In the inclusion of AI summaries in Google SERPs is having big impact on click through rate on both organic listings and paid ads.
One of the biggest changes in recent years, in the layout of Google SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), has been the inclusion of AI-generated summaries at the top of the SERPs for many searches.
Why does this matter?
When the AI content started being included in SERPs (in May 2024 in the US and from August 2024 for other countries), experts were concerned that it would result in a drop in the number of clicks on organic search results, diminishing the benefit of achieving high organic rankings. Recent research has confirmed their worst fears.
AI summaries reduce CTRs
Looking at 300,000 informational keyword searches (in the US) before and after the AI rollout (March 2024 v March 2025), Ahrefs reported that the number of clicks on the number one organic results dropped by an average of 34.5%. A second study by Amsive focused on five industries showed a 15.49% drop in clicks on organic results.
It is important to note that this data refers to informational searches rather than commercial searches. An information search would be something like, “What do termites look like?”, whereas a commercial search would be something like, “termite inspection Sydney”. Websites that have high organic rankings for informational search terms will have seen a big hit on organic traffic over the last six months or so. This has nothing to do with any SEO efforts and organic rankings; it is simply an effect of the appearance of the AI summaries. Users are getting the information they need from the AI summaries and don’t feel the need to scroll down the page to click on organic results.
With commercial searches, Google ads appear at the top of the page (Google wants advertisers’ money). This hasn’t changed, and the number of clicks on organic results for commercial searches does not appear to have been affected. The net result is that although website traffic to high performing websites may have dropped significantly, the number of calls (resulting from commercial searches) may well have remained the same.
Seer Interactive also carried out a similar study looking at the click through rate (CTR) for a whole range of searches, looking at the impact of AI on CTRs for organic and paid CTRs. (Paid ads do sometimes appear for some informational searches). They also found that the CTRs dropped on both organic results and paid ads,when AI summaries were present. However, they pointed out one important caveat, noting “When clients’ content shows up in AI summaries, organic CTR rises from 0.74% to 1.02%, paid CTR also increases from 7.89 to 11%.”
What actions should you take?
If you have seen a significant drop in traffic over the last six months or so, you need to dig deeper to understand the reason. If your organic rankings haven’t dropped, then it could well to be due to the appearance of AI summaries. It is still worth trying to get organic rankings as high as possible for informational searches, using all the normal SEO techniques, as it helps build brand awareness and demonstrates expertise. However, it is also important to try and get your content into the AI summaries to maximise clicks. To achieve this, it is important to have high quality, in-depth content on your site which answers the specific search questions.
Although total website traffic is one performance metric, and clicks from informational searches contribute to this traffic, it is important to focus on search terms that get the phone to ring – commercial search terms and branded search terms. A combination of organic SEO, local SEO and paid ads will be required to deliver optimal performance on these commercial search terms.
