Particle.news
Download on the App Store
22 ARTICLES
·
4d ago

Google AI Overviews Halve Clicks as Google and Pew Disagree on Impact

Users served AI Overviews click traditional search results just 8% of the time, a Pew Research Center study finds

Google’s AI Overviews are fundamentally changing how users interact with search results, according to new data from Pew Research Center.
Image
Image
Image

Overview

  • Pew Research tracked 68,879 searches from 900 U.S. adults in March 2025 and observed AI Overviews on 18% of queries
  • The study found click-through rates plummet from 15% without summaries to 8% when AI Overviews appear, while only 1% of users click on cited sources within the summaries
  • Sessions end without any link clicks in 26% of visits featuring AI Overviews versus 16% when only standard results are shown
  • Google has challenged the Pew methodology as unrepresentative and maintains it still drives billions of daily clicks to publisher websites
  • In its Q2 earnings, Google reported that AI Overviews now reach over 2 billion monthly users and generate more than 10% additional queries where they’re displayed