AI Overviews cut click-throughs by more than a third, study finds

Analysis of 300,000 keywords suggests Google’s AI Overviews are cutting click-through rates by more than a third

Google’s AI-generated summaries are significantly reducing the number of users clicking through to websites in its search results, according to new research by the SEO platform Ahrefs.

The study analysed 300,000 keywords and found that the presence of an AI Overview – Google’s generative summary feature – led to a 34.5% drop in the click-through rate (CTR) for the top-ranking result compared to similar searches without one.

Ahrefs focused on informational queries, which are the most likely to trigger an AI Overview. In research led by Xibeijia Guan, the company compared US search traffic in March 2024 — before the summaries were widely available — with March 2025, after their rollout. The findings suggest that Google’s AI-generated content is intercepting user attention that would previously have gone to the top organic links.

The results appear to contradict Google’s claims. The company has said its Overviews generate “more clicks to a wider range of websites,” and that linked sources within the summaries attract more engagement. But Ahrefs’ data suggests that the effect on top-ranking pages – often the most trusted and authoritative sources – is sharply negative.

For publishers and marketers who rely on organic search traffic, the impact could be significant. Google’s AI Overviews are not yet rolled out globally, but they are expected to expand in the coming months. With more search journeys likely to end within Google’s own interface, the report reinforces growing concerns that publishers are being increasingly disintermediated by the very platforms that surface their work.

As the report notes: “Even if Google’s AI Overview provides citations to publishers’ sites, these links are far less visible and less enticing than traditional blue links.”