Study finds that AI Overviews result in fewer links being clicked as web traffic falls. Google disagrees.

July 23, 2025

Google Search is putting all its efforts into AI in the past few years. But it seems that this hasn’t really benefited anyone except the user. A new study shows that searches that use AI Overviews result in fewer links being clicked out of Google and fewer searches within Google.

Based on Pew Research Center reveals that AI Overviews are a big influence on user behavior when compared with traditional search results. The study, which analyzed data from 900 US adult respondents earlier this year, revealed that searches with AI Overviews were less likely to result in further Google searches and also decreased the number of links clicks.

Some key points include:

Only 8 percent of users click links on pages with AI Overviews, compared to 15 percent on traditional search results.
Only 1 percent of users click links in AI Overviews.
In 26% of searches, users end their Google Search session after viewing the summary.
Those initial points line up with complaints from publishers in recent months, as many have noticed significant drops in traffic coming from Search. Google, meanwhile, has repeatedly Google, in response to the study, said that it “prominently displays links” but this study seems show that people are just not clicking on them. Google’s response to the study was

The Register and others claim that “people gravitate” towards AI features within Search and dispute Peck method.

People gravitate towards AI-powered experiences and AI features in Search allow people to ask more questions, creating a new opportunity for people to connect to websites. This study is flawed and uses a skewed queryset which is not representative of Search traffic. We have consistently directed billions of clicks daily to websites and have not seen significant drops in aggregate web activity as being suggested.

Google’s final point. The Economist recently highlighted Similarweb’s data that showed “traffic to over 100m web domains. Estimates that worldwide search traffic by humans fell by about 15% during the year ending June [2025].” This is pretty significant. Google reiterated in the same article that it had not noticed a “dramatic decrease” in outbound clicking, but refused to share data. The study from Pew suggests that there is a significant decline in outbound clicking when AI Overviews are being used, based on its limited data.

AI Overviews continue having a major impact for publishers and the web in general, but Google’s rebuttal about users “gravitating towards” its AI features seems to be true. Creative Strategies Ceo ben bajarin””https://x.com/BenBajarin/status/1948031586290766225″”> Shared statistics showed that 66% respondents to a survey found Google’s AI Mode, now widely available, more helpful than traditional Search. These users also knew the difference between AI Modes and Overviews. Publishers called AI Mode “the definition of theft.”

How do you feel about AI Overviews, and Google’s other AI powered changes to Search? Has their use changed? Let us know.

Google homepage tests AI Mode right in the Search bar.
Google homepage test AI Mode button.