You open Google Search Console, the free tool that shows how your site performs in search, and something looks off. Your impressions, the number of times your pages appeared in results, can hold steady or even climb while your clicks fall.
That doesn’t always mean something is wrong with your site. Google now answers many searches itself, with an AI-written summary at the top of the page called an AI Overview. Searchers read the answer, and a lot of them stop there.
The good news is that fewer clicks doesn’t have to mean fewer customers. People still research, compare, and decide. They’re just doing more of it before they ever reach your website.
This two-part guide walks through what’s changing with searches and what to do about it. Part 1 covers what AI Overviews are doing to clicks, which searches take the biggest hit, and what buyers do before they click. Part 2 covers which numbers to watch and how to make your pages worth citing.
Let’s get started.
See What AI Overviews Are Doing to Your Clicks
Study after study lands in the same place: when an AI Overview appears, fewer people click on websites. The clearest picture comes from Pew Research Center, which tracked nearly 70,000 Google searches from about 900 people. Without an AI Overview, 15% of searches ended with a click on a website. With one, it dropped to 8%.
Clicks on the sources listed inside the Overview were rarer still, at about 1%. People were also more likely to end their session right there, 26% of the time compared to 16% on a standard results page.
Other studies measure it from the website’s side, using click-through rate, the share of people who see a result and click it. Ahrefs, an SEO software company, found that the first-ranked page loses 58% of its clicks when an AI Overview sits above it, up from 34.5% in its earlier 2025 study. Seer Interactive, a search marketing firm, found that organic click-through rates on informational searches fell 61% between mid-2024 and late 2025.
Treat the exact numbers with some care. Google disputes Pew’s methodology and says the clicks that do come from AI features tend to be higher quality, meaning visitors spend more time on the site. Seer’s 2026 update also found click-through rates on these searches recovering somewhat in early 2026. The studies differ in size and method, which is why the figures vary.
The studies disagree on how big the drop is, but not on which way it points. What it means for your business depends on what people search when they’re looking for you.
Know Which Searches Take the Hit
AI Overviews don’t appear on every search. They favor the ones where people are still asking questions. Pew found that about one in five searches brought up an AI Overview, but 60% of searches phrased as a question did, and 36% of full-sentence searches did. The longer and more conversational the search, the more likely Google is to answer it on its own page.
That’s the territory where many small businesses publish their explainer pages and blog posts. It means the pages built to bring in new visitors, like how-to guides and cost explainers, are the ones most likely to lose clicks. Pages aimed at people who already know your name tend to hold up better. A few kinds of searches are the most likely to bring up an AI Overview.
- Questions. “How much does a kitchen remodel cost” or “why is my AC freezing up” are the kind of searches Google tends to answer itself.
- Comparisons and research. Searches with words like “best,” “reviews,” “alternatives,” and “how to choose” now often bring up an AI Overview. Those are the searches buyers use to build a shortlist.
- Local searches. A Whitespark study found AI-generated answers on 57% of local searches.
Searches from people who are ready to act are less likely to bring one up. Semrush data shows AI Overviews growing on commercial research searches while appearing less often on transactional ones, where someone is ready to buy. Someone searching your business name, or “plumber near me open now,” usually wants a phone number, not a summary.
The searches that lose the most clicks are the ones where people are still making up their minds. This blog is a good example. The how-to guides, cost explainers, and SEO checklists we publish all answer the kind of question that tends to bring up an AI Overview. Check which of your pages answer questions and comparisons, and you’ll know where to expect fewer clicks.
Understand What Buyers Do Before They Click
A buyer’s research now often happens on Google’s results page, before they ever visit your website. Someone searching “best accounting software for small businesses” or “how to choose a roofer” reads an AI Overview that names a few options and explains how they differ. They’ve formed an opinion before opening a single site.
Being named in that answer matters even when nobody clicks. A buyer who sees your business mentioned may keep researching, then come back later by searching your name, typing your address into the browser, or clicking an ad. The visit still happens, but it no longer traces back to the search where they first saw you.
Seer found that brands cited inside an AI Overview got 35% more organic clicks than brands on the same searches that weren’t cited. Being the name in the answer gives you a measurable edge.
Smaller businesses can compete here without the biggest budget. An AI Overview draws on specific, useful content, whoever published it. A local roofer who explains what a repair costs in their area, and why, can end up named ahead of a national lead-generation site that only covers the topic in general terms.
Your website used to be the first place a buyer learned about you. Now an answer on Google may be the first place they hear your name, and your site is where they confirm it. That changes what you should measure and what you should publish, which is what Part 2 covers.