There’s no chart or public breakdown to support this, just a general explanation. “Quality clicks,” as Google calls them, are visits where users don’t immediately leave. It says those are going up. It also says people are running more queries, and those queries are getting longer. Users are asking different kinds of questions, and search results now show more links per page, according to the company.
But not everyone agrees with this take.
A Pew Research study, which tracked 900 users’ search sessions, found a drop in click activity when AI Overviews were present. Only 8% of those sessions led to a click on a traditional link. When AI Overviews didn’t appear, the number nearly doubled to 15%. Google responded by saying the sample size was too small and the data was unreliable.
Publishers have reported clear traffic losses. Business Insider, for example, saw a 55% drop in traffic from Google searches between April 2022 and April 2025, based on data from Similarweb. The site cut its staff by over 20% earlier this year. HuffPost and The Washington Post are facing similar declines.
There’s more. According to Digiday, the number of U.S. news-related searches that end without any site click jumped from 56% to 69% after AI Overviews launched in May 2024. Authoritas also reported that if a site used to rank first but now appears below an AI Overview, it could lose nearly 80% of the traffic it got for that query.
At the same time, other sites are gaining. Reddit and YouTube have both been showing up more often in search results, especially near or under AI-generated content. Google says users are now leaning toward content with a personal tone, forum threads, podcast clips, review videos. It says people want “authentic voices” and are more likely to click on material that sounds human or offers unique perspective.
This trend overlaps with the growing appearance of Reddit links in results. Whether that’s because of Google’s partnership with Reddit isn’t confirmed, but the shift is hard to ignore. Reddit content now regularly appears just beneath ads or summaries, often in one of the most visible spots on the page.
For publishers, these changes are forcing a re-think. Even if impressions are holding steady, clicks may not be. Many are noticing the split: users see the link, but they don’t click it. This pattern, called the “great decoupling” by some, means more traffic is stuck at the search level.
To make matters more confusing, Google also says AI referrals to websites have jumped 357% since June 2024. So while traditional publishers may be losing visits, other sites are seeing gains. This doesn’t necessarily point to less traffic, just a different shape. But for those losing ground, that’s little comfort.
Google encourages site owners to review their own numbers. It suggests checking click-through rates for complex queries and watching how content types are performing. Forums, original reviews, and media-rich posts appear to be doing better than standard informational pages.
Right now, AI Overviews are only active in around 20% of desktop searches. That number is expected to climb. What happens then is anyone’s guess. Google says it supports the open web and understands the stakes. But without sharing full details, it’s hard for publishers to track where the traffic is going or how to win it back.
Notes: This post was edited/created using GenAI tools. Image: DIW-Aigen.
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