Google Defends AI Search Features, Claiming Stable Web Traffic and Increased Click Quality

Google search boss says AI isn't killing search clicks

Google has often bristled at the implication that its obsession with AI search is harming web traffic, and now search head Liz Reid has penned a blog post on the topic. According to Reid, clicks aren't declining, AI is driving more searches, and everything is fine on the Internet. But despite the optimistic tone, the post stops short of providing any actual data to back up those claims. This statement feels like a direct response to a recent Pew Research Center analysis that showed searches with AI Overviews resulted in lower click-through rates. Google objected to the conclusions and methodology of that study, and the new blog post expands on its rationale. The banner claim in this post is that Google is not sending fewer clicks to websites. According to Reid, "total organic click volume" has remained "relatively stable year-over-year." Meanwhile, Google is seeing more searches on its end, which is the most important metric for the company. Google's blog also notes (fairly) that the web is unfathomably vast, and it's common for trends to shift. Google apparently sees AI Overviews as an evolution of what it has done in the past with Knowledge Graph or sports scores. Reid says those features didn't reduce clicks, either. In fact, Google sees higher-quality clicks in search results, which it identifies as people clicking on links without immediately backing out. However, the company isn't providing any numbers, which does undercut the argument. Google's meaning comes partially into focus when Reid discusses some broad trends the company has seen. She says search users are increasingly looking for "authentic voices and first-hand perspectives," which sounds like code for "Reddit." Google partnered with Reddit in early 2024, gaining access to its wealth of authentic voices (except when they're trolling) for AI training, and you'd have to be blind not to notice how Google has increasingly surfaced Reddit links in search results ever since.

Google denies AI search features are killing website traffic | TechCrunch

Numerous studies indicate that the shift to AI search features and the use of AI chatbots are killing traffic to publishers' sites. But Google on Wednesday denied that's the case, at least in aggregate. Instead, the search giant says that total organic click volume from its search engine to websites has been "relatively stable" year-over-year and that average click quality has slightly increased. "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," writes Google VP and Head of Search, Liz Reid, in a new blog post. Though Google hasn't shared any specific data to back up its conclusions, even if we assume Google's claims to be true, this doesn't necessarily mean that AI isn't having an impact. Even Google has to admit this, as Reid acknowledges that "user trends are shifting traffic to different sites, resulting in decreased traffic to some sites and increased traffic to others." That word "some" is doing heavy lifting here, as Google doesn't share data about how many sites are gaining or losing. And while chatbots like ChatGPT have certainly seen traffic increase in recent months, that doesn't mean online publishers aren't suffering. Google has been revamping its search engine for years to answer more questions directly on the search results page, and now does so with AI through its "AI Overviews" that appear at the top of search results. Google also allows users to interact with an AI chatbot for some queries. Yet Google denies that this is significantly reshaping the search landscape. Rather, it points to users shifting their attention to other sites to start their queries. Reid explains, "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." Reading between the lines, it seems like Google.com isn't necessarily people's first stop on the web these days. But that's something we've known for some time. Back in 2022, a Google exec even said that social sites like TikTok and Instagram were eating into Google's core products, like Search and Maps. "In our studies, something like almost 40% of young people, when they're looking for a place for lunch, they don't go to Google Maps or Search," said Google SVP Prabhakar Raghavan, who ran the company's Knowledge and Information organization at the time (he is now its Chief Technologist). "They go to TikTok or Instagram," he noted. Google has also long been worried that Amazon.com had become people's first stop for online shopping searches, and Reddit.com had become the first stop for researching topics of interest. Over many years, the company has tried to come up with compelling features for both consumers and retailers that would attract more users to Google Shopping. These efforts have included universal shopping carts, local inventory checks, deal finders, shopping from product images on websites, and more. It even made its Shopping listings free for merchants in 2020. Meanwhile, as users complained that Google Search quality was declining, the search giant was seeing so much demand for Reddit that it finally added a "Reddit" filter to allow users to narrow down results on relevant search queries. (Now that filter simply reads, "forums.") So perhaps there's some truth in Google's denials -- it's not AI that's entirely responsible for killing search. Search was already dying. Google's new blog post also attempts to move the goal posts a bit about what it means for websites receiving Google's clicks. Now, instead of counting clicks, it wants publishers to think about click quality. The company says average click quality has increased, and Google is sending "slightly more quality clicks" to websites than a year ago. (Google explains that a quality click is one where users don't quickly click back -- they stay and read.) How much of an increase, though, Google doesn't say. The company only points out that when people click through on an AI response to the source, they're more likely to dive deeper, so those clicks are more valuable. What's more, Google paints AI as an opportunity for web publishers to gain increased exposure, saying that "...with AI Overviews, people are seeing more links on the page than before," as Reid writes. "More queries and more links mean more opportunities for websites to surface and get clicked." But AI, while a growing referral source, isn't yet making up the difference in terms of clicks, reports have shown. One recent study from Similarweb indicates that the number of news searches on the web resulting in zero clicks to news websites has grown from 56% (when Google launched AI Overviews in May 2024) to 69% as of May 2025. Google appears to knows this is a trend, too, as it recently launched a product for publishers that helps them monetize their dwindling traffic in other ways that don't rely only on advertising, like micropayments or newsletter sign-ups. The fact that Google is pushing this "AI is not the end of search traffic!" PR now only makes the situation seem more dire. It's as if Google wants publishers to believe not what their own eyes -- and graphs and charts -- tell them, but instead take comfort in the fact that Google still sends "billions of clicks to websites" every day, just as the post claims.

