Many studies have shown that the transition to AI search capabilities and the use of AI chatbots kills traffic to publisher sites. But Google denied that it was on Wednesday, but at least it's been consolidated. Instead, the search giant says that the total organic click volume from search engines to websites is “relatively stable” compared to the previous year, with a slight increase in average click quality.
“This data is in contrast to third-party reports that often incorrectly suggest a dramatic reduction in total traffic based on defective methodologies, isolated examples, or changes in traffic that occurred prior to rolling out of AI features during searches.”
Although Google does not share any specific data to back up conclusions, even if we assume that Google's claims are true, this does not necessarily mean that AI is not affecting it.
Even Google has to admit that “user trends are shifting traffic to different sites, which means traffic to some sites is decreasing and traffic to others is increasing.”
The term “part” lifts heavy here, as Google doesn't share data on the number of sites it has acquired or lost. Also, chatbots like ChatGpt have certainly seen an increase in traffic over the last few months, but that doesn't mean that online publishers aren't suffering.
Google has been revamping its search engine for years to answer more questions directly on its search results page, using AI through an “AI Overview” that appears at the top of the search results. Google also allows users to interact with AI chatbots about some queries. However, Google has denied that this is a major restructuring of search situations. Rather, it points out that users will focus their attention on other sites and start queries.
Reid explains: “Increasingly, people are searching and clicking on sites in forums, videos, podcasts and posts, allowing them to hear authentic voices and a direct perspective.”
Reading between lines, it appears that Google.com is not necessarily the first stop for people on the web these days. But that's what we've known for a while. In 2022, Google executives even said that social sites like Tiktok and Instagram were eating Google's core products, such as search and maps.
“In our study, it's like almost 40% of young people, and 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's now its main technician). “They go to Tiktok or Instagram,” he pointed out.
Google has also long been worried that Amazon.com has become the first stop for people in online shopping searches and Reddit.com to research topics of interest.
Over the years, the company has been trying to come up with features that are appealing to both consumers and retailers who attract more users to Google Shopping. These initiatives include universal shopping carts, local inventory checks, deal finders, and shopping from product images on the website. I made my shopping list free for merchants in 2020.
Meanwhile, as users complained that Google's search quality was declining, the search giant saw so much demand for Reddit, they were able to eventually add a “Reddit” filter to narrow down the results of relevant search queries. (Now, that filter simply reads as “forum.”)
So perhaps there are some truths to Google's denial. It's not AI that is completely responsible for killing searches. The search was already dying.
A new Google blog post is about to move the goal post a bit for websites that receive Google clicks. Now, instead of counting clicks, we want publishers to think about click quality.
The company says that average click quality is increasing, and Google is sending “slightly more quality clicks” to its website than it was a year ago. (Google, quality clicks, users don't click right away – they stay and keep reading.) But Google has nothing to say. The company simply points out that these clicks are more valuable as people are likely to dive deeper when they click on AI responses to sources.
Furthermore, Google portrays AI as an opportunity for web publishers to increase exposure, with “…AI overview, people see more links on their pages than before,” writes Reid. “As more queries and links there will be more opportunities for websites to surface and click.”
However, AI has seen an increasing number of referral sources, but has not yet made up for the difference in terms of clicks, the report shows. One recent survey from SimaryWeb shows that the number of news searches on the web has reached zero clicks on news websites. This indicates an increase from 56% as of May 2025 (when Google launched AI overview in May 2024) to 69%.
Google seems to know that this is also a trend. This is because they recently launched products for publishers that help monetize reduced traffic in other ways that don't rely solely on ads, such as micropay and newsletter sign-ups.
The fact that Google is pushing this “AI is not the end of search traffic!” is now just making the situation seem even more disastrous. It seems as if Google wants publishers to believe their eyes and their graphs and charts aren't telling them, but instead comforts the fact that Google sends “billions of clicks” every day, as the Post claims.