Pew study shows how Google AI Overviews change search click behavior

Pew Research Center analyzed 68,879 search queries from 900 U.S. adults in March 2025. When an AI summary appeared, users clicked a regular result in 8% of visits versus 15% without one, and 26% of sessions ended without a site visit versus 16%.

• AI summaries appeared in about 18% of all search queries
• For 10+ word queries a summary appeared in 53% of cases, for 1–2 words in 8%
• Links inside AI summaries were clicked in only 1% of visits
• 88% of summaries cited three or more sources