Google AI Overviews Spark Unseen Collapse in Organic and Paid CTR—What’s Really Happening?
Have you noticed fewer folks clicking through on Google these days, even when the search results look promising? It’s not just your imagination — organic click-through rates for informational queries that feature Google’s AI Overviews have plunged a staggering 61% since mid-2024, and paid clicks on those same queries dropped an eye-popping 68%, according to fresh research from Seer Interactive. What’s truly wild is that even queries without these AI Overviews aren’t immune, with organic CTRs down 41%, suggesting people might just be… clicking less, period. This seismic shift feels less like a blip and more like a new normal, nudging marketers to rethink what success actually looks like — it’s not about chasing every click anymore, but carving out visibility and share of voice in an increasingly AI-driven search landscape. If you’ve been wondering where all the click-happy visitors vanished to, Seer’s latest study paints quite the picture. LEARN MORE.
Organic click-through rates (CTR) for informational queries featuring Google AI Overviews fell 61% since mid-2024, while paid CTRs on those same queries plunged 68%, according to the latest study by marketing agency Seer Interactive.
- Even on queries without AI Overviews, organic CTRs fell 41%. This suggests users are simply clicking less, everywhere.
Why we care. Even when AI Overviews aren’t visible, clicks are falling, likely due to ChatGPT/AI platforms and social search. That lost traffic isn’t coming back. This is why, as Seer pointed out, success metrics are shifting from clicks and traffic to visibility and share of voice. (This aligns with what Aja Frost told me in a recent interview.)
By the numbers. Across all scenarios, CTRs are at their lowest levels in 15 months:
- Organic CTRs for AI Overviews queries dropped from 1.76% to 0.61%.
- Paid CTRs for AI Overviews queries fell from 19.7% to 6.34%.
- Organic CTRs for queries without AI Overviews perform better (1.62%), but that’s still down 41% year-over-year.
- Brands cited in AI Overviews earned 35% more organic and 91% more paid clicks than those not cited.
Dig deeper. Google organic and paid CTRs hit new lows
About the data. Seer analyzed 3,119 informational queries across 42 organizations, spanning 25.1 million organic and 1.1 million paid impressions from June 2024 to September 2025. Queries were categorized by AI Overviews presence and citation status using data from Google Search Console, Google Ads, and Seer’s generative AI tracker.
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