Google’s introduction of AI Overviews has marked one of the most disruptive changes in search since featured snippets first appeared. The search landscape is shifting beneath our feet — and the data emerging from 2025 shows just how quickly Google’s AI integration is transforming user behavior, rankings, and visibility. The dust has yet to settle.
How often AI Overviews appear
Across multiple independent studies, AI Overviews now surface in roughly 13–20% of U.S. desktop searches, a staggering increase from only 6% at the start of the year.
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Semrush / Datos (March 2025): 13.14% of queries showed an AI Overview (up from 6.49% in January).
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Conductor (mid-2025): 16% of 118 million keywords triggered AI summaries.
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Pew Research (July 2025): 18% of searches displayed an AI summary box.
That number continues to climb in long-tail informational queries — where Google’s mission to “organize the world’s information” is clearest.
Informational intent dominates
Roughly 88% of AI Overview triggers are informational queries — questions like “what is,” “how to,” or “why does.” This reveals Google’s underlying goal: helping users access accurate information faster. AI Overviews allow searchers to consume information directly on the SERP instead of clicking through to multiple sites.
For users, this is a clear win — it reduces friction and improves satisfaction. For businesses, it poses a new challenge: how do you stay visible when Google itself provides the answer?
User behavior is changing
Recent studies show dramatic shifts in engagement metrics:
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CTR drop: The #1 organic result’s average click-through rate fell from ~28% to ~19% after the AI Overview rollout.
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Ahrefs: When an AI Overview appears, the top result’s CTR drops 34.5% on average.
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Amsive: CTR declines 15–20% across affected queries, and when AI Overviews overlap with featured snippets, the decline exceeds 37%.
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Pew Research: Users click on traditional results only 8% of the time when a summary is present, compared to 15% when it’s not.
Visibility still matters — but attention is shifting upward toward AI-generated summaries.
The real impact: a shifting value exchange
It’s easy to view AI Overviews as a loss for websites, but the reality is more complex. These summaries are improving search satisfaction and speeding up information retrieval. The median scroll depth within AI Overviews is just 30%, indicating that users find what they need quickly.
Being cited within an AI Overview still provides meaningful exposure and brand credibility. For SEOs, the goal isn’t just to win clicks anymore — it’s to earn inclusion in Google’s generative knowledge layer.
Traffic declines vary by sector
Traffic declines vary widely across industries:
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20–50% reductions have been observed in heavily informational verticals (WebProNews, July 2025).
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News publishers report drops exceeding 56% for desktop queries where AI Overviews dominate (The Guardian, August 2025).
Commercial and branded queries remain more stable — for now — but the pattern is clear: informational content faces the biggest volatility.
Google’s intent and what comes next
Despite the turbulence, Google’s mission hasn’t changed — it still aims to help users get information faster. AI Overviews don’t mark the end of SEO; they mark its evolution. Future success will depend on:
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Structuring content semantically for large language model (LLM) consumption.
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Building topical authority with credible, context-rich writing.
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Securing citations within AI Overviews and other generative formats.
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Tracking zero-click visibility using tools like Otterly.ai and Profound.
Key takeaway
AI Overviews are reshaping the search experience in real time. Roughly one in five searches now displays an AI-generated summary, user behavior is evolving, and organic traffic benchmarks are being rewritten.
For SEOs, this is a defining moment. The dust hasn’t settled — but the direction is unmistakable. The future of search belongs to those who align with Google’s generative intent, not resist it.