Impact has worsened sharply, with top-ranking pages losing more than half their expected traffic.
SINGAPORE, May 19, 2026–(BUSINESS WIRE)–New research from Ahrefs, a leading marketing platform, found that Google’s AI Overviews now result in a 58% lower average clickthrough rate for top-ranking pages, up from 34.5% just eight months ago. Despite Google’s statements that links in AI Overviews get higher clickthrough rates than if outside of it, the jump suggests that with AI Overviews in their current form, those clicks to websites won’t come back.
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.”
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.
Methodology
Ahrefs selected 150,000 keywords with AI Overviews present and 150,000 informational keywords without AI Overviews from its Keywords Explorer database. Researchers used aggregated Google Search Console data to calculate average desktop click-through rates, comparing December 2023 to December 2025.
Media assets
High-resolution charts and the full methodology are available at
Availability
Teams can monitor AI Overview impact on their rankings using the SERP features filter in Ahrefs’ Site Explorer. Learn more at
