To Google, to jam, to chatbot, to neuro-net, to Grok - how is the search language changing?
Not so long ago, 'to Google' was the universal answer to almost any question. Today, Generation Z and Alpha increasingly use not a brand-specific term, but the more neutral 'search it up' — 'find it in search'.
This shift may seem like a linguistic trifle, but it actually signals a deeper change: younger users are starting their searches less and less with the traditional search bar and more and more often turning to chatbots, voice assistants, and apps like TikTok.
What's Behind the Change in Words
The phrase 'to Google' worked for decades because Google was almost synonymous with search. But the new generation has grown up in an environment where there isn't just one way to answer a question: through Siri, ChatGPT, Gemini, TikTok, or other interfaces.
Therefore, 'search it up' is more convenient: it's not a brand or a platform, but an instruction. Such an expression leaves a person free to choose where exactly to look for an answer and reflects a more fragmented digital reality.
The influence of ChatGPT goes beyond technology and is already noticeable in language. Researchers note that words and phrases associated with AI are entering everyday speech.
This is important not only for linguists but also for media, marketing, and platforms. If a generation first thinks not of a search engine, but of a chatbot, then habits of information retrieval are changing, as are the channels through which brands and media compete for attention.
What This Means for Search
The change in phrase also reflects a change in route. Younger users don't necessarily go to Google as the first step: they ask a chatbot, a voice assistant, or look for a hint on social media.
For search engines, this is a signal that their role is no longer limited to traditional search results. They have to integrate AI, make responses more conversational, and compete not only with each other but also with interfaces that don't look like search at all.
For journalism, there are two conclusions here. First: language always changes following behavior, and words often are the first to capture a larger technological shift. Second: the audience increasingly blurs the lines between 'search,' 'recommendation,' 'answer,' and 'chat' — all of which merge into a single user scenario.
For brands and content marketing, this means needing to communicate not only in the logic of SEO but also in the logic of a useful answer. If a person expects not to 'find a link' but to 'get a ready explanation,' then whoever answers more accurately and faster wins.
The story of the transition from 'to Google' to 'search it up' is not just a change in fashionable slang. It's a marker of how AI, social media, and voice assistants are reshaping the very culture of information seeking.
In essence, we are witnessing not a rejection of Google as such, but the end of an era in which the name of one company became a verb for the entire digital reality.
