Eric Van Buskirk

I analyzed, interpreted, and produced findings on cursor movement and scroll behavior across 846,000 Google Search sessions. Clickstream data provided by Surfer SEO. 📷 This is the layer that other clickstream data does not show.

In our Google AI Mode study for Citation Labs, participants clicked nothing in 64% of 149 tasks. In our ChatGPT study for Profound, 205 of 221 tasks (92.8%) ended without a click to an external site. They compared brands and picked one. Your analytics show none of it.

clickstream.cc/competitive-...

clickstream.ccCompetitive User Behavior Benchmarking - Smarter AI and SEO Research | Clickstream SolutionsSee how real people notice, trust, and choose between your brand and its closest competitors in Google Search and AI Mode. We design and run private usability studies that reveal how people actually i...

Eric Van Buskirk reposted

23 July

A New York Times article this week cited one of the AI Mode studies I led the research for on behalf of Kevin Indig and Growth Memo. 1/

16 Sept

We analyzed 221 screen-recorded ChatGPT tasks from 56 U.S.-based regular users for Profound, combining behavioral coding, think-aloud transcripts, and questionnaires. We examined who defined the evaluation criteria: the user, ChatGPT, or both.

23 July

A New York Times article this week cited one of the AI Mode studies I led the research for on behalf of Kevin Indig and Growth Memo. 1/

nytimes.comGoogle Hit With $1 Billion Fine By EU Over Search Engine PracticesAt a tense moment for trans-Atlantic trade, the European Union accused Google of anti-competitive business practices.

23 July

Looks like Europeans are again onto something my own country is too foolish to see. Come on, USA. It's hiding in broad daylighthttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/business/google-eu-fine-search-competition.html

21 July

Looks fantastico. Rustling up some friends to read with beach campfire: reading aloud as part of scary-story night.

kate conger@kateconger.com

Hello! If you're new here, I write about Elon Musk, X, and recently, DOGE for the New York Times. I'm always interested in speaking to people who have worked with Musk, at X or in government, and I just verified my Signal on my NYT bio so you can contact me securely. www.nytimes.com/by/kate-conger

7 July

Barely settled in, already crashing someone else's ceremony. We're in #Ubud, Bali, for 5 more weeks. Ping me if you're around. #digitalnomading

3 July

Screen and browser window size changes what users actually see below AI Overviews, and it has nothing to do with how much they scroll. 1/3

3 July

Same Scroll. Very Different SERP Exposure. I measured moves, pauses, and reconsiders for over 100,000 users evaluating Google SERP. 2/3

clickstream.cc/methodology-...

3 July

clickstream.ccMethodology: Measuring How Users Move, Pause, And Reconsider On Google Search - Smarter AI and SEO Research | Clickstream SolutionsIntroduction Prior public Google SERP mouse-tracking studies measured dozens of people. The largest had a few thousand tasks. This study analyzed queries from a panel of tens of thousands of Google Se...

Eric Van Buskirk reposted

13 June

Oh, what problems will the scary foreigners cause next <sigh>

clickstream.cc/methodology-...

24 June

24 June

In the Clickstream Solutions AI Overviews data study, I sampled cursor position every second, up to 60 times per session, capturing X-Y coordinates, viewport size, and a timestamp. Stitched together, that builds a spatial-temporal trail.

17 June

At the same time, their cursor traversed 83.4% of the visible search page, compared to 66.2% without an AI Overview (+26%). I call that the cursor paradox. 2/3

searchenginejournal.comsearchenginejournal.com

17 June

Read the article at searchenginejournal.com/googl…

17 June

In my Google “scroll and hover” study, users with an AI Overview kept their cursor nearly still 44.1% of the time, versus 28.6% without one (+54%). Data from @surferseo.bsky.social 1/3 🧵

16 June

In my Google “scroll and hover” study, users with an AI Overview kept their cursor nearly still 44.1% of the time, versus 28.6% without one (+54%). At the same time, their cursor traversed 83.4% of the visible search page, compared to 66.2% without an AIO (+26%). I call that the cursor paradox.

www.searchenginejournal.com/google-searc...

16 June

searchenginejournal.com846,000 Google Searches Reveal How AI Overviews Are Changing User BehaviorYour brand name in Google no longer guarantees a fast click. New data reveals what AI Overviews are doing to navigational search behavior.

