A new study from the Pew Research Center has confirmed what publishers have feared for months. Google’s AI-generated search summaries are dramatically reducing clicks to external websites. The findings reveal a seismic shift in online behavior, with serious ramifications for publishers, advertisers, and the open web.
AI Overviews: Convenience Comes at a Cost
Pew’s analysis tracked nearly 900 U.S. adults in March 2025. The study found that over half of users encountered at least one search with an AI Overview on Google. These AI-generated summaries, which appear near the top of many results pages, promise instant answers to users’ questions.
But the convenience comes at a cost. When AI Overviews were displayed, users clicked on traditional search results just 8% of the time. This is a stark decline from the 15% click rate seen on pages without AI-generated summaries. Links embedded within the summaries fared even worse, attracting clicks only 1% of the time.
Notably, a significant number of users ended their browsing sessions after viewing an AI Overview. Roughly 26% closed their browser after AI summary results, compared to 16% with only traditional results. The trend suggests that for many, the AI-generated recap is enough—leaving source publishers and original creators out of the loop.
Publishers Raise the Alarm
The research validates months of growing concern among publishers and website owners. They rely on search traffic for advertising revenue and audience reach. “Google Is Burying the Web Alive,” declared a recent headline on The Register. Other publications have echoed these fears, calling for urgent action to protect the digital ecosystem.
Data from marketing analytics firm BrightEdge paints a similarly dire picture: Google search impressions have risen 49% year-over-year. However, click-through rates have dropped a staggering 30%. For publishers dependent on referral traffic, this spells a potential crisis for web monetization.
Searching for Solutions
Industry leaders are now scrambling to adapt. Cloudflare, for example, has suggested charging AI crawlers for access to web content. This gives site owners a way to be compensated when their articles feed AI models.
Google argues that its AI Overviews improve the search experience. They do so by “helping users get to the gist of a topic quickly.” They also provide “a jumping-off point for deeper exploration.” According to the company, more than one billion people have used AI Overviews since their launch in May 2024.
Nevertheless, the tension is mounting as the web’s longstanding economic model faces unprecedented disruption. The rise of AI-generated summaries could reshape not just what people see online—but who gets paid for creating it.
What’s Next?
The future of web search is uncertain. Digital publishing also hangs in the balance as both publishers and tech giants weigh their options. User habits are evolving quickly. Stakeholders across the industry will be watching closely. They are observing the next move in this high-stakes game over the economics of information.
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