A Pew Research Center study published on July 22, 2025, covering 900 US adults, found that users clicked a link on 8 percent of pages that showed an AI Overview, compared with 15 percent of pages without one, and only 1 percent clicked a link inside the AI summary itself, as reported by 9to5Google. For publishers, that is the core of the AI Overviews click loss debate.
This guide separates what the evidence shows from what remains unknown, explains what Google says publishers can control, and sets out a practical plan. It draws on Pew via 9to5Google and Google Search Central.
What the Pew Study Found About Click Loss
9to5Google’s report on the Pew study gives the clearest numbers available. Users who saw an AI Overview clicked a link on 8 percent of pages, against 15 percent when no summary appeared. Links inside the summary got only 1 percent of clicks.
| Pew finding (via 9to5Google) | Figure |
|---|---|
| Sample | 900 US adults |
| Published | July 22, 2025 |
| Link click when an AI Overview appears | 8 percent of pages |
| Link click when no AI Overview appears | 15 percent of pages |
| Click on a link inside the AI summary | 1 percent |
Read this with care. It is one study of a sample of US adults, and the report does not make clear whether the percentages are per visit or per user. It shows a gap in clicking behaviour, not a loss figure for any single site.
What Google Says Publishers Can Control
Google Search Central says AI Overviews and AI Mode have no additional requirements beyond normal Search eligibility: the page must be indexed and eligible to be shown with a snippet. No special schema or file is needed.
| Control | What it does (Google Search Central) |
|---|---|
| nosnippet | Stops a text snippet being shown from the page |
| data-nosnippet | Excludes marked parts of a page from snippets |
| max-snippet | Limits how much text can be used |
| noindex | Keeps the page out of Search entirely |
| Google-Extended | Controls whether content is used for training and grounding in Google’s AI products |
These controls limit how your content appears, and some also reduce your visibility. Using nosnippet or noindex may protect content, but it can also remove you from the results where readers find you. Weigh that trade-off page by page.
How to Measure Your Own AI Overviews Click Loss
Do not assume the Pew gap applies to your site. Google says traffic from AI features is counted in the Search Console Web performance report, so you can compare clicks, impressions and click-through rate for queries where you suspect a summary appears.
| Step | What to check |
|---|---|
| 1 | Export clicks and impressions by query and page for the last 6 months |
| 2 | Mark queries that trigger an AI Overview when you search them yourself |
| 3 | Compare click-through rate before and after the summary appeared |
| 4 | Separate informational queries from navigational and transactional ones |
| 5 | Track branded searches and direct traffic as a health signal |
Google also says clicks from AI Overviews tend to be higher quality. That is Google’s claim, so test it with your own engagement and conversion data rather than trusting either side.
What Publishers Should Do Next
Focus on what you can control. Strengthen content that a summary cannot replace: original data, first-hand reporting, tools, tables and opinion. Pages that only restate common knowledge are the easiest for a summary to substitute.
Build direct relationships too. Newsletters, apps, communities and strong brand searches reduce your dependence on any single search feature. Our guide to optimising for AI Overviews covers page-level tactics.
| Action | Why it helps |
|---|---|
| Publish original data and first-hand reporting | Gives readers a reason to click through |
| Write clear, self-contained answers | Improves the chance of being cited |
| Add tools, calculators and tables | Offers value a summary cannot copy |
| Grow email and direct audiences | Lowers search dependence |
| Review snippet controls page by page | Protects premium content without hiding everything |
Be Cited Without Giving Everything Away
Citation is not a click, as the 1 percent figure shows, but it can still build brand recognition. Our guide on how to rank in ChatGPT and AI Overviews explains how to structure answers for citation.
A good pattern is to give the direct answer in the opening lines and keep the depth, evidence and tools below. Readers who want detail then have a reason to visit. If you worry about invisibility in answer engines, see why some sites are invisible to AI search.
