SEO still works, and AI Overviews have cut clicks on the searches that show them. Ahrefs found the top result’s click-through rate was 58% lower on those keywords, and SparkToro found 68% of US Google searches in early 2026 ended without a click. Local and buying searches showed AI Overviews less often in two other studies.
By Donnie Strompf. Updated October 2026.
Key takeaways
- Five sources from July 2025 to June 2026 measure different things: top-result click-through rate (Ahrefs), clicks per visit (Pew), brand-level click-through rate (Seer), searches with no click at all (SparkToro), and Google’s own unpublished totals.
- Ahrefs’ 58% is a correlation in desktop data for one set of keywords. It is not a measured loss for any one business.
- In Whitespark’s May 2025 test of local business searches, AI Overviews appeared on 15% of local-intent queries and 92% of informational ones. The local pack appeared on 93% of local-intent queries.
- AI chatbots sent about 0.28% of web traffic in Ahrefs’ March 2026 sample. Across the client sites we track, we read 0.36% in GA4.
- Keep SEO running, review which searches bring you customers, and check whether your pages appear in AI answers.
I’m Donnie Strompf. I’ve done SEO since 2008 and lead SEO at Good At Marketing, our agency in Boynton Beach, Florida. This page collects the dated studies behind the “SEO is dead” claim, says what each one measured, and applies them to a local business. For how SEO works in general, read our SEO pillar guide.
What did AI Overviews do to clicks?
Every study below found fewer clicks when an AI answer sat above the results, and they disagree on how many fewer. The table lists what each one measured, because the numbers cannot be added together.
| Source and date | What it measured | Result | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs, published February 4, 2026 | Click-through rate of the top-ranking page on 300,000 keywords, December 2023 against December 2025 | 58% lower on keywords with an AI Overview | Desktop only, compared with a forecast, and described as a correlation |
| Pew Research Center, July 22, 2025 | Browsing of 900 US adults in March 2025 | A result link was clicked on 8% of visits with an AI summary and 15% without | Opt-in panel, Google only, association rather than cause |
| Seer Interactive, April 24, 2026 | Click-through rate for 53 brands and 5.47 million queries, January 2025 to February 2026 | Organic click-through rate on AI Overview queries fell to 1.31% in December 2025 and rose to 2.36% in February 2026 | 53 brands, and Seer says it cannot claim causation |
| SparkToro, June 8, 2026 | Similarweb panel data on US Google searches, January to April 2026 | 68.01% of searches ended without a click | Excludes the Google app, assumes a two-thirds mobile split, and does not isolate AI Overviews. SparkToro’s 2024 figure of 60.45% came from a different provider, so the two are not directly comparable |
| Google, August 6, 2025 | Total clicks from Search to websites, in Google’s own data | “Relatively stable year-over-year” | Google published no figures |
Why do the studies disagree?
They count different things. Ahrefs looks at the first result on keywords that show an AI Overview. Pew looks at people, and SparkToro looks at searches.
Seer looks at the brands in its own sample. A 58% drop in one slot and a 68% no-click share across all searches can both be true.
Two limits matter before you apply these numbers to your business. SparkToro, as Search Engine Land reported on June 9, 2026, counted clicks on Maps and YouTube as clicks, so a search that ends on your Business Profile is not zero-click in that study. And Seer’s data moved in more than one direction during 2025 to 2026, so a single year’s figure is a snapshot.
Seer’s own advice is to treat benchmarks with care and use your own data as the strategic input.
Its report also found that brands cited inside an AI Overview earned more clicks than brands that were not: in Seer’s full-year averages for informational queries, cited brands got 2.07% and uncited brands 0.94%. Seer notes that one account holding 47% of the uncited segment’s impressions pulled that figure down, and that it was about 1.61% without that account. Seer also notes that higher-authority brands are more likely to be cited, so this does not show that a citation causes the clicks.
Does Google say clicks are down?
Google says no. Liz Reid, Google’s head of Search, wrote on August 6, 2025 that total organic click volume to websites had been “relatively stable year-over-year” and that third-party reports of dramatic declines were inaccurate. The post gives no figures, so a reader cannot test it.
One way to settle it for your own site is Search Console. Google’s documentation, last updated December 10, 2025, says traffic from AI Overviews and AI Mode is included in the Performance report under the Web search type. That means your own clicks and impressions already include it.
Do AI Overviews show up on local searches?
Less often than on question searches, according to a Whitespark test published on May 12, 2025. It used 540 queries in three US cities across six industries, including plumbers and dentists. AI Overviews appeared on 68% of those local business queries on average, and the intent of the query changed the result sharply.
| Query intent in Whitespark’s test | AI Overview shown | Local pack shown |
|---|---|---|
| Local intent | 15% | 93% |
| Informational | 92% | 6% |
| Hybrid | 97% | 17% |
Seer’s 2026 report points the same way. It found AI Overviews on about 36% of informational queries and about 5% of transactional ones, and it classes local and Maps results as transactional. For “near me” searches it reported AI Overviews on 76.9% of informational ones and about 1.5% of transactional ones.
