The Case of The Disappearing Click: Google AI Overviews Significantly Reduce Website Click-Through Rates, Pew Study Reveals

A groundbreaking Pew Research Center study analyzing 900 U.S. adults reveals the dramatic impact of Google’s AI Overviews on website traffic, showing that users click through to websites only 8% of the time when AI summaries are present—nearly half the rate compared to traditional search results. This comprehensive analysis provides concrete evidence of what SEO professionals have termed “the great decoupling,” documenting how AI Overviews appear in 18% of searches and fundamentally change user behavior, with 26% of sessions ending entirely after encountering AI summaries versus just 16% with traditional results.

The Complete Guide to AI Search Optimization: Future-Proofing Your Digital Strategy in 2025

With 51% of search queries now handled by AI-powered engines and 58% of Google searches ending without clicks, the fundamental shift from traditional SEO to AI search optimization is no longer optional—it’s essential for digital survival. This comprehensive guide reveals how businesses can adapt their strategies for the new landscape where expertise trumps domain authority, semantic understanding beats keyword density, and success is measured by AI citation frequency rather than traditional rankings, providing actionable frameworks for optimizing across Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT Search, Perplexity AI, and Microsoft Copilot.