How Malaysians Search Online 2026: Voice, Image and AI Data

2. How Malaysians Search Online: Key Figures for 2026

Quick Answer: Nearly every Malaysian online searches for products: 93.0% of people aged 15+ did so in 2024, per DOSM. Google still takes 91.27% of search visits. But about half of adult internet users also use ChatGPT, and Google now accepts voice and camera searches.

Sources: DataReportal Digital 2026: Malaysia, the DOSM ICT Use and Access survey 2024, Statcounter search engine share and GWI data in the Digital 2026 Global Overview Report. Each figure is explained in the sections below.

3. How Many Malaysians Search for Products Online?

Quick Answer: Almost all of them. DOSM’s 2024 survey found 93.0% of Malaysians aged 15 and above used the internet to find information about goods or services, up from 83.5% in 2019. It is the third most common online activity in the country, behind social networks and downloading videos, music or games.

The 2024 DOSM release also shows how close this activity now sits to social media, which reached 99.7%. The 2019 report put product searches at 83.5%, and Bernama reported the 2022 figure at 92.5%. Three things stand out:

• The big jump came before 2022. Growth since then is slow because there are few people left to add.
• The question has moved from “if” to “where”. With 93% already searching, the useful question for a business is which platform and which search mode its buyers use.
• The audience is broad. DOSM’s base is everyone aged 15 and above, so this covers older buyers too. Our Malaysia population data shows how that audience splits by age.

What people do after they search is covered in our report on online shopping habits in Malaysia.

4. Voice, Image, Text or AI: Which Search Modes Do Malaysians Use?

Quick Answer: Typed search is still the base: 93.0% look up goods or services online. AI use has grown fast, with 89% of internet users using AI tools daily in 2025 and 48.4% using ChatGPT in a month. Voice search is smaller, at about one in three Malaysians in the latest local study, and smart speakers remain rare.

Sources: DOSM, Telenor Asia, GWI data in Digital 2026 and Ogilvy Malaysia. Together they show a clear order:

1. Typed search on Google. Still the default way to find a product or shop.
2. AI chat. Now mainstream for research and planning. Our ChatGPT users in Malaysia report has the full numbers.
3. Voice. Used on phones for quick, local questions.
4. Camera search. Growing fast worldwide; Malaysia-only figures are not published.

Note that the 89% covers any AI feature, from photo filters to chatbots, so read it as comfort with AI rather than a count of AI searchers.

5. How Popular Is Voice Search in Malaysia?

Quick Answer: Voice search is used by a sizeable minority. An Ogilvy Malaysia study reported in 2020 found 34% of Malaysians use voice search, while only 7.1% own a smart speaker. That means voice happens almost entirely on smartphones, through Google Assistant, Siri or the microphone in the Google app.

We could not verify a newer Malaysia-only voice survey, so treat the Ogilvy figures as a floor. Voice is now built into more tools, including Google’s AI Mode. What this means for voice searches in Malaysia:

• Voice queries are longer and more conversational. People say “where can I service my aircond near Subang today” rather than typing “aircond service Subang”.
• Many are local and urgent. Phone-based voice search leans towards directions, opening hours and “near me” needs, which rely on your Google Business Profile.
• Language mixing is normal. Malaysians switch between English, Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese, sometimes within one query. Our guide to multilingual SEO in Malaysia covers how to rank in each.

This report covers the behaviour. For the practical steps to get your pages picked for spoken answers, see our voice search optimisation guide.

6. Is Visual Search With Google Lens Growing?

Quick Answer: Yes, quickly. Google says more than 1.5 billion people use Lens each month, and use grew 65% in the year to April 2025. People made over 100 billion visual searches from January to May 2025. Google does not split these figures by country, but Lens is built into the Google app and into AI Mode, which reached Malaysia in August 2025.

Sources: Think with Google, Google’s October 2024 announcement and Pokde, which reported that AI Mode worked in English at its Malaysian launch. For a business, visual search changes three things:

• Product photos become entry points. A shopper who snaps a bag can land on any site showing the same item clearly.
• Product data matters more. Lens often shows shopping results. See our guide to Google Shopping ads in Malaysia.
• Video can start a search too. Lens can read what is on screen. Our online video Malaysia data shows how much video Malaysians watch.

7. Do Malaysians Search More on Phones or Laptops?

Quick Answer: People reach the internet mostly by phone: 99.5% of Malaysians aged 15+ use a mobile phone, against 80.7% who use a computer. Yet desktop’s share of page views rose from 41.85% in 2024 to 59.86% in 2026 to date, per Statcounter. Phones lead for quick searches, while longer research sessions often happen on desktop.

