New research reveals a sharp decline in click-through rates (CTR) for traditional search results when Google’s AI Overviews are in play.
While Google insists its AI Overviews improve engagement, fresh research paints a different picture, showing they may be changing how users interact with search results.
Recent analysis by Ahrefs, a data platform which researches website performance and SEO, reveals that Google’s AI Overviews are significantly impacting organic search traffic, with a 34.5% reduction in click-through rates (CTR) for top-ranking pages.
The study analysed 300,000 keywords, comparing those that triggered AI Overviews with similar informational keywords that did not. The results showed a notable decline in CTR for the top-ranking pages when AI Overviews were present.
“We used aggregated GSC data to get each keyword’s average desktop clickthrough rate (CTR) per month (sum of clicks/sum of impressions). We then compared the clickthrough rates for both samples for March 2024 (before the US rollout of AI overviews) and March 2025 (after),” said Ryan Law about the research.
Specifically, for keywords with AI Overviews, the average position one CTR dropped from 0.073 in March 2024 to 0.026 in March 2025.
This finding challenges Google’s claims that AI Overviews improves user engagement.
In a statement, published by Ahrefs, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, claimed: “In fact, if you put content and links within AI Overviews, they get higher clickthrough rates than if you put it outside of AI Overviews.”
Sundar Pichai
Featured snippets
However, Ahrefs’ data suggests otherwise. The study also suggests that AI Overviews functions similarly to Featured Snippets, aiming to resolve user queries directly on the search results page – potentially contributing to an increase in zero-click searches.
“Although AI Overviews often contain citation links, there can be many of these links cited, making it less likely for any single link to earn the lion’s share of clicks,” said Law who wrote the study with data from Xibeijia Guan.
Similarly marketing company amsive, completed a larger study based on 700K keywords across 10 total websites in five key industries: finance, education, SaaS, healthcare and pets.
The focus was on 10K keywords that triggered AI Overviews, and were already ranking organically.
According to them, keywords that now trigger AI Overviews saw a CTR decline of -15.49% on average. This means that AI Overviews look like they’re routinely taking a significant share of visibility away from organic results.
Branded keywords
However, one key takeaway from the data shows an interesting move with branded keywords. According to the amsive research, branded keywords that triggered AI Overviews saw a CTR increase of +18.68% on average.
“Unlike non-branded terms, branded queries seem to benefit from AI Overviews, and according to amsive this could be due to increased brand recognition and user intent,” said Will Guevara, SEO strategist.
It’s clear as AI Overviews become more prevalent, content creators and marketers need to adapt their strategies.
Ensuring that content is authoritative and likely to be cited in AI summaries could mitigate some potential traffic losses. Additionally, focusing on queries less likely to trigger AI Overviews may help maintain higher CTRs.
In a recent roundtable Dan Taylor, Vice President of Google Ads, said that in his 20 years with the tech giant, he has seen many different shifts that have impacted and shaped the industry.
“Each of these shifts has expanded what people can do with Google and has also led to great opportunities for businesses. I think we’re in the middle of one of those shifts right now with AI.”
He later added, “We see more than five trillion searches on Google annually. Each day, 15% of the searches that we see on Google are new.”
He noted that people who use AI Overviews search more, are more satisfied with the results and visit a greater diversity of websites, but there is yet to be detailed analysis on this from Google with any reliable data.
In a recent op-ed for Mediaweek, Bruno Rodriguez, Head of Organic, Orange Line outlined the difficulties faced for marketers with AI Overview, but believes SEO is still king during this period of change.
“Ultimately, the formula for success will still come down to ranking well organically – through the tried-and-true principles of good content, authority, and user experience,” he said.
These are his four tips to succeed:
• SEO is still a brand’s top priority: Brands that don’t perform well in SEO won’t perform well in AI overviews. There are no shortcuts here.
• Start tracking AI-driven traffic: Brands should ensure they are tracking traffic from AI, chatbots, and LLMs. Australian brands have been generating traffic, leads, and sales from these for some time now. There are easy guides available to help you set up tracking.
• Content should serve brand narrative: Informational content is most valuable when it aligns with the brand’s narrative, not when it exists just for the sake of it. If it doesn’t tell a story, it won’t stick.
• Be part of the conversation: Third parties are already part of the conversation about brands or industries. From listicles and rankings to Reddit and Quora, discussions, influencing these spaces will allow brands to shape the content that LLMs use for training.