How Much Do Google AI Overviews and AI Mode Reduce Organic Clicks?

What do the main studies show?

How do Google AI Overviews affect organic traffic and click-through rates?

They answer the question on the results page, so fewer people need to click. Ahrefs compared position-one CTR on keywords that gained an AI Overview with informational keywords that did not, and estimated what CTR would have been without the overview. In December 2025, the gap was 58%. Clicks were also falling on keywords without AI Overviews, over the same two years, as other search features took attention, which is why the comparison with a control group matters.

The size of the effect depends on how often AI Overviews appear for your queries. BrightEdge found them on about 48% of tracked queries by February 2026, with much higher rates in some sectors, such as healthcare and education. A site whose traffic is mainly informational will feel it far more than one whose traffic is mainly branded or transactional.

How do AI answers reduce click-through rates even when they mention a brand?

Because a mention can satisfy the need. If someone asks which project tools suit small agencies and the answer names three with a line on each, many people will note the names and search for them later, or go straight to one of their websites, rather than click a cited source. Pew found that only about 1% of visits with an AI summary included a click on a link inside it. Seer's data shows the upside of being cited: cited brands kept higher CTR than those not cited, and its 2026 update found cited brands earned about 120% more organic clicks per impression. But cited CTR was still far below the pre-AI level. Some of the value of a mention shows up as branded searches and direct visits instead of clicks.

How does Google AI Mode affect organic website traffic and clicks?

AI Mode is more conversational and sends even fewer clicks. Semrush found 92% to 94% of AI Mode sessions ended without a click to an external website, and a usability study of 250 sessions reported people spending most of their time reading the answer. Google says AI Mode had more than a billion monthly users by mid-2026. Its clicks are counted in Search Console alongside ordinary search, and its links appear in the Generative AI performance report as impressions. The traffic effect for a site depends on how much of its audience uses AI Mode for the kinds of questions it answers.

How much do AI Overviews reduce the CTR of the #1 organic result, according to Ahrefs?

By about 58%, in its December 2025 update. Ahrefs used Search Console data for 300,000 keywords: 150,000 with an AI Overview and 150,000 informational keywords without one. Position-one CTR on the AI Overview keywords fell from 7.3% in December 2023 to 1.6% in December 2025. Adjusting for the general decline seen on keywords without an overview, it estimated CTR would otherwise have been about 3.7%, so the overview accounted for a 58% reduction. Its April 2025 study had found 34.5%.

Does Pew data show Google AI Overviews cut search clicks from 15% to 8%?

Yes, with the right wording. Pew's July 2025 analysis of browsing data from 900 US adults found that when a Google search showed an AI summary, users clicked a traditional search result link in 8% of visits. When no summary appeared, they did so in 15% of visits. Users clicked a link inside the AI summary in about 1% of visits. Pew measured behaviour on a sample of real users in March 2025, not CTR by ranking position, so it complements Ahrefs' figures rather than repeating them.

Do AI Overview citations get fewer clicks than top organic results?

Generally, yes. Pew's 1% click rate on summary links is far below the share of people who click a top organic result on a normal results page. Seer's data points the same way: even when a brand was cited, its organic CTR on AI Overview queries was well below the rate on queries without an overview. Citations still matter, because they beat not being cited, and because they place your name in front of the searcher. But they should not be expected to replace the clicks of a first-place ranking on a page without an AI Overview.

Why are clicks dropping without ranking losses in Google Search Console? Could AI Overviews be the cause?

Often, yes. The pattern of stable positions with falling clicks and falling CTR is typical of an AI Overview appearing above your result. Check the other causes before concluding:

1. SERP features: confirm whether an AI Overview now appears for the affected queries, using a rank tracker or a manual check.
2. Seasonality: compare with the same period last year.
3. Reporting changes: in September 2025 Google stopped supporting a parameter that many rank trackers used, which changed impression counts and average positions for many sites; compare clicks, not impressions, across that date.
4. Competitors: new videos, forums or product listings on the results page.
5. Branded versus non-branded: AI Overviews rarely affect branded queries much, so separate them.

How can you tell whether AI Overviews are reducing commercial keyword traffic?

AI Overviews have spread from informational into commercial queries. Semrush found the share of commercial queries with an AI Overview rose from about 8% to about 19% during 2025. To test your own site:

1. List your commercial queries in Search Console, such as those containing "best", "vs", "price" and product names.
2. Tag each with AI Overview presence, using a rank tracker that records SERP features.
3. Compare CTR over time for the two groups: queries with and without an AI Overview.
4. Check citations for the AI Overview group, and whether you are among the sources.
5. Look at conversions, not just clicks, since fewer but better-informed visitors can convert at higher rates.