Google: Actually, AI in Search is driving more queries and higher quality clicks

Last month, a Pew Research Center report shed light on Google's AI Overviews' effect on web publishing. In short, the analysis painted an abysmal outlook for anyone relying on web traffic. But on Wednesday, Google Search head Liz Reid penned a blog post that puts quite a different spin on things. The Google VP claims traffic from search to websites is "relatively stable" and that click quality has increased. Reid's framing boils down to everything is peachy, and AI is making things better -- even for websites! She wrote that Google Search's total organic click volume to websites has been "relatively" stable year-over-year. Reid also claimed Google sends more "quality clicks" (visitors who don't quickly bounce) to websites than a year ago. The company says people are also happier with the search experience. The company didn't share any numbers -- the post has no data whatsoever -- to support its claims. Google's explanation for the rosy outlook? "With AI Overviews, people are searching more and asking new questions that are often longer and more complex," Reid wrote. "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." Reid does highlight a shifting landscape. She says user trends are resulting in lower traffic for some sites and increased traffic for others. Of course, the Google Search head didn't call out any specific websites. But she claims forums, videos, podcasts and posts with "authentic voices and first-hand perspectives" are thriving. Reid added that content like "an in-depth review, an original post, a unique perspective, or a thoughtful first-person analysis" does well. The Google VP said people seeking simple Q&A types of searches are leaning more on AI. "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 AI Overviews response and not click further," Reid wrote. "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." It's quite the contrast from the Pew report. It found that visitors who saw an AI summary clicked a traditional search result in eight percent of all visits. Those without an AI summary? They clicked on a traditional result in 15 percent of their visits. As for those source links in AI summaries? Pew found that only one percent of people clicked on those. Users were also more likely to end their browsing after visiting a page with an AI summary. That aligned with comments Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince made in June. He said search traffic referrals keep plummeting. "The future of the web is going to be more and more like AI, and that means that people are going to be reading the summaries of your content, not the original content," he said. Prince said that a decade ago, Google sent a publisher one visitor for every two pages it crawled. Early this year, it dropped to one visitor for every six pages. He said that, in June, it was down to one for every 18. I can't tell you who to believe. But here's what the ultimate source had to say:

Google says AI not causing traffic declines & that it cares more about web's health than competition

Google is out with a blog post today rebutting recent reports that its AI features are causing traffic declines. The extended response comes from VP and Head of Search Liz Reid. At a high level, Google says that Search -- with features like AI Overviews and AI Mode -- continues to drive traffic to the web. The company did not provide specific internal figures, but shared that: Google's premise is that people are asking more questions given that AI can answer more types of questions. In turn, they are "seeing more links on the page than before." It also views AI Overviews as an evolution of other "answer features" like Knowledge Graph and sports scores. Specifically, Google's view is that "an Al 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." "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 Al features in Search." In responses to previous reports, Google has argued that their methodologies are flawed, while the latter point about traffic changes happening before AI is notable. Additionally, Google says that drops can be explained by how "user trends are shifting traffic to different sites, resulting in decreased traffic to some sites and increased traffic to others." Specifically: Sites that meet these evolving user needs are benefiting from this shift and are generally seeing an increase in traffic. Finally, Google's last point today is that it "care[s] 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. From a business standpoint, that is true. While other AI companies have an interest to keep the web strong and generating data to learn from, Google has an added financial incentive since that is how it makes the majority of its revenue (advertising)

AI in Search is driving more queries and higher quality clicks

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. 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. 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.

