AI Overviews Are Killing Clicks: What the Data Shows and How to Respond

AI Overviews don't create clicks—they reduce them. Two large studies, from Ahrefs and Amsive , have put numbers to what many site owners already feel: organic traffic from informational queries is dropping, and AI Overviews are a major factor. The data also exposes a contradiction: Google has spent years telling publishers not to create thin, derivative content—yet AI Overviews do exactly that at scale, pulling from multiple sources and serving a repackaged "answer" that often satisfies the user without a click. This post summarises the findings, explains why the technical layer matters for any response, and outlines a practical compensation strategy. What the studies show Ahrefs (300,000 keywords) Ahrefs analysed 300,000 keywords, with a 99.2% overlap between informational intent and AI Overview presence. Their key result: a 34.5% drop in CTR for position 1 when AI Overviews are present, comparing March 2024 (pre-rollout) to March 2025 (post-rollout). A later update found the impact h