Google’s boasting about 1.5 billion AI Overview users, but don’t buy the hype – it’s a default feature, not user choice. The real story? Independent data shows organic CTR is tanking (down 30%+!) as Google keeps traffic and ad revenue for itself via AI answers. Publishers are getting squeezed while Google pushes its Gemini AI everywhere. Is this the end of the easy SEO ride?
More news from the giants just dropped. Google’s out here trumpeting that their highly-touted AI Overviews (you know, that thing that slaps an AI-generated answer on top instead of normal links 🤖) supposedly hit one and a half billion monthly users in Q1. One. Point. Five. Billion. Can you believe it?!
Sounds impressive, right? Except the trick is, these aren’t users flocking to it. Google just jammed this feature into search by default. First in the US, then a hundred other countries. Since it’s default and a real pain to turn off, of course anyone who used search and saw this AI wall of text is now a “user.” Slick move, gotta admit.
They’re comparing it to ChatGPT, claiming they’ve crushed them. Well, duh, if you own 90% of global search and just force-enable a feature for everyone, while the other guys have a separate app people choose to visit. Kinda misleading, wouldn’t you say? But hey, it’s a nice big number, the marketing department’s happy, showing everyone how they’re leading the AI charge.
The main thing is their rock-solid strategy behind this: shove their Gemini AI everywhere. Search, Maps, Mail – anywhere with half a billion users. And they’re not skimping on the cash – $75 billion 💰 in capital expenditures planned for 2025! Mostly for data centers and hardware like TPUs and Nvidia GPUs. Obviously, to make their Gemini think faster and leave competitors like OpenAI and Microsoft in the dust. Strategy, man. The fact that it’s ticking everyone else off? That seems to be beside the point for them.
And boy, are people ticked off. The whole fuss is about clicks, or the lack thereof. Google’s spinning a yarn about how everything’s great, users are happy, spending 20% more time in search, asking more complex questions, using image search more (Lens is up 5 billion queries, Circle to Search is taking off too). And crucially – monetization isn’t suffering, ads are running in these AI answers, clicks are even “higher quality.” Yeah, right. Except when they were directly asked for specific CTR numbers during earnings calls? Crickets. Dodged the question.
But independent folks (like Ahrefs, Amsive, Similarweb) did some digging – and lo and behold: organic CTR tanks 📉 when this AI thing shows up. Ahrefs found a minus 34.5% drop for the #1 position! Amsive reported an average drop of 15.5%, but for non-branded queries (which are most likely to trigger AI), it’s a full -20%. If you’re not in the top 3, forget about it – down 27%. And if the AI answer appears with a Featured Snippet? You’re in deep trouble – down 37%.
So, it’s the classic story: Google pretends everything’s fine while basically pulling the rug out, keeping the traffic that used to go to websites for themselves. Their monetization might be okay – they just shove ads right into their AI answers now. Meanwhile, you, the publisher, are left figuring out how to survive. Some are already suing, like Chegg.
Content ranking is changing too. The March 2025 core update showed: AI answers are slightly less likely to link to the top 10 organic results (down from 16% to 15%), but they still pull 97% of their links from there. However, in certain niches (entertainment, restaurants, travel), these AI answers are showing up way more often. Another twist: AI is increasingly linking not to homepages, but to deep internal articles (82% of links!). Seems like they value detailed content on a specific topic. So, maybe a glimmer of hope for those who actually write substance instead of fluff. But overall, you still need to be near the top and pray you get cited by the AI.
Bottom line, it’s clear where Google’s heading. More AI, more direct answers in search, fewer clicks going out. They’ll keep developing their AI Mode for complex queries, jamming Gemini into every nook and cranny. It’s tough for competitors – hard to fight a monster with these resources and search monopoly. And for us regular web folks? We just have to adapt: create quality content, beef up E-E-A-T, figure out how to land in those AI citations. Or else, forget Google traffic and find other sources. Looks like the easy SEO ride is truly over. The horse is dead, folks. Time to dismount. 🤷♂️
