As of December 2025, Google Search remains the dominant search engine in Australia, however, adoption of AI-powered search experiences – primarily through Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) and Microsoft’s Copilot – is growing, with a noticeable segment of Australian users experimenting with these features.
Google’s SGE, now available to a wider range of Australian users following its initial rollout in May 2024, integrates AI-generated overviews directly into search results. These overviews synthesise information from multiple sources, aiming to provide quick answers. Copilot, accessible via Bing and Microsoft Edge, offers a conversational search interface. Both platforms utilise large language models (LLMs) to understand search intent and generate responses. Google’s system currently prioritises results from websites adhering to its indexing guidelines, and SGE citations link back to these sources. Australian businesses can influence their visibility within SGE by maintaining strong SEO practices and ensuring their content is easily crawlable. Google’s AI Overviews are also increasingly influenced by structured data markup (Schema.org) on websites, allowing for richer and more accurate summaries. In 2026, Google is expected to further refine SGE’s ability to understand nuanced Australian terminology and local context.
Ultimately, both AI search and Google Search function by crawling the web, indexing content, and ranking results based on relevance, but AI search adds a layer of LLM-powered synthesis and presentation on top of traditional search.
