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AI is driving the most significant upgrade of the Google Search experience ever. With AI Overviews and more recently AI Mode, people are able to ask questions they could never ask before. And the response has been tremendous: Our data shows people are happier with the experience and are searching more than ever as they discover what Search can do now.
At the same time, we’ve recently heard some questions about what this means for traffic to websites from Google. So we wanted to share some insights on the data we’re seeing, as well as more about our approach with AI in Search.
Traffic trends from Google Search
Overall, total organic click volume from Google Search to websites has been relatively stable year-over-year. Additionally, average click quality has increased and we’re actually sending slightly more quality clicks to websites than a year ago (by quality clicks, we mean those where users don’t quickly click back — typically a signal that a user is interested in the website). This data is in contrast to third-party reports that inaccurately suggest dramatic declines in aggregate traffic — often based on flawed methodologies, isolated examples, or traffic changes that occurred prior to the roll out of AI features in Search.
So what’s going on? With AI Overviews, people are searching more and asking new questions that are often longer and more complex. In addition, with AI Overviews people are seeing more links on the page than before. More queries and more links mean more opportunities for websites to surface and get clicked. For some questions where people are looking for a quick answer, like “when is the next full moon,” people may be satisfied with the initial response and not click further. This has also been true for other answer features we’ve added, like the Knowledge Graph or sports scores. But for many other types of questions, people continue to click through, as they want to dig deeper into a topic, explore further or make a purchase. This is why we see click quality increasing — an AI response might provide the lay of the land, but people click to dive deeper and learn more, and when they do, these clicks are more valuable.
While overall traffic to sites is relatively stable, the web is vast, and user trends are shifting traffic to different sites, resulting in decreased traffic to some sites and increased traffic to others. People are increasingly seeking out and clicking on sites with forums, videos, podcasts, and posts where they can hear authentic voices and first-hand perspectives. People are also more likely to click into web content that helps them learn more — such as an in-depth review, an original post, a unique perspective or a thoughtful first-person analysis. Sites that meet these evolving user needs are benefiting from this shift and are generally seeing an increase in traffic.
Building AI in Search to highlight the web
As a search company, we care passionately — perhaps more than any other company — about the health of the web ecosystem. We continue to send billions of clicks to websites every day and believe that Search’s value exchange with the web remains strong.
We take a distinct approach in how we build our AI experiences: they’re built to highlight the web. In other words, it’s not the web or AI — it’s both. We’ve trained our models to deeply understand the web and when and how to link to the most relevant sites. And our AI responses feature prominent links, visible citation of sources, and in-line attribution. This isn’t just helpful for websites; it also helps users learn where information is coming from and how they can explore further. And websites always have control over how content is highlighted or included in Search with open web protocols, which we respect and follow. We’re committed to highlighting high-quality content on the web and we will continue to refine how we do it.
The web has existed for over three decades, and we believe we’re entering its most exciting era yet. Technology shifts bring change, but they also bring extraordinary opportunity. We believe that AI will be one of the most expansionary moments for the web, empowering us all to ask vastly more questions and creators to reach more deeply engaged audiences. We’ll continue to help businesses, creators and websites seize these opportunities as we build this future together.