Google Insists AI Overviews Are Not Hurting Traffic As Publishers Face Crippling Losses And Content Creators Fight To Survive The New Search Reality

Google's AI Overviews have caused an uproar in the tech community for hurting web traffic and causing huge company losses. Many publishers and SEO experts have raised serious debates and concerns across the web over declining click-through rates and a fall in their website traffic. The search engine giant seems to be singing a different tune, as in a recent statement by the company, it is asserting that it is not responsible for the devastating drop in traffic with its AI search. Google's AI Overviews was a bold step by the company into generative search results, but one that brought forth criticism for destroying the web. Publishers have been ringing the alarm about the decline of their companies' sites ever since the AI search was introduced. Upon seeing the debate going around its move, Google's Head of Search, Liz Reid, recently cleared the air in a statement, claiming that despite the rollout of AI Overviews, the overall search traffic has remained relatively stable YoY. As per the blog post, Reid commented the following regarding the traffic trends: 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 rollout of AI features in Search. Google maintains that the panic displayed is uncalled for and overblown, as the internal data shows consistent search volumes and also a growing number of impressions. In order to make its stance more believable, the tech giant asserts that the total web traffic is stable; it is user behavior on the web that is changing, resulting in some types of content benefiting while others are relatively at a disadvantage. By suggesting the traffic is now being redirected to different types of content, the company is moving the attention away from blaming AI Overviews and instead having companies focus on delivering valuable information and genuine insights. As the web is evolving, users are preferring more human and experiential content instead of presenting information that focuses heavily on keywords and ranking in search engines, as they are losing favor. However, Google's definition of stable is not reflected in the reports by news outlets that highlight how pages have seen a drop of close to 70 percent in traffic due to AI Overviews, posing an existential threat to content creators and journalism. While the tech giant was confident in its claim, it did not present any detailed metrics to support it. Nonetheless, as AI continues to reshape how we access information, this debate is far from over, and if the reality for content creators continues to be the same, then Google's stance is not going to make much of a difference, and the conversations around it are only going to get louder.

Is Google's AI Search killing website traffic? Here's what the company says

According to Google, the AI responses show more links on the page, which means more chances for websites to get noticed and clicked. There's been a lot of talk lately about whether Google's new AI-powered Search experience is taking away traffic from websites. With features like AI Overviews and AI Mode, people can now ask longer, more detailed questions and get quick summaries directly in Search. But this has raised concerns over declining website traffic. In a recent blogpost, Google addressed these concerns. The company claims that website traffic from Google Search has remained "relatively stable" year-over-year, despite what some third-party reports suggest. "People are searching more than ever as they discover what Search can do now," said Google. The company added that these reports are often based on "flawed methodologies, isolated examples, or traffic changes that occurred prior to the roll out of AI features in Search." Also read: Google Pixel 10 ad trolls Apple's delayed Siri AI upgrade Google also said that the quality of clicks has improved, meaning users are now clicking on links that actually interest them, rather than quickly backing out. "We're actually sending slightly more quality clicks to websites than a year ago," the company stated. According to Google, the AI responses show more links on the page, which means more chances for websites to get noticed and clicked. However, for very simple queries, like asking about the next full moon, users might get their answer directly and move on without clicking further. "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," the tech giant explained. Also read: ChatGPT will now remind you take breaks during long chat sessions Google made it clear that AI in Search is designed to highlight the web, not replace it. "It's not the web or AI -- it's both," the company said. AI responses include links, source citations, and in-line attributions so users can explore more. While Google's reassurances may ease some concerns, the debate around AI Search and its long-term impact on websites is likely far from over.