Do AI Overviews reduce clicks?

AI Overviews reduce clicks. That is the honest answer, and the strongest proof does not come from a vendor selling you a fix. It comes from Pew Research, an independent group that watched what real people actually did across 68,879 searches. When an AI summary showed up, people clicked a result 8 percent of the time. When it did not, they clicked 15 percent of the time. That is the number to lift and the number to remember.

Below is every study worth knowing, each with its source and a clear flag for who paid for it. The vendor numbers mostly agree in direction but not in size, so we give the range instead of pretending one figure is settled. For the full stats reference, see our page on GEO and AI search statistics.

Do AI Overviews reduce clicks?

Yes, AI Overviews reduce clicks, and the cleanest evidence is independent. Pew Research studied 68,879 real searches in July 2025 and found people clicked a result 8 percent of the time when an AI summary was present, against 15 percent when it was not. Only 1 percent clicked a link inside the summary. So the AI answer both lowers clicks to the results below it and keeps almost everyone from clicking its own sources.

Pew is worth trusting here because it has no product to sell. It is a nonpartisan research group, and it measured real browsing behavior, not opinions. That matters because the loudest numbers in this debate come from companies that either sell the fix or benefit from the feature. When an independent group and a self-interested one point the same way, the independent one carries more weight.

How much do AI Overviews cut click-through rate?

AI Overviews cut click-through rate on the top result by roughly a third or more, but the exact figure is a range, not a single settled number. Ahrefs, which sells SEO tools, measured about a 34.5 percent drop in click-through rate for the number-one organic result when an AI Overview appears, across 300,000 keywords. Later Ahrefs updates estimate a larger drop, running higher toward a roughly 58 percent fall on informational queries. Treat the whole thing as a band from about a third to nearly six in ten.

Why give a range instead of one clean number? Because that is the honest read. The studies cluster around a 34 to nearly 58 percent drop, and they were run by vendors on different keyword sets in different months. Anyone quoting you a flat "58 percent" as settled fact is picking the scariest end of a moving range. The safe way to say it is this. Independent Pew data shows a real drop, from 15 percent to 8 percent, and vendor studies estimate the top result loses roughly a third to nearly six in ten of its clicks when an AI Overview shows.

Do AI Overviews hurt every kind of search?

No, AI Overviews do not hurt every kind of search the same way. Informational searches take the biggest hit, and branded searches can even gain clicks. Semrush found that about 80 percent of AI Overview triggers are informational queries, like "how do I choose an accountant," and under 3 percent are transactional (Semrush is a vendor, 200,000 keywords). Those are exactly the searches an AI summary answers on the spot, so those are the pages that lose the most traffic.

The other side of that is real and it is good news. Amsive, a marketing agency, found that branded clicks rose while non-branded clicks fell under AI Overviews (vendor data, so weigh it). In plain terms, if people search for you by name, an AI Overview can leave your clicks flat or even lift them. If your traffic lives on generic how-to searches, that is where the loss lands. So the honest picture is uneven. The same feature that drains one kind of page can leave another untouched.

One honest note on the table. Google itself says AI Overviews increase engagement and send higher-quality clicks. The independent data disagrees, and so do the vendor studies. When the company that profits from a feature is the only one saying it helps, that is a reason to lean on the outside numbers, which is what this page does.

How do I protect my traffic from AI Overviews?

You protect your traffic from AI Overviews by shifting the goal from winning the click to being the source the summary names, and by measuring the right thing. You cannot stop Google from showing an AI Overview. You can decide whether it names you or names a competitor. Here is the plain order to work in.

1. Find which of your queries trigger an AI Overview. Check which of your search queries actually show an AI Overview, since informational questions trigger them most. Semrush found about 80 percent of AI Overview triggers are informational, so your how-to and "what is" pages are where the click loss lands. Start there.
2. Aim to be cited inside the AI Overview. Write a clear answer-first sentence high on the page so AI can lift it into the summary. Being named inside the AI Overview partly offsets the click loss, because a person who sees your name may still visit or search for your brand later. Getting cited, not just ranking, is the new job.
3. Track branded search and impressions, not just clicks. Watch branded search and Google Search Console impressions, not only clicks. Steady impressions with falling clicks is the signature of an AI Overview taking the click. Then run a free AI-visibility audit to see whether AI names you at all.

If that sounds like a lot to check by hand, that is what our free AI-Visibility Audit is for. It looks at your site the way the AI engines do and tells you, in plain terms, which searches you show up in and which ones you are missing. To go deeper on the mechanics, see how to rank in Google AI Overviews and, on the wider trend, zero-click searches.

Common questions about AI Overviews and clicks