846,000 Google Searches Reveal How AI Overviews Are Changing User Behavior
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Eric Van Buskirk
SEO and Content Strategy
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Van Buskirk is a leading SEO and AI search data analyst. He’s been deep in research for over 15 years. Contact him to build authority backed by real research.
In May 2025, he was the research director of the most extensive independent behavioral study of Google Search to date — 70 participants, 400 live AIO encounters, analyzed frame-by-frame. The project, done for Kevin Indig, uncovered how people truly interact with Google’s evolving search experience. Think you know Search from click data? Think again.
In October, 2025, he served as the research director for two other major SEO/AI studies. The most recent one was for Kevin Indig and examined user behavior in AI Mode. His article “260k Search Results Analyzed” became the most-read piece on Search Engine Journal for June, 2024. It grew out of a study exploring how content performs in the age of AI and the Helpful Content Update.
Earlier, he directed the landmark Backlinko ranking study, which analyzed one million search results — a project that is still cited today. He’s an SEMrush alum (oversaw major accounts for the Americas). And long before that, he cut his teeth in digital marketing with the first large community website for college students (a Barnes & Noble project) back in 1996.Â
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