Do Google AI Overviews Reduce Paid Search Traffic Too?

What does the evidence show?

• Informational queries lost paid clicks. Seer's study of 3,119 informational queries across 42 client brands compared the third quarter of 2025 with a year earlier. Where an AI Overview appeared and the brand was not cited, paid click-through rate was 4.14%, down 78%. Where the brand was cited, it was 7.89%, down 54%. Where no AI Overview appeared, it was 13.88%, down 20%.
• Citation protected paid performance. Seer's larger 2026 study covered 53 brands and 5.47 million queries across informational, commercial and transactional intent. It found paid click-through rate for brands cited in AI Overviews stayed between about 14% and 18% throughout 2025, with no meaningful decline. Seer concluded that whatever AI Overviews were doing to organic results, they were not doing the same to paid ads for cited brands.
• Organic clicks recovered somewhat in early 2026. Seer's organic click-through rate on queries with AI Overviews rose from a low of 1.3% in December 2025 to 2.4% in February 2026.
• Google's ad revenue kept growing. Alphabet reported Search and other revenue of $63.3 billion in the second quarter of 2026, up 17% year on year. Google's chief executive has said AI Overviews monetise at approximately the same rate as traditional results.
• Costs stayed flat. Tinuiti's benchmark report for the second quarter of 2026, based on more than $4 billion of managed ad spend, found Google text-ad cost per click up about 1% year on year. Microsoft's rose 19%.

Why can AI Overviews reduce paid clicks on some queries?

• The answer satisfies the searcher. On "how" and "what is" questions, the overview often answers fully, so neither ads nor organic results get clicked.
• Ads move down the page. An AI Overview takes up space, and ads shown below it get less attention.
• Attention shifts to cited sources. Searchers who read the overview are drawn to the brands it names or links, which explains why cited brands held their paid click-through rate.
• Informational queries were never strong ad territory. Advertisers bidding on broad informational terms were most exposed.

Why hasn't Google's ad business shrunk?

• Commercial searches still carry ads prominently. Searches that signal buying intent are where most ad money goes, and ads continue to appear there, alongside or instead of AI Overviews.
• Ads now run inside AI Overviews. Google made ads eligible to appear within AI Overviews and in AI Mode, turning some informational journeys into ad opportunities.
• Pricing holds. Advertisers keep bidding for the clicks that remain on high-intent searches.

The balance could shift as AI Overviews and AI Mode spread to more commercial queries, so advertisers should watch their own data rather than rely on Google's totals. How often AI Overviews appear is covered in how often Google AI Overviews appear in search results.

How do ads appear with AI Overviews?

According to Google Ads' documentation:

• Above and below AI Overviews. Existing text, shopping, local and app ads from Search, Shopping, Performance Max and App campaigns can appear above or below AI Overviews in all 200-plus markets where AI Overviews are available.
• Inside AI Overviews. Text and shopping ads can appear within AI Overviews in English on mobile and desktop in 12 countries: Australia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore and the US.
• How ads qualify for placement inside AI Overviews. Ads must win the auction and be relevant to both the query and the overview's content. Google says this requires AI-driven targeting, such as broad match, AI Max for Search campaigns, Performance Max, Shopping campaigns or Dynamic Search Ads. Exact-match keywords alone rarely cover the varied, longer searches involved.
• Product feeds matter. For shopping ads, Google advises keeping feeds up to date with current product information.

Whether paid search improves organic AI visibility is a separate question, covered in whether Google Ads and paid search improve AI search visibility.

How do you check your own paid search exposure?

1. Sort search terms by intent. Split your search terms report into informational, commercial, transactional and brand queries.
2. Find which terms trigger AI Overviews. Use a rank tracker that records AI Overviews, or check a sample of high-spend terms by hand.
3. Compare trends. For each group, compare click-through rate, conversion rate and cost per conversion over the last 12–18 months, separating terms with and without AI Overviews.
4. Check citation status. For informational terms with AI Overviews, note whether your site is cited. Seer's data suggests this matters for paid performance as well as organic.
5. Watch impression share and costs. Falling click-through with stable impression share points to AI Overviews or other page changes, not to losing auctions.

What should advertisers do?

• Shift budget toward commercial and transactional terms, where ads still dominate and conversion rates are higher.
• Review informational keywords that trigger AI Overviews and convert poorly, and cut or reduce bids where the cost per conversion no longer works.
• Work on being cited. Organic content that earns AI Overview citations appears to protect paid click-through too.
• Test eligibility for ads inside AI Overviews through broad match, AI Max or Performance Max, with clear landing pages and accurate feeds, and measure the results against your existing campaigns.
• Measure incrementality. Use holdout or geographic tests to see what paid search adds beyond organic and AI visibility, especially for brand terms.

What might an illustrative case look like?

Consider an illustrative home insurance comparison site spending heavily on informational terms such as "what does home insurance cover". Over 2025, click-through on these terms falls by more than half, and cost per quote rises sharply. Its commercial terms, such as "compare home insurance quotes", hold steady. Analysis shows AI Overviews appear on nearly all of its informational terms, and its site is rarely cited. The site cuts spend on informational terms by 40% and moves the budget to commercial terms and a broad-match campaign eligible for AI Overview ad placements. It also rewrites its coverage guides so AI Overviews cite them. Six months later, total quotes from paid search are up, cost per quote is down, and the guides appear in AI Overviews for several coverage questions.

What do people ask about AI Overviews and paid search?

Are AI Overviews bad for Google Ads performance?

For informational searches, often yes. For commercial and transactional searches, check your own campaign data by query type.

Can I choose to show ads inside AI Overviews?

Not directly. Ads become eligible through campaign types and matching that Google uses for these placements, in the markets where they are available.

Should I stop bidding on informational keywords?

Review them rather than cutting them all. Keep those that still convert profitably, and cut those that AI Overviews now answer.

Does being cited in AI Overviews help paid ads?

Seer's data suggests it helps: in the third quarter of 2025, paid click-through on informational queries with an AI Overview fell 54% year on year for cited brands and 78% for brands not cited, and cited brands kept an advantage through 2025.