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Eric Van Buskirk

@ericvanb.bsky.social
577 followers 275 following 154 posts

Founder of ClickStream Solutions. We turn search and AI data into headline-ready research. From study design and analysis to insights your audience will act on. AI Bard-Ass. clickstream.cc

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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
clickstream.cc/competitive-...
clickstream.cc
Competitive User Behavior Benchmarking - Smarter AI and SEO Research | Clickstream Solutions
See 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...
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
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.
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Reposted by Eric Van Buskirk
Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
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/
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
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.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
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/
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
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
nytimes.com
Google Hit With $1 Billion Fine By EU Over Search Engine Practices
At a tense moment for trans-Atlantic trade, the European Union accused Google of anti-competitive business practices.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Looks fantastico. Rustling up some friends to read with beach campfire: reading aloud as part of scary-story night.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
I will make a list of SEOs living in the most non-SEO places. Starting with me: 1. HCMC, Vietnam, where orgs and biz use FB, almost never websites.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
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
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
clickstream.cc/methodology-...
clickstream.cc
Methodology: Measuring How Users Move, Pause, And Reconsider On Google Search - Smarter AI and SEO Research | Clickstream Solutions
Introduction 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...
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Same Scroll. Very Different SERP Exposure. I measured moves, pauses, and reconsiders for over 100,000 users evaluating Google SERP. 2/3
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
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
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Reposted by Eric Van Buskirk
Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Oh, what problems will the scary foreigners cause next <sigh>
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
clickstream.cc/methodology-...
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
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.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Read the article at searchenginejournal.com/googl…
searchenginejournal.com
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
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
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
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 🧵
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
www.searchenginejournal.com/google-searc...
searchenginejournal.com
846,000 Google Searches Reveal How AI Overviews Are Changing User Behavior
Your brand name in Google no longer guarantees a fast click. New data reveals what AI Overviews are doing to navigational search behavior.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
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.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Oh, what problems will the scary foreigners cause next <sigh>
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Reposted by Eric Van Buskirk
yoyao.bsky.social @yoyao.com · 30/05/2026
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
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
11/11 If you're not reading Growth Memo, this is a good week to start. www.growth-memo.com/p/users-beha...
growth-memo.com
Users behave differently in AI Overviews vs. AI Mode
A new clickstream study of 846K sessions shows AI Overviews turn the SERP into a comparison environment, while AI Mode produces acceptance
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
10/ The SERP isn't just losing clicks because Google answers more questions. In many cases, it's becoming the place where comparisons happen.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
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.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
8/ Framing intent-flattening as the collapse of a two-decade SEO assumption about search type predicting behavior.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
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.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
10/ The SERP isn't just losing clicks because Google answers more questions. In many cases, it's becoming the place where the comparison happens.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
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.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
8/ Framing intent-flattening as the collapse of a two-decade SEO assumption about search type predicting behavior.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
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.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
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.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
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. 🎬
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
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.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
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.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
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>
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
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.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
www.searchenginejournal.com/google-searc...
searchenginejournal.com
846,000 Google Searches Reveal How AI Overviews Are Changing User Behavior
Your brand name in Google no longer guarantees a fast click. New data reveals what AI Overviews are doing to navigational search behavior.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
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. 🧵
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
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.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
clickstream.cc/methodology-...
clickstream.cc
Methodology: Measuring How Users Move, Pause, And Reconsider On Google Search - Smarter AI and SEO Research | Clickstream Solutions
Introduction 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...
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
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.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
citationlabs.com/funnels-new-...
citationlabs.com
The Funnel's New Gatekeeper: How Buyers Shortlist in AI Mode
Behavioral research with 48 participants shows how buyers shortlist in Google Search and AI Mode and what brands need to change to stay visible.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
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 👇
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
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.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
Happy Easter! Thanks to all the Antichrists who voted him back in.
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Reposted by Eric Van Buskirk
More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Meta is shutting down its VR metaverse on June 15th.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
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.
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
National Treasure (In Pearls)
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Eric Van Buskirk @ericvanb.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
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