The introduction of Google AI Overviews (AOI) has significantly impacted the visibility and click-through rates of organic search results, especially for top-ranking, non-branded keywords. Search terms that are informational in nature, typically five words or longer and including words like “how,” “what,” “why,” or “where”, are more likely to trigger an AOI. These queries often seek comprehensive and informative answers, which AOIs are designed to provide. For example, if you search for “Why is my eye twitching,” AOI results will likely appear and provide possible reasons for the twitching.
While AOI may be helpful for online searchers, it adversely impacts websites’ organic CTRs and traffic.
Industry Research Numbers
- Ahrefs: A 34.5% decline in position 1 CTR when AI Overviews were present, based on an analysis of 300,000 keywords.
- Amsive: An average 15.49% CTR drop, with much larger decreases in certain cases (e.g., -37.04% when combined with featured snippets), based on an analysis of 700,000 keywords.
AOIs are much more likely to appear on non-branded queries, and these terms showed the largest CTR drops:
- Amsive: -19.98% CTR drop on non-branded keywords.
- Ahrefs: Focused exclusively on informational intent (99.2% overlap with AI Overviews).
AOI is particularly harmful to websites with lower rankings to begin with because AOI pushes lower ranking websites even lower on Google search results.
AOIs benefit branded queries. Branded keywords are less likely to trigger AIOs (only 4.79%). When branded searches trigger AIOs, websites get a +18.68% CTR increase. This is possibly due to greater user intent and brand familiarity, according to Amsive.
What Does This Mean For Brands?
Businesses should focus even more on their SEO efforts to improve their organic search rankings so they can appear at the top of Google search results and continue generating high-quality traffic from relevant searches—even with the potential drop in CTR and traffic when AOIs appear. Moreover, businesses should focus on ranking well for location-specific search terms, as these queries are less likely to trigger AOIs compared to non-branded or informational searches.
For example, the search query “Vancouver car dealerships” doesn’t trigger an AOI, and the results show traditional listings, including Google Business Profiles and organic results. Online users searching for location-based products or services are high-quality prospects because they’re actively looking for what you offer so it’s vital to rank highly in Google and attract them to your website.
