{"id":28017,"date":"2026-07-03T12:57:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T07:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/?p=28017"},"modified":"2026-07-05T13:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T07:54:12","slug":"ai-overviews-are-costing-publishers40-of-their-clicks-findings-from-a-field-experiment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/ai-overviews-are-costing-publishers40-of-their-clicks-findings-from-a-field-experiment\/","title":{"rendered":"AI Overviews Are Costing Publishers~40% of Their Clicks \u2014 Findings From A Field Experiment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"lead\">For years, the search and content industry has argued over how much traffic Google&#8217;s AI Overviews (AIOs) are actually siphoning from websites. Google has downplayed it. Publishers have pointed to steep traffic declines. SEO tools have published observational data. But nobody had <em>causal<\/em> proof \u2014 until now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>A new field experiment from researchers at the Indian School of Business and Carnegie Mellon University (Agarwal &amp; Sen, 2026) finally isolates the cause-and-effect relationship, and the numbers are stark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-tl-dr\">TL;DR<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Researchers ran a <strong>real randomized experiment<\/strong> (not just before\/after observation) using a Chrome extension that secretly hid AI Overviews (AIOs) for one group of 1,000+ Google users while showing them normally to another.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When an AIO would have appeared, <strong>hiding it increased organic clicks by 39.8%<\/strong> and <strong>cut zero-click searches by 34.5%<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sponsored (ad) clicks were unaffected<\/strong> \u2014 the damage is concentrated in organic, not paid.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The &#8220;extra&#8221; clicks recovered by hiding AIOs were <strong>just as high-quality<\/strong> as normal clicks (same bounce rate, same time on site) \u2014 debunking the idea that AIOs only eat low-value traffic.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>AIOs didn&#8217;t increase how often people search overall.<\/strong> No extra sessions, no offsetting search volume \u2014 the effect is a pure transfer of clicks away from organic results, not a net gain in search activity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>User satisfaction was identical<\/strong> whether AIOs were shown or hidden \u2014 so AIOs aren&#8217;t measurably improving the search experience either.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A more AI-forward &#8220;AI Mode&#8221; condition showed <strong>even steeper traffic loss and lower user satisfaction<\/strong>, suggesting the problem gets worse, not better, as AI search interfaces evolve.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This is now real causal evidence, not industry anecdote \u2014 likely to show up in ongoing antitrust and regulatory discussions in the UK, EU, and US.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-2-1024x683.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28032\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-2-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-2-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-2-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-2.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-key-finding-1-aios-cut-organic-clicks-by-40\">Key Finding #1: AIOs Cut Organic Clicks by ~40%<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When an AIO was triggered (or would have been triggered), removing it changed behavior sharply:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Metric<\/th><th>AIO Shown (Control)<\/th><th>AIO Hidden (HAIO)<\/th><th>Change<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Organic clicks per search<\/td><td>0.37<\/td><td>0.62<\/td><td><strong>+39.8%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Zero-click search rate<\/td><td>73%<\/td><td>54%<\/td><td><strong>\u221234.5%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Sponsored clicks per search<\/td><td>0.02<\/td><td>0.02<\/td><td>No change<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>As stated in the document:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;AIOs reduce outbound organic clicks by 39.8% and increase zero-click searches by 34.5%, without affecting sponsored clicks or overall search frequency.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What this means:<\/strong> AIOs aren&#8217;t just nudging behavior at the margins \u2014 they&#8217;re roughly halving the odds that a triggering query sends any traffic downstream at all. And notably, <strong>paid clicks held steady across all conditions<\/strong> \u2014 this is squarely an organic\/content traffic problem, not (yet) a paid search volume problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-key-finding-2-it-s-about-position-not-just-presence\">Key Finding #2: It&#8217;s About Position, Not Just Presence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The effect wasn&#8217;t uniform \u2014 it was almost entirely driven by <em>where<\/em> the AIO sat on the page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>&#8220;More than 87% of triggering queries display the AIO at the very top of the page, above all organic results.&#8221;<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When the AIO appeared at the top: removing it produced an <strong>88% increase<\/strong> in organic clicks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When the AIO appeared lower on the page: there was <strong>no meaningful effect<\/strong> on click behavior.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Within organic results, the recovered clicks were concentrated at <strong>position #1<\/strong>, tapering off quickly by position 3 and beyond.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What this means:<\/strong> This isn&#8217;t really about AI summaries being &#8220;better&#8221; at answering queries. It&#8217;s about real estate. The AIO occupies the most valuable pixels on the page, and users click what they see first \u2014 a dynamic well established in click-position research even before generative AI entered the picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-4-1024x683.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28040\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-4-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-4-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-4-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-4.