Studies by Amsive and Ahrefs show Google’s AI Overviews are taking away clicks from regular search results, especially for non-branded and information-based questions. Even though Google claims that citations on AI Overviews improve the click-through rate of websites, these studies show that since AI Overviews have started citations, the click-through rates and organic visibility of websites have declined significantly. The top-ranking pages of general searches are seeing the biggest drop, which shows that users are looking at AI-generated summaries more than original sites and blogs.
According to Ahrefs, there was a 34.5% drop in click-through rates for position 1 results when AI Overviews were shown. According to Amsive, there was a drop of 15.49% in click-through rates among 700,000 keywords. It was also found that there was a 33.04% decline in CTR when AI Overviews appeared with featured snippets, while the most impacted by this was non-branded keywords (-19.98%).
Amsive also found that when a website is not among the top three, it gets more affected by AI Overviews, and a drop of 27.04% is seen in its click-through rates. Branded queries were found to be less impacted, and sometimes even benefit because they rarely trigger AI Overviews, but when AI Overviews appear, branded queries see a rise of 18.68% in their CTRs. Mostly, this is because of brand familiarity, as users click on the websites even when AI summaries are shown. These studies challenge Google’s claim that AI Overviews increase click-through rates because the situation seems otherwise right now.
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According to Ahrefs, there was a 34.5% drop in click-through rates for position 1 results when AI Overviews were shown. According to Amsive, there was a drop of 15.49% in click-through rates among 700,000 keywords. It was also found that there was a 33.04% decline in CTR when AI Overviews appeared with featured snippets, while the most impacted by this was non-branded keywords (-19.98%).
Amsive also found that when a website is not among the top three, it gets more affected by AI Overviews, and a drop of 27.04% is seen in its click-through rates. Branded queries were found to be less impacted, and sometimes even benefit because they rarely trigger AI Overviews, but when AI Overviews appear, branded queries see a rise of 18.68% in their CTRs. Mostly, this is because of brand familiarity, as users click on the websites even when AI summaries are shown. These studies challenge Google’s claim that AI Overviews increase click-through rates because the situation seems otherwise right now.
Read next:
• US Department of Justice Proposes Remedies Aimed to Dismantle Google’s Illegal Monopoly
• Study Shows Instagram and TikTok Are Toughest for Achieving Social Media Virality
• These Are the Countries Offering the Best Opportunities for Immigrants in Terms of Career Growth
