Research: Google’s AI eats your clicks
Google’s AI Overviews are significantly decreasing clicks to traditional organic listings, especially for non-branded, informational queries, according to two new data studies from SEO tool provider Ahrefs and performance agency Amsive.
The introduction of AI Overviews correlates with a measurable decline in organic visibility and clicks, particularly for top-ranking, non-branded keywords. Ahrefs found a 34.5% drop in position 1 click-through rate (CTR) when AI Overviews were present, based on an analysis of 300,000 keywords. Amsive reported an average 15.49% CTR drop, with larger losses in specific cases, based on an analysis of 700,000 keywords.
AI Overviews are more likely to trigger on non-branded queries, and these terms showed the largest CTR drops. Amsive found a -19.98% CTR decline on non-branded keywords, while Ahrefs focused exclusively on informational intent, which had a 99.2% overlap with AI Overviews.
The impact of AI Overviews on CTR varies by ranking position. Amsive found a -27.04% CTR drop for keywords not in the Top 3 positions. In contrast, branded keywords are less likely to trigger AI Overviews, but when they do, they get a +18.68% CTR boost, possibly due to greater user intent and brand familiarity.
The studies used different methodologies to analyze CTR changes. Ahrefs used Ahrefs + Google Search Console (GSC) data to analyze CTR changes before and after the U.S. rollout of AI Overviews. Amsive pulled data from 700,000 keywords across 10 websites and 5 industries to isolate patterns by keyword type, industry, and SERP feature overlap.
Google AI Overviews has already begun showcasing a comedy of errors
- Ahrefs’ key findings: A 34.5% drop in position 1 CTR when AI Overviews were present.
- Amsive’s key findings: An average 15.49% CTR drop, with a -19.98% CTR decline on non-branded keywords and a +18.68% CTR boost on branded keywords that triggered AI Overviews.