Whitespark tested three cities in May 2025, and its author notes that Google often rolls back search features. The test is 17 months old, so run a few of your own searches before you rely on it.
How much traffic do AI chatbots send?
A small share so far. Ahrefs reported on May 15, 2026 that AI chatbots sent 3.5 million visitors in March 2026, about 0.28% of total web traffic across 74,752 websites. ChatGPT sent roughly 2.7 million of them. Ahrefs adds that some visits from apps are recorded as direct traffic, so the true share may be higher.
In our client portfolio the share is similar. Across the client sites we track, AI engines sent 0.36% of all sessions in the six months to October 14, 2026, and ChatGPT was 83% of that traffic. That compares with 0.28% in the Ahrefs sample.
Both figures are small shares of traffic. Chatbot visits are still worth tracking, because they depend on your business being named in an answer. Our guide to getting recommended by ChatGPT and AI Overviews covers that work, which sits beside SEO and does not replace it.
Which search work still pays for a local business?
Sort your searches into those from people looking for a local provider and those from people asking general questions. Then use the table below, and use Search Console to see which group your clicks fall in.
| Search type | Example | Findings | Where to put the effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local, ready to buy | “dentist near me” | Few AI Overviews and a local pack on most local-intent queries (Whitespark, Seer) | Business Profile, reviews, accurate listings, local pages |
| Question or cost | “how much does a new roof cost in Florida” | AI Overviews on most queries and fewer clicks (Whitespark, Seer) | A direct answer near the top of the page, so the page can be cited |
| Comparison | “dental implants vs bridges” | Seer found AI Overviews on 95.4% of comparison queries | Plain comparison pages and reviews on third-party sites |
| Your business name | “your company name” | SparkToro says SEO still works for branded and local searches | Keep the site and Business Profile accurate and current |
What should a local business do about it?
The steps below start with your own numbers, because the studies disagree and none of them is your site.
- Open Search Console and compare the last 12 months of impressions and clicks. Rising impressions with flat clicks fit the pattern in the studies. Falling impressions point somewhere else, such as indexing or rankings. The SEO pillar guide covers how to read those screens.
- Sort your top 20 searches by the table above. Protect the local and branded ones first, since they send the most buying traffic.
- For question searches, expect fewer clicks and write for citation. Put the answer in the first two sentences and add the facts a buyer needs.
- Ask your agency how it reports AI traffic. Ahrefs says app visits can show up as direct traffic, so a GA4 filter alone undercounts.
- Do not judge SEO by one ranking position. Judge it by calls and bookings.
No one can promise a ranking or a citation. Our SEO services and AEO services pages describe the work.
What does search work cost now?
SEO runs $1,000 to $1,600 a month at our baseline and can reach about $3,500 in highly competitive markets. AEO, the work aimed at AI answers, is $950 to $2,000 a month alongside SEO. Every service price is on the pricing page, reviewed October 2026. For the full breakdown, see our guide to how much SEO costs for a small business.
FAQ
Is SEO dead because of AI?
SEO still works, but the clicks it earns have changed. Google still sends clicks and reports them in Search Console, and Ahrefs’ 58% covers one keyword set on desktop. Keep tracking rankings and clicks as before, and check separately whether AI answers name your business.
Should a local business stop SEO and focus on ChatGPT?
The figures on this page do not support that move. Chatbots were a fraction of one percent of web traffic in the two measurements above, and Google documents that AI Overviews draw on pages already indexed in Search. Keep the site crawlable and the Business Profile current, then add citation work next to it.
How do I find out whether AI Overviews are hurting my site?
Compare periods in Search Console. If impressions hold or grow while clicks drop on question-type queries, an AI answer is a likely cause. Check by searching those queries yourself and seeing whether an Overview appears. Treat any single month with caution, since seasonality moves both numbers.
Do AI Overviews appear on “near me” searches?
It depends on how the search is worded. Seer sorts searches by intent from the results Google shows, and Overview rates differed sharply between its informational and transactional groups. Type your customers’ likely phrases into Google yourself, note whether an Overview or a map appears, and sort each phrase accordingly.
Should I buy ads to replace lost organic clicks?
Sometimes. Seer called paid click-through rate the most stable channel in its data, with cited brands staying between roughly 14% and 18% through 2025. Whether ads pay depends on your cost per lead and close rate, so test a small budget against a clear goal. Ad spend is paid to Google.
How much does it cost to keep up with AI search?
AEO is priced at $950 to $2,000 a month alongside SEO, and SEO starts at $1,000. If you already pay for SEO, ask what portion is aimed at AI answers and how that is measured. A quote that adds a new line item with no new reporting deserves questions.
Related reading
- How we report SEO ranking results, with dated examples
- How to choose an SEO company: 20 questions to ask and red flags to avoid
- SEO vs Google Ads: which should a local service business fund first?
Next step
If you want to see where your business appears in AI answers today, start with the audit, then talk to me for 15 minutes about your market. We meet clients by Google Meet or Zoom.
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