How Digital Works Now: Four Shifts in Search, Data and Personalisation
Strategy · April 3, 2026
Four shifts changed how a website earns attention: search became conversational, personalisation moved to individual behaviour, first-party data replaced third-party tracking, and AI summaries began answering queries without a click. The shifts are four expressions of one change. A website is no longer a brochure waiting to be found; it is a system that has to answer a question, recognise the visitor and earn the next interaction.
Key takeaways
- Google Search has interpreted queries with language models since BERT in 2019 and MUM in 2021, so content is written in the words buyers use.
- Since August 2023 Google shows FAQ rich results only for well-known government and health websites; FAQ markup remains a way to structure content.
- Chrome keeps third-party cookies, but Safari has blocked them by default since 2020 and Firefox has isolated them per site since 2022.
- With an AI summary on the page, users clicked a link inside it in 1% of visits, according to Pew Research.
Shift 1: search became a conversation
Users increasingly express intent in full sentences instead of compressed keywords. Google Search has interpreted queries with language models since BERT in 2019 and MUM in 2021, so ranking depends on intent and context more than on keyword density. The examples below are illustrative.
| Keyword query | Conversational query |
|---|
| web design Berlin | which digital agency in Berlin specialises in B2B websites and can start in April |
| buy iPhone | where to buy the latest iPhone in Berlin with same-day pickup |
| B2B CRM software | CRM for a mid-size B2B sales team that already uses HubSpot |
Content that matches such queries names the buyer's problem in the buyer's words. Headings describe the specific task, landing page copy confirms the visitor's intent on the first screen, and an FAQ block answers the questions buyers actually ask.
FAQ markup changed its role in 2023. Since August 2023 Google shows FAQ rich results only for well-known, authoritative government and health websites, and How-to rich results no longer appear in Search. For other sites FAQPage markup has no visible effect in Search; Google states that unused structured data causes no problems, and the markup still makes the question-and-answer structure machine-readable.
Shift 2: websites stopped showing everyone the same page
Personalisation moved from static segments to individual behaviour. The underlying system is a Customer Data Platform (CDP): it unifies a person's touchpoints with the brand into one profile and feeds that profile back into the website, email, advertising and sales. Segment, Salesforce Data Cloud and Adobe Real-Time CDP are examples of such platforms.
| Model | How it works | Limits |
|---|
| Segment-based | Rules applied to groups: "show X to visitors from country Y"; updated manually | Uses only attributes known at the start of the session |
| Behavioural and predictive | Scores applied to individuals from sessions, scroll depth, visit history, email engagement and CRM status | Requires connected data sources and consent management |
With connected data the customer journey map stops being a workshop diagram and becomes a live data model. Drop-off points, converting paths and deviations from the designed journey are visible as they happen. The practical step is connecting the CRM, on-site behaviour and outbound channels into one system; in the EU this depends on lawful consent for each data use.
Shift 3: first-party data became the reliable asset
Third-party tracking degraded across most of the web. Safari has blocked third-party cookies by default since March 2020, and Firefox has isolated cookies per site by default for desktop users since June 2022. Google announced in 2020 that Chrome would phase out third-party cookies, postponed the plan several times, dropped it in 2024, and in April 2025 confirmed that Chrome keeps its current settings-based choice without a new prompt.
First-party data is information a user gives voluntarily, directly or through on-site behaviour with consent. It is captured through a value exchange at each touchpoint.
| The company offers | The user provides |
|---|
| Original research or a report | Email, company size, industry |
| A pricing calculator | Project type, budget range, timing |
| A loyalty programme | Purchase frequency, category preferences |
| A website or SEO audit | Business goals, current stack, contact details |
| Data source | Signal quality |
|---|
| First-party, consented | High: collected directly and tied to a known relationship |
| Second-party, from a partner | Medium: depends on the partner's collection and consent |
| Third-party, external | Declining: limited by browser protections and regulation |
Shift 4: ranking first no longer guarantees a click
AI summaries answer many queries on the results page itself. Pew Research analysed 68,879 Google searches made by 900 US adults in March 2025. AI summaries appeared in 18% of searches, and the effect on clicks is shown below.
| Indicator | With AI summary, % | Without AI summary, % |
|---|
| Visits with a click on a traditional result | 8 | 15 |
| Visits with a click on a link inside the summary | 1 | not applicable |
| Visits after which the session ended | 26 | 16 |
Source: Pew Research Center, July 2025.
AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini also answer questions directly and cite sources. The goal shifts from ranking alone to being the cited source. Search engines do not publish citation criteria, so the practices below are based on observation and remain an estimate.
- Direct answers placed at the start of the page and of each section.
- Structured data that makes the page type, the author and the questions machine-readable.
- Experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust signals: named authors, sources, dates.
- Original data and named sources in place of general assertions.
- Consistent presence of the brand as an entity across independent sources.
| Objective | Earlier approach | Current approach |
|---|
| Visibility | Positions 1–3 | Citation by AI systems plus ranking |
| Traffic | Organic clicks | Owned channels plus direct visits |
| Content format | Keyword-dense articles | Structured answers with sources |
| Authority | Backlinks and domain rating | Entity mentions and E-E-A-T |
| Success metric | Impressions and clicks | Conversions and brand recall |
Zero-click search strengthens the case for owned channels: email lists, communities and direct relationships do not depend on a click from the results page.
Synthesis: the adaptive website
| Shift | Principle | Practice |
|---|
| 1 | Write the way buyers think | Headings and FAQ in the buyer's words; copy that confirms intent |
| 2 | Connect data, then act on it | CDP, a live journey model, behavioural personalisation with consent |
| 3 | Make every touchpoint earn data | Value exchange instead of bare forms |
| 4 | Optimise for citation as well as rank | Direct answers, structured data, original data and named sources |
The baseline moved for every company at the same time. Practices built for keyword search, third-party audiences and guaranteed clicks keep working less well each year, while the four principles above match how search and data work now.
Related reading: Immersive Marketing, Why Your B2B Website Doesn't Convert, Services.
FAQ
What is zero-click search?
A search that ends without a click on any result because the answer is shown on the results page, for example in an AI summary. Pew Research found that users ended their browsing session after 26% of result pages with an AI summary against 16% without one.
Do FAQ rich results still appear in Google?
Since August 2023 Google shows FAQ rich results only for well-known, authoritative government and health websites. For other sites the markup has no visible effect in Search, and Google states there is no need to remove it.
Has Chrome stopped supporting third-party cookies?
No. In April 2025 Google confirmed that Chrome keeps its current approach to third-party cookie choice in its settings and will not introduce a standalone prompt.
How do AI summaries affect clicks from Google?
In Pew Research's 2025 analysis of 68,879 searches by 900 US adults, users clicked a traditional result in 8% of visits when an AI summary appeared and in 15% when it did not.
Sources
- Understanding searches better than ever before (BERT), Google
- MUM: A new AI milestone for understanding information, Google
- Changes to HowTo and FAQ rich results, Google Search Central
- Next steps for Privacy Sandbox and tracking protections in Chrome, Google Privacy Sandbox
- Full Third-Party Cookie Blocking and More, WebKit
- Firefox rolls out Total Cookie Protection by default to all users worldwide, Mozilla
- Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results, Pew Research Center