A brand new research from GrowthSRC Media finds that click-through charges (CTRs) for Google’s top-ranking search outcome have declined from 28% to 19%. This 32% drop correlates with the growth of AI Overviews, a function that now seems throughout a variety of search outcomes.
Place #2 skilled a fair steeper decline, with CTRs falling 39% from 20.83% to 12.60% year-over-year.
The analysis analyzed greater than 200,000 key phrases from 30 web sites throughout ecommerce, SaaS, B2B, and EdTech industries. Listed here are extra highlights from the research.
Key Findings
Based on the report, AI Overviews appeared for simply 10,000 key phrases in August 2024. By Could 2025, that quantity had grown to over 172,000.
This growth adopted the March core replace and was confirmed throughout Google’s full U.S. rollout announcement on the I/O developer convention.
These developments seem to distinction with feedback from Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who mentioned in a Decoder interview with The Verge:
“Should you put content material and hyperlinks inside AI Overviews, they get increased click-through charges than if you happen to put it outdoors of AI Overviews.”
CTRs Shift Downward and Upward
Whereas high positions noticed notable declines, the research noticed a 30.63% improve in CTRs for positions 6 by way of 10 in comparison with the earlier 12 months. This means that customers could also be scrolling previous AI-generated summaries to search out unique sources additional down the web page.
Throughout positions 1 by way of 5, the research reported a mean CTR decline of 17.92%. The evaluation targeted on roughly 74,000 key phrases rating within the high 10.
Main Publishers Report Comparable Tendencies
The findings align with stories from main publishers. Carly Steven, search engine optimisation and editorial ecommerce director at MailOnline, informed attendees on the WAN-IFRA World Information Media Congress that CTRs drop when AI Overviews are current.
As reported by Press Gazette, Steven defined:
“On desktop, after we are rating primary in natural search, [CTR] is about 13% on desktop and about 20% on cellular. When there may be an AI Overview current, that drops to lower than 5% on desktop and seven% on cellular.”
MailOnline’s broader knowledge confirmed CTRs falling by 56.1% on desktop and 48.2% on cellular for key phrases with AI Overviews.
Ecommerce Affected by Product Widgets
The research additionally highlighted modifications in ecommerce efficiency tied to Google’s Product Widgets.
Widgets like “Fashionable Merchandise” and “Beneath [X] Worth” started showing extra ceaselessly from November 2024 onward, particularly in classes reminiscent of house care, style, and wonder.
These widgets open a Google Purchasing interface immediately inside search outcomes, which can scale back clicks to conventional natural listings.
Methodology
GrowthSRC analyzed year-over-year knowledge from Google Search Console throughout shoppers in a number of industries, specializing in modifications earlier than and after the complete rollout of AI Overviews and Product Widgets.
The dataset included queries, clicks, impressions, CTRs, and common positions.
Information was segmented by content material sort, together with product pages, assortment pages, and weblog posts. Further key phrase knowledge from Ahrefs helped decide which queries triggered AI Overviews or Product Widgets.
What This Means
Mahendra Choudhary, Associate at GrowthSRC Media, inspired search engine optimisation professionals to rethink conventional efficiency benchmarks:
“With decrease clicks to web sites from informational content material changing into the brand new regular, that is the proper time to let your shoppers and inside stakeholders know that chasing web site visitors as a KPI must be considered otherwise.”
He recommends shifting focus towards model visibility in social search, geographic relevance, mentions in LLM outputs, and total contribution to income or leads.
This shift might require:
- Monitoring engagement past clicks, reminiscent of on-site conversions, branded search progress, or assisted conversions.
- Diversifying content material distribution throughout platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Reddit, the place customers usually bypass conventional search.
- Investing in high-authority content material on the high of the funnel to construct model consciousness, even when direct clicks decline.
These methods might help guarantee search engine optimisation continues to drive measurable worth as person conduct evolves.
Wanting Forward
The decline in natural CTRs for high positions highlights how search conduct is altering as AI-generated content material performs a bigger function in discovery.
Adapting to this atmosphere might contain putting much less emphasis on rankings alone and focusing extra on how visibility helps broader enterprise targets.
As zero-click search turns into extra frequent, understanding the place customers are participating, and the place they aren’t, shall be important to sustaining visibility.
Featured Picture: Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock
