Two new research agree: Google’s AI Overviews steal clicks from natural search outcomes.
Whereas Google instructed us that AI Overviews citations lead to higher-quality clicks, the introduction of AI Overviews correlates with a measurable decline in natural visibility and clicks, notably for top-ranking, non-branded key phrases. That’s in accordance with two new knowledge research from website positioning software supplier Ahrefs and efficiency company Amsive.
By the numbers. Right here’s how AI Overviews have decreased click-through charge (CTR) for conventional natural listings, in accordance with the 2 research:
- Ahrefs: A 34.5% drop in place 1 CTR when AI Overviews had been current, primarily based on an evaluation of 300,000 key phrases.
- Amsive: A mean 15.49% CTR drop, with a lot bigger losses in particular circumstances (e.g., -37.04% when mixed with featured snippets), primarily based on an evaluation of 700,000 key phrases.
Non-branded key phrases. AI Overviews are more likely to set off on non-branded queries, and these phrases confirmed the biggest CTR drops:
- Amsive: -19.98% CTR decline on non-branded key phrases.
- Ahrefs: Centered completely on informational intent (99.2% overlap with AI Overviews).
Decrease rankings = larger CTR hits. Google’s AI Overviews push natural outcomes additional down, minimizing visibility even for solidly rating pages.
- There was a -27.04% CTR drop for key phrases not within the High 3 positions, in accordance with Amsive:
AI Overviews profit branded queries. Branded key phrases are much less prone to set off AI Overviews (solely 4.79%) – however once they do, they get a +18.68% CTR increase. That is presumably on account of larger consumer intent and model familiarity, in accordance with Amsive.
Why we care. These two research (in addition to knowledge from Seer Interactive, which we coated in Google natural and paid CTRs hit new lows: Report) name into query Google’s declare that AI Overviews get extra clicks than traditional listings. Google’s declare could or will not be true, however these research present that general clicks have gone down – and plenty of web sites rating nicely in Basic Search aren’t included in AI Overviews.
In regards to the knowledge:
- Ahrefs: Used Ahrefs + Google Search Console (GSC) knowledge to investigate CTR modifications earlier than (March 2024) and after (March 2025) the U.S. rollout of AI Overviews.
- Amsive: Pulled knowledge from 700,000 key phrases throughout 10 web sites and 5 industries to isolate patterns by key phrase sort, business, and SERP characteristic overlap.
The research. You may learn them right here:
