across reviews, specifications and availability to construct a single response.
As Search Engine Land highlights, this creates “a potential goldmine of data” for marketers, but only if they can effectively interpret and act on these richer intent signals.
More Refined Queries Mean Less Guesswork
At the same time, the nature of interaction has become more fluid and iterative. Instead of isolated searches, users engage in multi-step conversations, refining their queries in real time. This reduces the relevance of static keyword lists and instead favours AI-driven bidding models that can interpret intent across an entire session. Bidding is no longer about winning a single auction, but about aligning with evolving user intent throughout a dynamic journey.
This evolution is mirrored in the tools themselves. What was once background automation is now actively shaping campaign structure and execution. To put it another way, paid media practitioners are no longer just optimising bids or managing keywords; they’re expected to think more strategically, balancing channel execution with brand positioning, creative and the overall customer experience.
Retargeting is Becoming Less Effective
This shift also weakens the role of retargeting. With fewer users visiting websites, the data signals that fuel retargeting campaigns become less abundant, reducing their effectiveness. In response, marketers need to invest more heavily in first-party data and predictive audience modelling, while reallocating spend toward capturing high-intent users earlier in the process.
At a broader level, the structure of search itself is changing. AI-generated summaries are taking up more space on results pages, pushing both paid and organic listings further down and reshaping how users interact with them. At the same time, conversational AI platforms like Chat GPT, Copilot and Gemini are increasingly serving as primary research tools, reducing the number of traditional searches that would previously have generated ad impressions at the top of the funnel. With fewer opportunities to appear, competition for visibility is intensifying, driving up costs and forcing marketers to diversify their channel mix.
The Multi-channel Approach
This isn’t just a tactical adjustment: it represents a fundamental shift in how visibility is defined. Success is no longer about dominating a single channel, but about ensuring presence across an increasingly fragmented, AI-driven journey where discovery can happen anywhere.
Ultimately, search is becoming less about browsing and more about asking, and that fundamentally changes the rules of paid media. Success in this new landscape depends not on how often a brand appears, but on how precisely it aligns with user intent at the exact moment a decision is made.
To learn more about how intent signals are reshaping paid advertising, speak to our Performance Media team.
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