An analysis by Evercore ISI analyst Mark Mahaney, reported by MarketWatch on Oct. 17, found Google's search dominance is strengthening despite the spread of AI chatbots, based on regular surveys of 1,000 U.S. consumers. Google's position weakened from 2024 to early 2025 but improved for four straight quarters recently, with 78% of August survey respondents naming Google their primary search engine, while ChatGPT use as a primary search tool peaked at 13% in August last year and fell to 10%. Sixty percent said they use search more after AI adoption, while only 8% said usage decreased. StatCounter data showed Google's global search market share fell from 92.9% in 2023 to 89.6% in July last year, the lowest in 10 years, then rose to 90.0% in January this year. In the AI chatbot market, Gemini's usage gap with ChatGPT shrank to 3 percentage points, the smallest since the survey began, versus 11 percentage points in August 2024. Sensor Tower data as of May this year showed ChatGPT at 46.4%, Gemini at 27.7% and Claude at 10.3%. Google Search's "AI mode" MAU surpassed 1 billion, and the Gemini app's MAU topped 950 million. Evercore ISI raised Alphabet's price target to $450 from $420, 30.9% higher than the closing