Google's AI Overviews cut organic clicks by 34.5% despite company claims
A new study challenges Google's assertion that AI Overviews increase website traffic, impacting publisher revenue and user behavior.
Recent research from Ahrefs has revealed that Google's AI Overviews feature reduces organic clicks to top-ranking websites by 34.5%. This finding, published on April 17, 2025, directly contradicts Google CEO Sundar Pichai's claim that "if you put content and links within AI Overviews, they get higher clickthrough rates than if you put it outside of AI Overviews."
The comprehensive study analyzed 300,000 keywords, comparing clickthrough rates (CTR) for top positions in search results with and without AI Overviews. According to Ryan Law, Director of Content Marketing at Ahrefs, the data shows a significant decline in user engagement with organic search results when AI Overviews are present.
"We analyzed 300,000 keywords and found that the presence of an AI Overview in the search results correlated with a 34.5% lower average clickthrough rate for the top-ranking page, compared to similar informational keywords without an AI Overview," Law stated in the report.
The research methodology was particularly robust, examining 150,000 keywords that trigger AI Overviews and 150,000 informational keywords without this feature. To ensure a fair comparison, Ahrefs focused specifically on informational queries, which comprise 99.2% of all keywords that generate AI Overviews.
Using aggregated Google Search Console data, researchers compared clickthrough rates for March 2024 (before the US rollout of AI Overviews) with March 2025 (after implementation). The results showed dramatic changes in user behavior:
- For standard informational keywords, the average position-one CTR dropped from 0.056 in March 2024 to 0.031 in March 2025.
- For AI Overview keywords, the decline was even more pronounced, falling from 0.073 in March 2024 to 0.026 in March 2025.
After calculating the forecasted CTR for AI Overview keywords (assuming the feature had not been implemented), Ahrefs determined that AI Overviews reduced clickthrough rates by approximately 34.5%.
This research emerges just five months after Louise Linehan, Content Marketer at Ahrefs, published a detailed analysis of 300,000 keywords to identify patterns in what triggers AI Overviews. Her October 31, 2024 study found that AI Overviews predominantly appear for low-volume, long-tail keywords averaging just 150 monthly searches – 193 times smaller than non-AI Overview keywords.
For the marketing community, these findings represent a significant shift in organic search dynamics. The research suggests that websites relying heavily on informational content may need to reconsider their traffic acquisition strategies.
"This isn't surprising. I have seen anecdata suggesting that some websites have seen clicks reduce by 20-40% since the rollout of AI overviews," Law noted in his analysis. "It seems that Google doesn't want us to see the clickthrough rate for AI Overviews."
The impact appears most pronounced for keywords with clear informational intent. According to Linehan's earlier research, 99.2% of all AI Overview keywords are informational in nature, while commercial and transactional keywords make up less than 10% of all AI Overview search results.
Elizabeth Reid, Head of Google Search, defended the company's position in a recent interview with the Financial Times. "What you see with something like AI Overviews, when you bring the friction down for users, is people search more and that opens up new opportunities for websites, for creators, for publishers to access. And they get higher-quality clicks," Reid stated.
However, the data from Ahrefs directly challenges this assertion. Law argues that "AI Overviews function in a similar way to Featured Snippets, by trying to resolve the searcher's query directly in the SERP—likely contributing to more zero-click searches."
Luís Rijo
Characteristics of AI Overview keywords
Linehan's October research provided additional context for understanding which queries typically generate AI Overviews:
- AI Overview keywords tend to be longer (4 words on average) compared to standard searches (2 words).
- They have lower keyword difficulty scores (median of 12 versus 33 for non-AI keywords).
- They require fewer backlinks to rank (13 referring domains versus 41 for standard search results).
- Nearly all (99.9%) AI Overview search results display at least one other SERP feature.
- Featured Snippets appear 849% more frequently in AI Overview results.
These characteristics suggest that Google prioritizes direct answer delivery for specific, information-seeking queries, potentially at the expense of publisher traffic.
As AI Overviews continue to evolve, industry experts anticipate further impacts on organic search traffic. Law suggests that "assuming AI Overviews stay in this current form, this is also likely the highest the CTR will be. As the novelty wears off and the law of shitty clickthroughs kicks in, I would expect to see clicks reduce further."
For publishers and marketers, this trend necessitates adaptation. Reid hinted at Google's future direction in her Financial Times interview: "We see the clicks are of higher quality, because they're not clicking on a webpage, realizing it wasn't what they want and immediately bailing. So, they spend more time on those sites. We see that it shows a greater diversity of websites that come up."
The research also found that AI Overviews predominantly serve mobile users, with 81% of AI Overview traffic coming from mobile devices compared to 77% for non-AI queries. This suggests that mobile optimization remains crucial for websites hoping to maintain visibility in AI-enhanced search results.
Reid indicated that Google Search will continue evolving toward more multimodal searching and greater personalization. "People use the word 'agents' to mean different things. But the sense of 'you can use tools to ask hard questions' will continue. Search will remain an information product at heart, but sometimes information is hard and there's a lot of work," she explained.
Luís Rijo
For marketers and SEO professionals, these findings highlight the need to reconsider strategies for informational content. While AI Overviews may reduce overall traffic, understanding their triggers and optimizing for inclusion as citation sources may become increasingly important in maintaining search visibility.
Timeline of AI Overview developments
- October 31, 2024: Ahrefs publishes initial research on what triggers AI Overviews, analyzing 300,000 keywords.
- Late 2024: US rollout of Google's AI Overview feature begins.
- March 2025: Researchers compare clickthrough rates from before and after AI Overview implementation.
- April 17, 2025: Ahrefs releases study showing 34.5% reduction in clickthrough rates for top positions when AI Overviews are present.
- April 2025: Elizabeth Reid, Head of Google Search, defends AI Overviews in Financial Times interview, claiming they generate "higher-quality clicks."