Google’s AI Overviews are tanking click-through rates for top search results. A new study by GrowthSRC Media shows CTR for the #1 organic spot dropped from 28% to 19%—a 32% plunge. Position #2 took an even bigger hit, falling 39% from 20.83% to 12.6%.
The issue started ramping up as AI Overviews exploded from 10,000 keywords in August 2024 to 172,000 by May 2025, right after Google’s March core update and the official U.S. rollout revealed at I/O.
This clashes with Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s claim in a Decoder interview with The Verge. He said: 
“If you put content and links within AI Overviews, they get higher click-through rates than if you put it outside of AI Overviews.”
Not buying it. GrowthSRC found CTRs for positions 1-5 overall dropped nearly 18%, but here’s the twist: positions 6-10 saw clicks rise 30.63%. Users are scrolling past AI-generated snippets to get to original sources.
Big publishers are yelling the same. MailOnline’s SEO head Carly Steven told WAN-IFRA the presence of AI Overviews cuts CTR by more than half on desktop and nearly as much on mobile.
“On desktop, when we are ranking number one in organic search, [CTR] is about 13% on desktop and about 20% on mobile. When there is an AI Overview present, that drops to less than 5% on desktop and 7% on mobile.”
MailOnline’s data shows a 56.1% drop on desktop clicks and 48.2% on mobile for keywords with AI Overviews.
Ecommerce sites got hit too, thanks to Google’s Product Widgets rolling out heavily after November 2024. Shoppers see “Popular Products” and “Under [X] Price” widgets that link directly to Google Shopping, stealing clicks from organic listings.
GrowthSRC warns SEO pros to rethink KPIs.
Mahendra Choudhary, Partner at GrowthSRC Media, said:
“With lower clicks to websites from informational content becoming the new normal, this is the perfect time to let your clients and internal stakeholders know that chasing website traffic as a KPI should be thought of differently.”
He suggests focusing on brand visibility beyond clicks: social search, geographic relevance, LLM mentions, and revenue impact.
Clicks might be dying, but visibility isn’t dead—just evolving.
Featured image: Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock
