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AI Overviews Continue to Devastate Organic Click-Through Rates, New Study Reveals
A comprehensive study conducted by Ahrefs in December 2025 has revealed a significant and worsening impact of Google’s AI Overviews on organic search traffic, showing a 58% reduction in click-through rates (CTR) for top-ranking pages. This finding contradicts earlier statements from Google and indicates a continued decline in clicks for many websites since the initial rollout of the AI-powered search feature.
The research, which re-analyzed data from April 2025, employed the same methodology as a previous Ahrefs study. The initial study in April 2025 found that AI Overviews reduced clicks to top-ranking content by 34.5%. Since then, AI Overviews have been expanded to more countries and languages, and many websites have experienced a consistent month-over-month decrease in organic search traffic. The latest findings suggest this trend has intensified.
In their previous study, Ahrefs researchers had predicted this decline, stating, "Assuming AI Overviews stay in this current form, this is also likely the highest the CTR will be. As the novelty wears off and the law of shitty clickthroughs kicks in, I would expect to see clicks reduce further." The December 2025 data appears to validate this prediction.
The study found that the presence of an AI Overview now correlates with a 58% lower average clickthrough rate for the top-ranking page. This represents a substantial decrease from the initial findings and underscores the growing trend of "zero-click searches" driven by AI-generated content directly within search results.
Methodology
The methodology used for the December 2025 study mirrored that of the April 2025 research. This involved analyzing search engine results pages (SERPs) to assess the impact of AI Overviews on click-through rates. The two-year time gap between the initial study and the December 2025 analysis was chosen to provide a comprehensive view of the evolving impact of AI Overviews, particularly after their widespread rollout.
Users can identify the presence of AI Overviews for their keyword rankings using Ahrefs’ Site Explorer. By navigating to the "Organic keywords" report and applying the "AI Overview" filter within the SERP features, users can gain specific insights into how these features are affecting their visibility.
Findings
The Ahrefs study presented compelling data illustrating the decline in CTR. For informational keywords, the average position one CTR in December 2023, before the widespread implementation of AI Overviews, stood at 0.076. By December 2025, this figure had plummeted to 0.039.
A more direct comparison focused on keywords that triggered an AI Overview in December 2025. In December 2023, these same keywords did not trigger an AI Overview, and the average position one CTR was 0.073. However, by December 2025, after the AI Overviews were implemented, the CTR for these keywords dropped to 0.016.
To quantify the specific impact of AI Overviews, the researchers extrapolated the expected CTR for these "AI Overview keywords" had they not triggered an AI Overview. This was achieved by using the CTR drop observed in general informational keywords. The projected CTR for these keywords in December 2023 was calculated to be 0.037.
The difference between this forecasted CTR (0.037) and the actual observed CTR in December 2025 (0.016) indicated that AI Overviews were responsible for a significant reduction in clicks. The calculation revealed that the presence of AI Overviews reduced the click-through rate for position one by approximately 58%. This means that for every 100 clicks a top-ranking page might have historically received, AI Overviews are now effectively capturing 58 of those clicks, leaving fewer for the organic result.
Factors Contributing to the CTR Drop
The decline in CTR for non-AI Overview keywords is attributed to the increasing prevalence of various SERP features that aim to answer user queries directly within Google’s search results. These features, including Local Packs, Top Stories, and historically, Featured Snippets, have been contributing to a gradual rise in "zero-click searches" for years. AI Overviews represent the latest evolution in this trend.
Further analysis by Ahrefs examined the impact of AI Overviews appearing in positions lower than first place. While the effect was less pronounced than for position one, it remained significant. For AI Overviews appearing in position two, the CTR impact was a reduction of 50.8%. This negative influence continued down the rankings, with position ten experiencing a 19.4% reduction in CTR.
The table below illustrates the CTR impact of AI Overviews across different search result positions:
| Position in search results | Clickthrough rate impact |
|---|---|
| 1 | -58.0% |
| 2 | -50.8% |
| 3 | -46.4% |
| 4 | -38.8% |
| 5 | -32.6% |
| 6 | -30.5% |
| 7 | -29.7% |
| 8 | -28.8% |
| 9 | -29.7% |
| 10 | -19.4% |
The data suggests that even when AI Overviews do not appear at the very top, they continue to divert a substantial portion of potential clicks away from traditional organic listings.
Final Thoughts
The December 2025 Ahrefs study solidifies the growing concern among publishers and SEO professionals regarding the impact of AI Overviews. With a confirmed 58% reduction in organic CTR for position one content, AI Overviews are demonstrably siphoning a significant majority of clicks that were previously available to top-ranking pages.
This finding is corroborated by independent research from various sources, including Seer Interactive, which reported organic CTR decreases between 49.4% and 65.2%; Kevin Indig, who noted a drop of over 50%; Authoritas, indicating a 47.5% reduction; and even the Daily Mail, which reported an astonishing 80-90% lower CTR in some instances.
The consistent trend across these studies indicates a fundamental shift in how users interact with search results. The rise of AI Overviews, building upon the foundation of earlier SERP features, is accelerating the trend towards "zero-click searches." This means that more users are finding the answers they need directly within the search engine results page, without needing to click through to external websites. The implications for content creators, publishers, and businesses relying on organic search traffic are profound, necessitating a re-evaluation of SEO strategies in an increasingly AI-driven search landscape.
