A recent study by the Pew Research Center has revealed a significant correlation between the introduction of Google's AI Overviews and a decrease in website traffic clicks. The study, which analyzed the browsing activity of over 900 U.S. adults, found that users who were shown AI-generated summaries in their search results clicked on website links far less often than those who saw traditional search results. This has sparked concerns among online publishers and content creators who fear that AI Overviews are negatively impacting their traffic, readership, and revenue.
The Pew Research Center study indicates that users who encountered an AI Overview clicked on a website link only 8% of the time. In contrast, users who did not see an AI Overview clicked on relevant website links 15% of the time. Furthermore, the study found that only 1% of users who encountered an AI Overview clicked on a cited link within the summary itself. This suggests that users are increasingly relying on the AI-generated summaries to find information, rather than clicking through to the original sources. The presence of AI Overviews also appears to increase the likelihood that users will end their browsing session after visiting a search page. The study found that users ended their sessions on 26% of pages with AI Overviews, compared to 16% of pages without them.
These findings echo concerns that have been raised by publishers and SEO analysts since the launch of AI Overviews. The AI-generated summaries, which are created using data from across the web, provide users with comprehensive answers directly on the search results page, reducing the need to click through to individual websites. This shift in search behavior has led to a decline in organic click-through rates (CTR) for many websites. One study by Seer Interactive found that organic CTRs dropped from 2.94% to 0.84% when an AI Overview result was present on Google's search engine results page (SERP). Another analysis by GrowthSRC Media found that the CTR for the top-ranking search result declined from 28% to 19% following the expansion of AI Overviews.
Google, however, has refuted claims that AI Overviews are negatively impacting website traffic. A Google spokesperson stated that the Pew study uses a flawed methodology and a skewed queryset that is not representative of Search traffic. Google maintains that it consistently directs billions of clicks to websites daily and has not observed significant drops in aggregate web traffic.
Despite Google's claims, many publishers are concerned about the potential long-term impact of AI Overviews on the web ecosystem. Some worry that the increasing reliance on AI-generated summaries could disincentivize users from visiting original sources, leading to a decline in traffic and revenue for websites. This could have a particularly detrimental effect on smaller, independent sites that rely on organic search traffic for survival.
In response to these concerns, some industry experts are recommending that websites adapt their SEO strategies to accommodate the changes brought about by AI Overviews. This includes creating clear and well-formatted content that directly answers user's needs, using structured data to improve content visibility, focusing on authority and trust, and enhancing content with data-backed insights to appeal to AI algorithms. Some experts also suggest shifting the focus from website traffic as a key performance indicator (KPI) to other metrics such as brand visibility in social search, geographic relevance, mentions in large language model (LLM) outputs, and overall contribution to revenue or leads.
The emergence of AI Overviews represents a significant shift in the search landscape, and it remains to be seen how this will ultimately impact the web ecosystem. While Google maintains that AI Overviews are helpful in guiding users to a wider variety of material online, many publishers and SEO analysts remain concerned about the potential negative consequences for website traffic and revenue. As AI Overviews become more prevalent, websites will need to adapt their strategies to ensure they remain visible and relevant in the evolving search environment.