13 June

Oh, what problems will the scary foreigners cause next <sigh>

Eric Van Buskirk reposted

yoyao.bsky.social

@yoyao.com

30 May

The 293rd Digital Surfer newsletter was just sent 🌊 Why a million keywords is just a vanity number. The standout posts and shares this week come from: @aleyda.bsky.social @crestodina.bsky.social @themarketinganu.bsky.social @btabke.bsky.social @whitespark.ca @ericvanb.bsky.social

1/ No one reads the zero-click and AI search environment more deeply than @kevin-indig.bsky.social He just dug into my new clickstream data study on cursor and scroll behavior in Google Search, published on SEJ Monday. His take is as deep as you'll find. <Thread>

10/ The SERP isn't just losing clicks because Google answers more questions. In many cases, it's becoming the place where comparisons happen.

growth-memo.comUsers behave differently in AI Overviews vs. AI ModeA new clickstream study of 846K sessions shows AI Overviews turn the SERP into a comparison environment, while AI Mode produces acceptance

11/11 If you're not reading Growth Memo, this is a good week to start. www.growth-memo.com/p/users-beha...

8/ Framing intent-flattening as the collapse of a two-decade SEO assumption about search type predicting behavior.

9/ The practical output: this is no longer a ranking problem. It's a comparison problem. 🔁 Title tags and meta descriptions are now competing assets in a slower, more deliberate decision environment.

6/ He named something the data implies but my analysis didn't make explicit: the second impression is when comparison happens. Your listing may be seen 2 or 3 times in a single session. The return visit is when users actually decide.

7/ Other ideas: Connecting backscrolling to his May 2025 qualitative study, where 38% of AIO sessions included reassurance-seeking clicks to a second source. Validation has moved onto the SERP itself.

4/ AI Mode users accept the shortlist and move on. AIO users pause, spread across the page, scroll back up, and reconsider. His Netflix browse metaphor captures that contrast better than any stat. 🎬

5/ My original framing: AI Overviews are making Google less like a fast pass-through and more like a place where users read, revisit, compare, and reconsider. Kevin added a very useful layer to that.

2/ The study: 846,000 anonymized Google Search sessions, and the behavioral shifts we measured when an AI Overview is present. Kevin's piece goes somewhere mine didn't.

3/ He pulled findings from the Major Purchases user behavior study from April and compared them with this new scroll-and-cursor clickstream data from @surferseo.bsky.social to argue that AI Mode and AI Overviews are producing opposite user behaviors.

26 May

It’s live. 🔍 846,000 Google Search sessions. Scroll depth. Cursor movement. Session retention. Backscrolling. All measured across search intent types, with and without AI Overviews. 🧵

www.searchenginejournal.com/google-searc...

26 May

24 May

These winners Trump hired are some kind of Team-Einstein, eh? “You can’t do a nuclear thing in 72 hours on the back of a napkin,” Mr. Rubio said in a brief interview Sunday.

clickstream.cc/methodology-...

21 May

64% of AI Mode tasks, users made a product decision without clicking a single link or leaving the interface. Read. Evaluate. Decide. No tabs opened. AI Mode doesn't remove the comparison phase. It absorbs it into the answer. See the study I did with Citation Labs. Link 👇

citationlabs.com/funnels-new-...

21 May

citationlabs.comThe Funnel's New Gatekeeper: How Buyers Shortlist in AI ModeBehavioral research with 48 participants shows how buyers shortlist in Google Search and AI Mode and what brands need to change to stay visible.

14 Apr

Since click data can't tell us what people do inside a walled garden, how do you know what they DO? That's what I've focused on for a year now. Build user panels. Get their approval for desktop recording. It's not about what they SAY they do. It's real tasks, real activity.

@moreperfectunion.bsky.social

5 Apr

Happy Easter! Thanks to all the Antichrists who voted him back in.

Eric Van Buskirk reposted

More Perfect Union

18 Mar

Meta is shutting down its VR metaverse on June 15th.

17 Mar

1980s family. When I was too cool for school, my sister’s hair was too big for anything less than a station wagon, and my cousins were too preppy to drive south of Connecticut.

11 Mar

National Treasure (In Pearls)

2 Mar