An evaluation of 16,000 U.S. search queries discovered that textual content advertisements gained 7 to 13 proportion factors of click on share between January 2025 and January 2026.
search engine marketing advisor Aleyda Solis used Similarweb clickstream estimates to measure click on share throughout traditional natural outcomes, SERP options, textual content advertisements, PLAs, and zero-click habits.
She additionally tracked how usually AI Overviews appeared on the web page, however the dataset doesn’t attribute clicks to AI Overviews immediately.
What The Information Exhibits
Textual content advertisements gained between 7 and 13 proportion factors of click on share throughout each vertical Solis analyzed.
Within the headphones vertical (high 5,000 US queries), traditional natural click on share fell from 73% to 50%. Textual content advertisements grew from 3% to 16%, and PLAs grew from 13% to twenty%. Mixed paid outcomes now seize 36% of clicks in that class, up from 16% a 12 months earlier.
Denims adopted an analogous sample. Traditional natural dropped from 73% to 56%, whereas mixed paid outcomes rose from 18% to 34%.
The net video games vertical noticed textual content advertisements quadruple, from 3% to 13%, regardless that the class had traditionally had virtually no advert presence.
In greeting playing cards, the one vertical the place complete clicks really grew 12 months over 12 months, natural click on share nonetheless fell from 88% to 75% as textual content advertisements almost doubled.
The AI Overview presence on SERPs grew throughout all 4 verticals. Headphones noticed AIO presence soar from 2.28% to 32.76%, and on-line video games went from 0.38% to 29.80%. However the evaluation measured how usually AIOs appeared on the web page, not what number of clicks they captured or prevented.
Solis wrote:
“Once I began this analysis, my speculation was that textual content advertisements and natural SERP options -not simply AI Overviews- may very well be vital culprits behind declining natural clicks. The info confirmed this throughout all 4 verticals, and the dimensions of the textual content advert impression shocked me: they gained between +7 and +13 proportion factors of click on share in each vertical, making them the one largest measurable driver of the natural decline.”
Impartial Information Factors To The Similar Sample
The SERP-level click on knowledge traces up with what advertisers are seeing from the opposite aspect.
Tinuiti’s This autumn 2025 benchmark report discovered Google textual content advert clicks hit a 19-quarter excessive in Tinuiti’s benchmark dataset, rising 9% 12 months over 12 months. Total Google search advert spend rose 13% within the quarter, up from 10% in Q3.
Google’s earnings inform an analogous story. In its Q3 2025 report, Alphabet posted $102.3 billion in income, its first $100 billion quarter, with search advert income reaching $56.6 billion. CEO Sundar Pichai stated AI options have been increasing complete question quantity, together with business queries.
Extra queries and extra business intent create extra advert stock. The Similarweb knowledge is in line with extra clicks shifting to paid placements in these verticals.
Why This Issues
The business has spent a lot of the previous 12 months centered on AI Overviews as the reason for declining natural clicks.
AIO presence is rising, and Google reported 1.5 billion month-to-month AIO customers as of Q1 2025. This knowledge signifies that textual content advertisements are an more and more vital issue to think about.
When diagnosing drops in natural visitors, it’s useful to have a look at the SERP composition in your business relatively than assuming AI Overviews are the only motive.
Wanting Forward
Information from totally different sources point out that textual content advertisements are gaining click on share.
Whether or not Google is actively increasing advert placements or advertisers are bidding extra aggressively on present stock is unknown.
What you could contemplate doing now could be monitoring SERP composition adjustments in your individual vertical utilizing instruments that measure click on distribution relatively than rankings alone.
