Google Claims AI Search Boosts Traffic Quality Despite Concerns Over Declining Clicks
A recent Pew Research Center report highlighted the negative impact of Google’s AI Overviews on web traffic, suggesting a grim outlook for publishers. However, Google’s Search head Liz Reid offered a counter-narrative in a blog post, arguing that AI is improving search quality and driving more valuable clicks.
Reid claimed that overall organic click volume to websites has remained stable year-over-year, with users now receiving higher-quality clicks—visitors who stay longer rather than bouncing quickly. She also noted that user satisfaction with search results has improved. Despite these claims, Google provided no concrete data to back them up.
According to Reid, AI Overviews have encouraged users to ask more complex and detailed questions, leading to more links being displayed per search. She argued that this creates more opportunities for websites to appear and attract clicks. However, she acknowledged a shift in traffic distribution, with some sites losing visitors while others gain. Forums, videos, podcasts, and content with authentic, first-hand perspectives are reportedly thriving, while simple Q&A-style searches are increasingly handled by AI without requiring further clicks.
This stands in stark contrast to Pew’s findings, which showed that users who saw AI summaries clicked on traditional search results only 8% of the time, compared to 15% when no AI summary appeared. Even worse, just 1% of searches with AI summaries led to clicks on the source links within those summaries. Users were also more likely to end their browsing session after viewing an AI-generated response.
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince echoed these concerns in June, noting a sharp decline in search traffic referrals. He warned that as AI summaries become more prevalent, users will increasingly rely on condensed answers rather than visiting original sources. Prince revealed that Google’s referral rates have plummeted over the years, dropping from one visitor for every two pages crawled a decade ago to just one for every 18 pages in June.
The debate over AI’s impact on web traffic remains unresolved. While Google insists that AI enhances search quality and benefits publishers, independent studies and industry leaders suggest otherwise. Without transparent data from Google, the true effect of AI Overviews on the web ecosystem remains uncertain.
Correction, August 7, 2025: The article was updated to clarify that Pew’s study found 1% of searches with AI summaries resulted in clicks on source links, not 1% of all search users.
