Google AI Overviews are associated with a large drop in clicks to the top result, and the gap is now measured. In Ahrefs' 2026 update using December 2025 data across 300,000 keywords, the presence of an AI Overview lined up with up to a 58% lower click-through rate for the No. 1 organic result. An earlier Ahrefs study using March 2025 data put the isolated effect at about 34.5%. Both point the same way: when Google answers on the page, fewer people click through.
This is a dated reference, not a new dataset. Last reviewed: 30 July 2026. The headline figures come from Ahrefs, which analysed 300,000 keywords (150,000 with an AI Overview present, 150,000 informational keywords without) and compared click-through rates before and after the U.S. rollout of AI Overviews. The cited-versus-not-cited numbers come from a separate Seer Interactive analysis. Both are single-vendor, specific to Google's AI Overviews rather than every AI engine, and focused on informational intent, so read the direction as firmer than any single decimal, and cite the source and date when you reuse a figure.
How much do AI Overviews cut clicks to the top result?
By roughly a third to a half of the click-through rate, depending on the study window. Ahrefs measured the effect twice, and the gap widened as AI Overviews spread. The table below is the like-for-like comparison Ahrefs reported for keywords that trigger an AI Overview.
| Metric | Ahrefs, March 2025 study | Ahrefs, 2026 update (Dec 2025 data) |
|---|---|---|
| Keywords analysed | 300,000 | 300,000 |
| Isolated CTR drop, position 1 | ~34.5% | up to ~58% |
| Position-1 CTR on AI-Overview keywords | ~7.3% → ~2.6% | ~7.3% → ~1.6% |
| Intent studied | Informational (99.2% of AI-Overview keywords) | Informational |
Source: Ahrefs, March 2025 study and its 2026 update using December 2025 data (single-vendor, Google-AI-Overviews-specific, informational intent; associations, not proven causation). The 34.5% figure isolates the AI Overview effect against a forecast of what CTR would have been without one; the 58% figure reflects the larger, later December 2025 sample. The consistent read is that a top ranking earns far fewer clicks once an AI Overview sits above it, and the effect has deepened over 2026, not eased.
Does being cited inside the AI Overview help?
Yes, relatively, but it does not restore the old click level. Seer Interactive compared organic click-through rates across three states on the same results page, and being named inside the answer beat being left out of it.
| State of the result page | Organic CTR | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| No AI Overview present | ~1.45% | The pre-AI-Overview baseline |
| AI Overview present, brand cited in it | ~0.70% | Best of the reduced outcomes |
| AI Overview present, brand not cited | ~0.52% | The worst case |
Source: Seer Interactive (single-vendor, point-in-time). Being cited inside the AI Overview was associated with about 35% more organic clicks than not being cited (0.70% versus 0.52%), yet both sat roughly half of the no-AI-Overview level. The practical lesson: you cannot opt out of AI Overviews appearing, but you can compete to be the source cited inside one, which is the difference between the middle row and the bottom row.
Why do AI Overviews reduce clicks at all?
Because the answer is delivered on the results page, so the click becomes optional. An AI Overview summarises the answer above the classic links, satisfying many searchers without a visit, the zero-click pattern that a featured snippet started and generative answers accelerated. As of early 2026, a Datos/SparkToro analysis reported by Search Engine Land put roughly 68% of Google searches ending without a click, with AI summaries a major driver.
This is also why impressions and clicks are drifting apart, the great decoupling: your pages can be shown as often as ever while earning fewer visits, because being displayed inside an answer is not the same as being clicked. It is a different phenomenon from rank-decoupling, where a page no longer has to rank in the top 10 to be cited, which we cover in does ranking on Google get you cited by AI and which domains AI Overviews cite most.
An AI Overview can cut clicks to the No. 1 result by up to 58%, yet being cited inside that overview earns about 35% more clicks than being left out. The click you used to win by ranking is now split between appearing in the answer and being named as its source.
What should you actually do with these numbers?
Treat the click loss as a reason to change the scoreboard, not evidence AI search is worthless. Concretely:
- Measure citations, not just clicks. If sessions are your only metric, AI search reads as pure loss even while your brand is shown and trusted; track presence and citation coverage alongside traffic, per from clicks to citations.
- Compete to be the cited source. The gap between the cited and not-cited rows above is the winnable one; earn the citation inside the answer rather than mourning the vanished click.
- Segment by intent before you panic. The click loss concentrates on informational queries; your transactional and branded pages are far less exposed, so weight the impact to your own query mix.
- Estimate your own exposure rather than assuming the network figure applies; site and query mix move the number a lot (see the companion how-to).
- Remember the referral you keep is often undercounted. Much AI-influenced traffic returns later as branded or direct traffic, so a raw click count understates AI's real contribution.
The deeper point is that "we lost clicks" and "we lost visibility" are different claims that need different evidence. A page can shed clicks to an AI Overview while its brand is being shown, cited, and recommended more than ever, and only cross-engine, answer-level measurement tells them apart. Watching where you are cited, where you are merely shown, and where AI still sends visitors, over time and across engines, is exactly what measuring AI visibility with Buffy Intel is built to do. Questions: [email protected].