The Statcounter device data counts page views, not people. One office worker comparing suppliers for an hour on a laptop creates more page views than ten people checking opening hours on their phones. The DOSM survey counts people, so the two sources differ. For search, this means:

• Google dominates on phones. It took 97.50% of mobile search visits in 2026 to date, against 88.56% on desktop.
• Bing matters more on office computers. Our search engine market share Malaysia report covers Bing’s desktop growth in detail.
• Design for both. Mobile pages must load fast and show the answer early; desktop pages can carry deeper comparisons and tables.

How long people stay on each screen is covered in our screen time Malaysia report.

8. Are Malaysians Switching From Google to AI Search?

Quick Answer: Not yet. Statcounter put Google at 99.48% of search share in Malaysia in September 2026 against 0.52% for ChatGPT. What is changing is the result itself: Google now shows AI Overviews and AI Mode answers, so more searches end inside Google with an AI summary instead of a click.

The Statcounter comparison shows ChatGPT is a side channel for search, even though Similarweb ranks chatgpt.com as Malaysia’s 7th most visited website. Most ChatGPT use is for writing, planning and learning rather than finding a business. Google Malaysia’s Year in Search 2025 post says three in four Malaysian digital consumers use generative AI tools daily. The bigger shift is happening inside Google itself:

• AI Overviews answer the question at the top. Our review of AI Overviews click-through data shows what that does to website visits.
• AI Mode handles longer questions. It takes typed, spoken and photo questions in one place. Our explainer on Google AI Mode covers what it means for SEO.
• Brands now compete to be quoted. Tracking AI search share of voice shows whether AI answers mention you or your rivals.

Some website visits now arrive from AI tools rather than search engines. Our guide on how to track AI search traffic in GA4 shows how to measure it.

9. Where Else Do Malaysians Search Besides Google?

Quick Answer: Malaysians also search inside YouTube, social apps and marketplaces. Similarweb ranks youtube.com 2nd and shopee.com.my 8th among Malaysia’s websites in September 2026, and TikTok sits 6th. Many product searches now start on these platforms, especially for food, beauty, gadgets and travel ideas.

The Similarweb ranking shows that search behaviour spreads across platforms. Each one suits a different kind of question:

Search engines still send most website visits, though. Statcounter’s search vs social vs AI chatbot data gave search 92.5% of the three-way share in Malaysia in September 2026, social media 6.96% and AI chatbots 0.54%. People often spot a product on TikTok, then search its name on Google to check prices. Compare our lists of the most visited websites in Malaysia and the most used apps in Malaysia.

10. What This Means for Your Marketing

Quick Answer: Build for how Malaysians search online today: keep Google SEO as the base, write pages that answer full questions so voice and AI tools can use them, make your products easy to find by photo, and measure each channel separately. Spread effort across the few platforms your buyers actually use.

Here is the order we recommend for Malaysian businesses, based on this search data:

1. Keep Google SEO as the foundation. Start with our SEO services for Malaysian businesses and check plans on our SEO pricing page.
2. Answer real questions in plain words. Find the questions people ask with our free keyword research methods, then answer each one in the first two sentences.
3. Mark up your pages for AI. Structured data helps AI tools read your facts. See schema markup for AI search.
4. Prepare for camera searches. Use original product photos with clear alt text.
5. Check what people search for each year. Our Google Year in Search Malaysia recap shows the topics that peak.

Pair this report with our data on podcast listeners in Malaysia and ad blocker usage in Malaysia, which shows why organic search reaches people that display ads miss.

11. Conclusion

Quick Answer: How Malaysians search online is changing, but the base is steady: almost everyone looks up products, mostly on Google and mostly by typing. Voice, camera and AI search are growing around that core. Businesses that rank on Google, answer full questions and keep product data clean will be found in all of them.

The search box is no longer the only door. A buyer may speak, snap a photo or ask an AI tool before they ever click your link.

If you want help building visibility across these search modes, our digital marketing team can plan SEO, content and ads around how your customers really search.

12. Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do Malaysians search online?

Mostly by typing into Google. DOSM found 93.0% of people aged 15+ looked up goods or services online in 2024, and Google held 91.27% of search visits in September 2026. Voice, Google Lens and AI tools such as ChatGPT are growing alongside it.

2. How many Malaysians use voice search?

The latest Malaysia-specific study we could verify, by Ogilvy Malaysia and reported in 2020, found 34% of Malaysians use voice search, while only 7.1% own a smart speaker. Most voice searches happen on smartphones.

3. Is ChatGPT replacing Google in Malaysia?

No. Statcounter put Google at 99.48% of search share in Malaysia in September 2026, against 0.52% for ChatGPT. About half of adult internet users use ChatGPT monthly, mostly for writing and planning.

4. Do Malaysians search more on mobile or desktop?

More people use phones (99.5% of those aged 15+) than computers (80.7%), per DOSM 2024. But desktop took 59.86% of Malaysian page views in 2026 to date, per Statcounter, partly because longer research sessions often happen on laptops.