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-key-finding-3-the-lost-clicks-weren-t-low-quality-clicks\">Key Finding #3: The Lost Clicks Weren&#8217;t Low-Quality Clicks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This is arguably the most important finding for anyone trying to have this conversation with a skeptical stakeholder \u2014 because it directly contradicts a claim Google has made publicly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Google has suggested AIOs mostly eliminate <em>low-value<\/em> clicks that would have bounced anyway. This study tested that claim directly by measuring bounce rate, time-on-site, and &#8220;back to search&#8221; behavior for the additional clicks recovered when AIOs were hidden. It found <strong>no meaningful difference<\/strong> on any of these measures between the two groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;The absence of meaningful differences in bounce rates and time spent on downstream websites suggests that the additional clicks generated by HAIO are comparable in quality to those observed in the control group. This finding is at odds with the view that AIOs primarily eliminate low-engagement website visits.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What this means:<\/strong> The traffic AIOs are diverting is not junk. It&#8217;s traffic that would have engaged with the destination site just as much as any other visit. There&#8217;s no quality offset to justify the volume loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-key-finding-4-users-aren-t-actually-happier\">Key Finding #4: Users Aren&#8217;t Actually Happier<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If AIOs were meaningfully improving the search experience, publishers might have to accept the tradeoff. But the post-study survey found no difference in satisfaction, perceived information quality, or ease-of-use between users who saw AIOs and users who didn&#8217;t \u2014 both groups scored around 4.0\u20134.1 out of 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;The absence of measurable improvements in user satisfaction or increased engagement on the downstream webpage after a click challenges the notion that these features deliver clear gains to users or downstream publishers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What this means:<\/strong> Hiding the AIO didn&#8217;t degrade the user experience at all. Users got to the same place, just satisfied at the same level, and clicked through to actual websites more often to get there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-key-finding-5-ai-mode-is-a-bigger-cliff-not-a-smaller-one\">Key Finding #5: AI Mode Is a Bigger Cliff, Not a Smaller One<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The study&#8217;s third, more exploratory arm redirected users into Google&#8217;s fully conversational &#8220;AI Mode&#8221; for every search. This part comes with a caveat \u2014 attrition was much higher here because it&#8217;s a bigger departure from normal search behavior, so results are descriptive rather than strictly causal. But the direction is a warning sign:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Metric<\/th><th>AIO (Control)<\/th><th>AI Mode<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>External clicks per search<\/td><td>0.53<\/td><td>0.36 (<strong>\u221217pts<\/strong>)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Zero-click rate<\/td><td>59%<\/td><td>70% (<strong>+11pts<\/strong>)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>User satisfaction<\/td><td>4.0\/5<\/td><td>2.9\/5 (<strong>significantly lower<\/strong>)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike the AIO-vs-no-AIO comparison, AI Mode reduced traffic <em>and<\/em> satisfaction simultaneously \u2014 meaning there&#8217;s no user-experience upside offsetting the traffic loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What this means:<\/strong> If conversational AI search scales the way generative AI adoption trends suggest it will, the traffic-loss problem publishers are dealing with today from AIOs may look mild in a couple of years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-key-finding-4-ai-overviews-didn-t-increase-search-activity\">Key Finding #4: AI Overviews Didn&#8217;t Increase Search Activity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One theory worth ruling out: maybe AIOs make search so convenient that people just search <em>more<\/em> overall, offsetting any per-search click loss with extra search volume. The study tested this directly by comparing the total number of searches per user between the Control and HAIO groups \u2014 and found no meaningful difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The researchers frame it this way:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;We find no change in the number of searches that users make in the HAIO and control groups, implying that the reduction in clicks per search translates into a meaningful decline in overall outbound web traffic.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>They also confirm this holds at the user level, not just user-day level, and describe the mechanism plainly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;These findings suggest that the effects of AIOs operate primarily through the intensive rather than the extensive margin.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What this means:<\/strong> AIOs aren&#8217;t generating new search demand or extra sessions to compensate publishers elsewhere. People conduct the same number of searches whether or not an AIO shows up \u2014 they just click through to fewer sites per search when it does. There&#8217;s no volume-side silver lining here: this is a pure transfer of clicks away from organic results, not a net-positive shift in overall search activity that publishers could hope to capture through some other query.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-this-document-means-for-the-industry\">What This Document Means for the Industry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Put together, the study&#8217;s conclusion is :<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;Though AI integration can streamline access to information, it may simultaneously undermine the economic incentives that sustain high-quality content production.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>This isn&#8217;t just an academic point. It has three concrete implications:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>It&#8217;s now harder for platforms to argue AIOs are traffic-neutral or quality-improving.<\/strong> This is causal, pre-registered, IRB-approved experimental evidence \u2014 a different tier of proof than survey data or SEO-tool click studies. Expect it to get cited in regulatory conversations already underway in the UK, EU, and US.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The problem is currently organic-specific, but that could shift.<\/strong> Paid clicks were flat throughout this study. That&#8217;s good news for advertisers today, but the AI Mode data suggests the ceiling on &#8220;how much of the SERP can AI intermediate&#8221; hasn&#8217;t been reached yet.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Content economics, not just SEO tactics, are at stake.