Probably some of them, on some searches. Research from Pew found Google users clicked a traditional result in 8% of visits with an AI summary, against 15% without one. Google says total organic clicks have been relatively stable. Both can be true, because the effect depends heavily on the type of search. The only way to know what’s happening to your business is to check your own Search Console data.
Headlines quote a single percentage, and it ranges widely depending on who ran the study. This post explains what the evidence shows, why it varies, and a step-by-step way to see whether AI answers are affecting your site.
What the research shows
Independent research suggests people click fewer links when an AI summary appears. Pew Research Center found users clicked a traditional search result in 8% of visits to a results page with an AI summary, compared with 15% on pages without one. Google says overall organic click volume to websites has been relatively stable year on year.
Pew Research Center’s study, published in July 2025, analysed the browsing data of 900 US adults in March 2025. It found:
- about one in five Google searches in that month produced an AI summary
- users who saw an AI summary clicked a traditional result link in 8% of visits, against 15% for those who didn’t
- users clicked a link inside the AI summary itself in just 1% of visits
- users were more likely to end their browsing session after a page with an AI summary
Google’s view is different. In an August 2025 post, it said total organic click volume from Google Search to websites had been relatively stable year on year, and that it was sending slightly more “quality clicks”, meaning clicks where people don’t quickly return to the results. It also said user trends were shifting traffic between sites, with some losing and others gaining.
Why the numbers disagree
Studies disagree because they measure different things: different countries, time periods, types of search and definitions of a click. An AI summary on a simple factual question behaves very differently from one on a product comparison, so an average across all searches can hide large differences for a particular business.
| Why results vary | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Type of search | Simple questions lose the most clicks. Buying, booking and local searches are less exposed |
| Country and date | AI features have rolled out at different times and rates, so a US study from 2025 may not match UK searches now |
| Site-wide or search-level | Google’s “relatively stable” is across the whole web. Individual sites can still lose or gain |
| What counts as a click | Some studies count any click, others only clicks on organic results |
| Who ran it | Vendors, publishers and Google all have an interest in the answer |
The Pew and Google findings don’t cancel each other out. People can click less on individual results pages with AI summaries while Google’s total clicks stay steady, for example if people search more often.
What it looks like on real sites
On sites I work on, AI answers have mainly affected informational pages. Kwiat’s education pages lost impressions largely to AI Overviews and improving competitors, while on condoms.uk AI Overviews were one of several causes behind 29 blog posts losing clicks. Commercial pages were far less affected.
On Kwiat, a New York jeweller, Search Console showed 20 education pages losing impressions. The main causes were AI Overviews answering the questions and competitors improving their own content. Those pages were rewritten with deeper content, quotable answer passages and full FAQs. The Kwiat case study covers what was done.
On condoms.uk, 29 posts were losing clicks. AI Overviews answering simple questions was part of it, but so were outdated product information, thinner content than competitors and broken internal links. If I’d blamed AI for all of it, most of the fixable problems would have been missed.
AI answers can also work in a business’s favour. GaraDry is named first in Google’s AI Overview for “best garage door threshold seal” in the UK, with its site ranking first below.
How to check your own Search Console data
Look for searches and pages where impressions and average position have held steady or improved, but clicks and click-through rate have fallen. Then search those queries yourself to see whether an AI Overview appears and fully answers them. That pattern, confirmed by the live result, is the clearest sign.
Search Console includes AI Overviews and AI Mode in the Performance report, within the Web search type, according to Google’s AI features documentation. They aren’t shown separately, so you have to work from the pattern.
- Open the Performance report in Google Search Console and turn on all four metrics: clicks, impressions, CTR and average position.
- Compare two periods, such as the last three months against the same three months a year earlier, so seasonality doesn’t mislead you.
- Go to the Queries tab and sort by the difference in clicks, largest losses first.
- Mark the pattern: queries where impressions held or rose and position held or improved, but clicks and CTR fell.
- Group them by type. Are they mostly questions (“how”, “what”, “does”)? Or buying and local searches?
- Search the top ten yourself on google.co.uk. Note whether an AI Overview appears, whether it answers the question fully, and whether your site is cited.
- Repeat on the Pages tab to see which pages carry the losses.