Are Google AI Overviews reducing clicks for local “dentist near me” searches?

Less than for informational searches. A Whitespark study of 540 local queries across six industries, including dentists, found AI Overviews on 68% of local business queries overall, but with an inverse relationship to the local pack. Queries with clear local intent, such as "dentist near me", mostly showed the local pack, while informational and hybrid queries, such as "how much does a filling cost in Denver", were more likely to show an AI Overview. For a dental practice, the bigger risk to clicks is on its informational content, not its "near me" searches, where the Business Profile and local pack still carry most of the traffic.

How should you forecast organic traffic when AI Overviews affect CTR?

Adjust your CTR curve for the queries where AI Overviews appear:

1. Split keywords into those with and without an AI Overview.
2. Apply a lower CTR to the AI Overview group. Ahrefs' data suggests roughly 40% to 60% of the usual position-one CTR, depending on which study you use.
3. Apply a smaller adjustment if you are usually cited, since cited pages keep more clicks.
4. Model scenarios: AI Overview coverage staying the same, rising by ten points, or spreading to commercial queries.
5. Recalibrate quarterly with your own Search Console data, which beats any industry average.

Report forecasts as ranges, not single numbers.

What counts as a good organic CTR when AI Overviews are present?

There is no universal benchmark, and your own history is the best guide. For orientation: in Ahrefs' data, average desktop position-one CTR on informational keywords with an AI Overview was about 1.6% in December 2025. In Seer's 2025 sample of informational queries, organic CTR with an AI Overview was 0.52% when the brand was not cited and 0.70% when it was, in Q3 2025. Its larger 2026 dataset, covering all query intents, found organic CTR on AI Overview queries recovered from a low of 1.3% in December 2025 to 2.4% in February 2026. A page that is cited in the overview and beats those levels is doing well. The more useful benchmark is relative: compare CTR on your AI Overview queries with the same queries a year earlier, and with your queries that do not show an overview.

How to find possible AI Overview issues in GSC using 500+ impressions and under 2% CTR

A quick Search Console filter finds the pages most likely to be losing clicks to AI Overviews:

1. Open the Performance report for the last three months and select the Queries tab.
2. Filter impressions above 500 and CTR below 2%.
3. Add an average position filter of 5 or better, since these are queries where you rank well.
4. Export the list and check each query for an AI Overview.
5. Compare with the Generative AI report, which shows which of your pages appear in AI features.
6. Prioritise pages that rank but are not cited. Add a direct answer near the top, specific figures, and a clear reason to click, such as tools, examples or data the summary cannot give.

The thresholds are a starting point: adjust them for your traffic levels. Ways to lift CTR on these pages are covered in how to improve organic CTR when your page appears in an AI Overview.

What should you do about lost clicks?

Three responses work together. First, aim to be cited, since cited pages keep more of their clicks. Second, give people a reason to click that a summary cannot meet: calculators, tools, full data, detailed comparisons and examples. Third, measure differently. Track branded searches, direct visits and conversions alongside clicks, because some of the value of appearing in AI answers arrives through those routes rather than as a click on your result.

What might this look like in practice?

Consider an illustrative personal finance publisher, Brightpenny. Its Search Console showed stable positions but a 35% fall in clicks over a year. Filtering for queries above 500 impressions and under 2% CTR produced 140 queries, of which 118 showed AI Overviews. Its pages were cited in only 30 of them. The team rewrote the 40 highest-traffic pages with short answer summaries, calculators and current rates, and tracked cited versus uncited CTR monthly. Clicks on the rewritten pages stabilised, while traffic forecasts were rebuilt with separate CTR curves for AI Overview queries.

What do people ask about AI Overviews and clicks?

How much do AI Overviews reduce clicks?

Ahrefs estimated a 58% lower CTR for the top-ranking page in December 2025. Pew found clicks on traditional results fell from 15% to 8% of visits when a summary appeared.

Does being cited protect my clicks?

Partly. Cited brands keep more clicks than uncited ones, but less than before AI Overviews.

Does AI Mode send traffic?

Very little. Semrush found 92% to 94% of AI Mode sessions ended without a click.

Are branded searches affected?

Much less. The effect is concentrated on informational queries, and increasingly commercial ones.