In latest months, hundreds of thousands of individuals world wide have seen one thing new on the high of their Google search outcomes – AI-generated summaries. The temporary solutions, known as AI Overviews, seem routinely in response to many searches, giving customers a fast abstract pulled from varied on-line sources.
Whereas it’s attainable to cover these summaries, most individuals don’t. In keeping with new analysis from Pew Analysis, many customers are skipping the normal record of hyperlinks altogether. The information reveals that customers introduced with an AI abstract are a lot much less more likely to click on on the search outcomes beneath it.
In distinction, customers who weren’t proven an AI abstract had been twice as more likely to click on on hyperlinks and discover different sources. “Google customers had been much less more likely to click on on consequence hyperlinks when visiting search pages with an AI abstract in contrast with these with out one,” Pew wrote, primarily based on information from over 900 contributors who shared their shopping exercise.
The shift in behaviour suggests rising belief in AI summaries – though these summaries are recognized to include errors or lack dependable sourcing. Most customers “very hardly ever” clicked on the hyperlinks supplied within the AI abstract itself, Pew mentioned. Meaning fewer individuals are visiting the unique sources, together with information shops and web sites that depend on internet visitors to outlive.
The commonest sources for Google’s AI summaries had been Reddit, Wikipedia, and YouTube, in response to the analysis. Authorities web sites additionally appeared extra incessantly in AI summaries than in conventional search outcomes, whereas the presence of reports websites was about the identical in each codecs.
Longer search queries, particularly these written as full sentences or questions, had been extra more likely to set off AI summaries. Shorter, one- or two-word searches had been much less possible to take action.
The change comes at a time when publishers are already below strain. Google’s algorithm updates in 2023 and 2024 triggered visitors to many information web sites to fall sharply, as Google started to current information straight in search outcomes pages. Some smaller shops, like Turkey’s Gazete Duvar, had been compelled to close down.
Now, AI Overviews are delivering one other hit to publishers that rely on search engine optimisation and ad income. Websites providing data like journey guides, well being suggestions, or product evaluations have been particularly affected. In keeping with information from Similarweb, natural search visitors dropped 55% between April 2022 and April 2025.
The Wall Road Journal reported that HuffPost, the Washington Publish, and different main information shops have seen comparable declines. At HuffPost, visitors from natural search has greater than halved in three years. The NYT‘s share of visitors from Google searches fell to 36.5% in April 2025. Enterprise Insider lower 21% of its employees this Could, blaming a pointy and uncontrollable drop in search visitors.
Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, believes the pattern will solely worsen. “Google is altering from a search engine to a solution engine,” he informed the Wall Road Journal. He and different publishers at the moment are specializing in constructing direct relationships with readers as a substitute of counting on Google.
Google maintains that it nonetheless drives invaluable visitors to web sites and that individuals who do click on hyperlinks after studying AI Overviews are inclined to spend extra time on these pages. However the Pew information tells a unique story. It reveals that almost all customers are happy with the AI abstract and don’t click on via to the unique sources.
One troubling case concerned 404 Media, a website that covers expertise and web tradition. It discovered {that a} story it printed about AI-assisted music manufacturing wasn’t showing in Google search outcomes. The content material had been summarised in an AI Overview – however the abstract didn’t hyperlink again to the unique story.
“The AI Overview ensures that data is introduced in such a means that the supply itself is rarely clicked on,” the location mentioned.
The scenario can be reshaping how search engine optimisation works. In keeping with The Register, click-through charges for the top-ranked lead to searches with AI Overviews have dropped by a median of 34.5%. Being ranked on the primary web page not ensures visibility or visitors.
There’s one other challenge: reliability. AI summaries will be inaccurate – and may cite different AI-generated content material. In a single case, 404 Media reported {that a} Google abstract was constructed on one other AI-generated response, which itself was primarily based on AI-sourced materials. Consultants say this creates a loop of recycled, low-quality data, which can ultimately degrade the standard of AI programs themselves.
When dependable sources are not getting visitors, and poor content material circulates extra simply, customers are left with summaries which may be improper, imprecise, or lacking context.
On the coronary heart of the difficulty is promoting, and most web sites supply free content material and earn cash from advertisements proven to readers. Google sends customers to those websites, the place they’ll view advertisements. But when individuals keep on Google – studying the AI Overview and never clicking something – then web sites lose visitors and income.
Search drives a lot of the web’s exercise. The BBC studies that round 68% of web periods start with a search engine, and 90% of these occur on Google. That dominance has formed how publishers earn cash. Now, AI summaries may break that system.
Nonetheless, Google isn’t shedding cash. Alphabet, Google’s dad or mum firm, posted document income in late 2024. Complete income rose 14% yr over yr to $96.4 billion, with $54.2 billion coming from promoting. That’s partly as a result of advertisements at the moment are positioned in or close to the AI Overviews.
A examine by SparkToro discovered that by 2024, solely 36% of Google searches within the US resulted in clicks to web sites with no Google parts similar to advertisements. As AI summaries unfold, that quantity may shrink additional.
Whereas Google stays dominant, options like Perplexity – an AI-powered search engine – are beginning to achieve floor. In keeping with Financial institution of America analyst Muhammad Rasulnejat, Google’s $14 billion funding in infrastructure final quarter reveals “desperation within the face of competitors,” not simply rising demand.
Including to the strain is the US Division of Justice’s ongoing antitrust case towards the corporate. The DOJ is pushing for Google to dump its Chrome browser, citing monopolistic behaviour. Google’s strikes in AI and promoting could solely deepen scrutiny within the months forward.
(Photograph by Christian Wiediger)
See additionally: Google launches Net Information: A wager on AI-curated outcomes
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