New Research: Google’s AI Overviews Now Cost Websites 58% of Their Clicks
Impact has worsened sharply, with top-ranking pages losing more than half their expected traffic.
The study analyzed 300,000 keywords using Google Search Console data, comparing click-through rates from December 2023 (before AI Overviews) to December 2025. Out of every 100 clicks that once went to top-ranking websites, Google now keeps 58.
“Regardless of how you feel about AI Overviews, they’re already taking the majority of clicks that used to go to top-ranking pages. Businesses are definitely feeling the traffic loss,” said Ryan Law, Director of Content Marketing at Ahrefs. “Search is becoming zero-click, which means people’s questions are answered directly on Google’s search results page, without a need to click any link.”
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AI Overviews don’t just impact pages that rank in position one. The whole first page is affected. Ahrefs’ research also found that the pages in position two lost about half of their clicks, and even pages ranking tenth saw drops of nearly 20%.
These shifts mean businesses need to track not just traditional search rankings, but also brand visibility across AI, industry-relevant platforms, and beyond.
The impact of AI Overviews on website clickthrough rate is already very visible. Fewer people click on the top organic result, and that number continues to decline.
As part of this work, Ahrefs is monitoring every possible SERP feature (e.g., Discussions and forums, People Also Ask, Videos) for their impact, and continues to publish research to help marketers in this new AI era.
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