Generative AI is experiencing significant growth in the tech industry today. With that being said, Google’s AI overviews are changing the traditional search landscape. You receive key information about a particular topic in concise summaries that prevent users from having to click on website links. A recent study by the Pew Research Center confirmed that AI-generated overviews decrease organic web traffic.
The results, based on browsing data from 900 adults in the US, support publisher concerns that AI search is impacting the traffic to external websites. Google’s AI Overviews now reach 2 billion users monthly, up from 1.5 billion in the previous quarter.
AI Summaries Resulting in Fewer Clicks and Short Sessions
The Pew Research shows that only 8% of users who saw an AI overview clicked on any link, be it a standard result or an AI summary. Alongside, it mentions that only 8% of users who saw an AI Overview clicked on any standard results, which is almost half the 15% click-through rate on pages without one.
- Another surprising part is that 1% of users clicked on a link within the AI summary itself.
AI overviews meet the user’s intent on the Google platform, which reduces the likelihood of further browsing. Alongside, users end their sessions after viewing the AI summaries. Here’s a fact that depicts the same.
- 26% of sessions with an AI Overview ended immediately, compared to 16% for sessions with only traditional search results.
What’s Google Saying vs Publisher Concern
Now, Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, is suggesting a response to concerns from publishers and content creators regarding Google’s AI overview. He points to the massive volume of content generated in various formats, such as videos, texts, images, and more, concluding that users are still actively engaging online.
He suggests the publishers adapt to the changing ecosystem and diversify how they showcase content online.
On the other hand, Pew’s data presents a different scenario: Rather than boosting user engagement with web content, AI overviews are in decline. They offer answers to queries so quickly that users don’t feel the need to go through traditional search links and read in-depth information.
AI Overviews are Taking a Big Leap
In March 2025, about 18% of Google searches triggered an AI Overview.
These summaries were 67 words in length and highly sourced, with 88% of the content included in three citations. Another concern from publishers and SEOs is that Reddit, Wikipedia, and YouTube are outpacing the AI Overviews. With 6% of Government sites appearing in AI summaries compared to regular results 2%.
Google is moving its shift towards the AI era; among these AI overviews is one. It has now become a matter of concern for publishers, SEOs, and marketers, as rankings, click-through rates, and traffic seem to be gradually dropping.
The primary reason is that users avoid visiting external sites, thereby diverting traffic from the web.
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