Then rule out the other causes before blaming AI:
| Pattern | More likely cause |
|---|---|
| Position fell as well as clicks | Rankings dropped: competitors, an update or a site change |
| Impressions rose sharply from new, loosely related queries | You’re appearing for more searches with naturally low click-through rates |
| Clicks fell across every type of search at once | A technical problem, tracking issue or site-wide ranking change |
| Losses match last year’s pattern | Seasonality |
| Title or snippet changed in results | A title rewrite or missing description lowering CTR |
Why your impressions are up but clicks are down goes through these causes in more detail.
What to do if AI answers are taking clicks
If AI answers are taking clicks on informational searches, make those pages go beyond what a summary can give: first-hand detail, examples, tools and clear next steps. Put more effort into commercial and local pages, and track whether you’re cited in AI answers, not just clicked.
- Deepen the pages that lost clicks. A summary can answer “what is a threshold seal”. It can’t show your fitting photos, compare real products or help someone choose.
- Answer clearly near the top. Pages that answer directly are more likely to be cited, which keeps your business in front of people even when they don’t click.
- Shift effort towards commercial searches, where people still need to compare, buy or book.
- Track citations as well as clicks. Being named in an AI answer builds recognition that can show up later as brand searches.
- Don’t cut informational content by default. It still earns impressions, citations and links that support the rest of the site.
Google’s AI optimisation guide says non-commodity content, meaning content that’s unique and useful rather than repeating what’s already out there, is likely to influence visibility in generative AI search more than anything else.
What I learned
Pages losing clicks to AI Overviews are rarely a lost cause, and they’re rarely the whole story. When I dig into a site’s declining pages, AI answers usually explain part of the drop, and ordinary problems explain the rest. Those ordinary problems are the ones you can fix quickly.
I’ve also stopped judging informational content on clicks alone. A guide that’s cited in an AI Overview, earns links and brings in fewer but better visitors can still be doing its job.
If you’d like help reading your own data, a Search Console audit separates AI effects from other causes, and Google AI Overviews covers improving how your business appears in them.
FAQ
Do AI Overviews reduce website traffic?
They can reduce clicks on searches where the summary fully answers the question. Pew Research found users clicked traditional results in 8% of visits with an AI summary against 15% without. Google says overall organic clicks have been relatively stable. The effect varies a lot by type of search and by site.
Can I see AI Overview traffic in Search Console?
Partly. Google includes clicks and impressions from AI Overviews and AI Mode in the Performance report, within the Web search type, but doesn’t report them separately. You can infer the effect by finding queries where impressions and position held steady while clicks and click-through rate fell.
Which searches are most affected by AI Overviews?
Simple informational questions with a clear, short answer tend to be most affected, because the summary can satisfy the searcher without a click. Searches where people need to compare products, buy, book, find a local business or get detailed help are less exposed, although they aren’t immune.
Should I stop writing blog content because of AI search?
No, but change what you write. Content that simply repeats widely available answers is most exposed. Content with first-hand experience, original examples, tools and clear next steps is harder to summarise, more likely to be cited, and still earns links and visibility that support your commercial pages.
More on AI search:
If you’re seeing clicks fall and aren’t sure why, get in touch or ask for a free assessment.
Sources
- Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results, Pew Research Center, 22 July 2025, accessed 15 September 2026. Supports: 900 US adults, March 2025, one in five searches with an AI summary, 8% versus 15% click rates, 1% clicks on summary links, sessions ending.
- AI in Search is driving more queries and higher quality clicks, Google, August 2025, accessed 15 September 2026. Supports: organic click volume relatively stable, quality clicks, traffic shifting between sites.
- AI features and your website, Google Search Central, accessed 15 September 2026. Supports: AI features included in the Performance report within the Web search type.
- AI optimization guide, Google Search Central, accessed 15 September 2026. Supports: non-commodity content and generative AI search.
- Kwiat and condoms.uk, Google Search Console data and content audits, 2026. Supports: 20 Kwiat education pages losing impressions, 29 condoms.uk posts losing clicks and their causes.
- Live Google search for “best garage door threshold seal”, google.co.uk, 15 September 2026. Supports: GaraDry named first in the AI Overview.