Survey Suggests Google’s AI Overviews Haven’t Replaced the Click-Through Habit

Only 4.4% of respondents said they never click through. In contrast, 13.3% said they do so every time, 30.5% said often, 41.5% said sometimes, and 10.3% admitted they rarely follow a link. The pattern shows that while behaviour is shifting, the summaries are not stopping people from moving beyond the search page.

Perceptions of how the tool has changed browsing habits were divided. Just under a third thought they now visit fewer websites, yet more than half, 51.9%, reported no real change in their routines.

Trust in AI Overviews also varied. About 41% placed them on par with the snippets and links usually offered by search, while 31% said they trusted the summaries more and 28% trusted them less. The proportion expressing less trust almost mirrors the number who had noticed serious errors over the past year, which stood at 25.3%. Of those errors, half were described as inaccurate, 20.6% as outdated, and 21% as irrelevant to the query.

Satisfaction levels landed in the middle range. Around 29.8% of people said they were very satisfied, 36.6% were somewhat satisfied, and 25.1% said moderate. Only 5% said they were somewhat dissatisfied, with 3.5% very dissatisfied, producing a net satisfaction rate of 57.9%. Even so, more than half said they would prefer to switch off the summaries if they had the choice, 17.7% would turn them off completely, and 38% would do so at least for some queries.

When asked about Google’s search quality more broadly since AI Overviews launched in May 2024, 24.4% rated it great, 45.3% good, 24.7% moderate, 3.1% poor, and 2.5% very poor.

The survey also looked at where people search for certain topics. TikTok and other social platforms were chosen more often for food and cooking (42.7%), entertainment and pop culture (36.3%), and current events (33.8%). Google remained the stronger choice for education and exams (8.7%), business and entrepreneurship (8.7%), and parenting and family (9.2%).

Taken together, the findings suggest that Google’s AI Overviews are shaping how people approach search, but they have not erased the need for traditional click-throughs. People still rely on original sites for detail, even as they experiment with new ways of finding information.

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