<\/strong> If referral traffic \u2014 the thing that funds subscription and ad-supported content models \u2014 keeps eroding without any offsetting quality signal, the study&#8217;s authors argue this could affect the quantity and quality of content produced going forward. That has second-order effects on everyone who depends on a healthy content ecosystem, including advertisers who need something to advertise against.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-next-steps-for-paid-search-practitioners\">Next Steps for Paid Search Practitioners<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1. Re-audit your channel mix assumptions.<\/strong> If organic is losing ~40% of clicks on AIO-triggering, top-of-funnel queries, any plan that assumes organic will &#8220;pick up the slack&#8221; for informational intent is now on shakier ground. Revisit blended funnel models, especially for queries the study found are informational in nature \u2014 &#8220;Informational queries make up 71% of all searches and have the highest AIO trigger rate (53%)&#8221; of the three intent categories studied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-5.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-5-1024x683.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28044\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-5-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-5-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-5-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-5.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2. Watch for encroachment into paid, even though this study didn&#8217;t find it yet.<\/strong> Sponsored clicks were flat here \u2014 but this was measured in a two-week window in a single AIO\/AI Mode configuration. As AI Mode usage grows and as Google experiments with commercial integrations inside conversational search, monitor CTR and impression share trends closely rather than assuming the wall between &#8220;AI answers&#8221; and &#8220;paid results&#8221; is permanent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3. Tighten what you can control: query-level precision.<\/strong> With less organic real estate acting as a backstop, wasted spend on loosely-matched or irrelevant search terms becomes costlier \u2014 there&#8217;s less of a safety net catching the traffic you didn&#8217;t bid well for. Regular negative keyword hygiene becomes more valuable, not less, in this environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>4. Protect your own search term history.<\/strong> This study had to reconstruct search-level behavior almost forensically \u2014 matching clicks to sessions, discarding ambiguous states \u2014 because platforms don&#8217;t offer clean, durable visibility into search behavior by default. That&#8217;s the same dynamic behind Amazon&#8217;s 60-day search term data window. As more discovery shifts behind AI layers you don&#8217;t have visibility into, retaining your own historical search term data (rather than relying on the platform&#8217;s shrinking data windows) becomes a bigger part of defending performance over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>5. Bring this data into stakeholder conversations.<\/strong> If you&#8217;ve been asked to justify budget shifts or explain declining organic-assisted conversions, this study gives you a credible, non-anecdotal number to point to \u2014 39.8% is a specific, citable, peer-reviewed-adjacent figure, not a vibe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-caution-note-what-to-be-careful-about-and-how-to-prepare\">Caution Note: What to Be Careful About, and How to Prepare<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A few reasons to rethink not to over-apply this data:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>It&#8217;s a narrow sample.<\/strong> US users only, desktop only, Chrome only, over two weeks in Jan\u2013Feb 2026. Mobile, other browsers, other countries, or longer time periods might look different. Treat 39.8% as a strong signal of direction, not a fixed number to plug into your own forecasts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The AI Mode numbers are weaker evidence than the main AIO numbers.<\/strong> Many people dropped out of that group during the study, which the researchers say &#8220;limits causal interpretation in this arm.&#8221; The direction (worse traffic, worse satisfaction) is a useful warning sign, but don&#8217;t treat it with the same confidence as the main AIO-vs-no-AIO result.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Your own exposure to AIOs may be very different.<\/strong> This study found AIOs on 41% of queries. Other research cited in the paper found 67% on a different query set. So check your own numbers \u2014 how often AIOs show up on your target keywords \u2014 instead of assuming this study&#8217;s rate applies to you.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>More clicks isn&#8217;t automatically more revenue.<\/strong> This study measured clicks and engagement (bounce rate, time on site), not sales or conversions. A recovered click that looks &#8220;high quality&#8221; by these measures still needs to convert to matter for your business.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>How to prepare:<\/strong> Don&#8217;t wait on regulators to act \u2014 none of the antitrust or opt-out proposals mentioned in the paper (UK, EU, Brazil) have concluded yet. Instead, start tracking things yourself: how often AIOs appear on your key queries, how your organic traffic trends over time, and whether AI Mode-style interfaces start showing up more in your own traffic data. Don&#8217;t put all your eggs in the organic-informational-content basket.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/google-ads-trademark-bidding-in-india-key-court-cases-and-rulings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google Ads Trademark Bidding in India: Key Court Cases and Rulings<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/googles-42-lead-gen-launches-what-marketers-need-to-know-in-2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google\u2019s 42 Lead Gen Launches: What Marketers Need to Know in 2026?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/how-to-track-amazon-attribution-through-an-intermediate-landing-page\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How to Track Amazon Attribution Through an Intermediate Landing Page?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For years, the search and content industry has argued over how much traffic Google&#8217;s AI Overviews (AIOs) are actually siphoning from websites. Google has downplayed it. Publishers have pointed to steep traffic declines. SEO tools have published observational data. But nobody had causal proof \u2014 until now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-googl-search-tips"],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Kirti","author_link":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/author\/kirti\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28017"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28052,"href":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28017\/revisions\/28052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}