Google Denies Ai Search Features Are Killing Website Traffic

Numerous studies bespeak that nan shift to AI hunt features and nan usage of AI chatbots are sidesplitting postulation to publishers’ sites. But Google connected Wednesday denied that’s nan case, astatine slightest successful aggregate. Instead, nan hunt elephantine says that full integrated click measurement from its hunt motor to websites has been “relatively stable” year-over-year and that mean click value has somewhat increased.

“This information is successful opposition to third-party reports that inaccurately propose melodramatic declines successful aggregate postulation — often based connected flawed methodologies, isolated examples, aliases postulation changes that occurred anterior to nan rotation retired of AI features successful Search,” writes Google VP and Head of Search, Liz Reid, successful a caller blog post.

Though Google hasn’t shared immoderate circumstantial information to backmost up its conclusions, moreover if we presume Google’s claims to beryllium true, this doesn’t needfully mean that AI isn’t having an impact.

Even Google has to admit this, arsenic Reid acknowledges that “user trends are shifting postulation to different sites, resulting successful decreased postulation to immoderate sites and accrued postulation to others.”

That connection “some” is doing dense lifting here, arsenic Google doesn’t stock information astir really galore sites are gaining aliases losing. And while chatbots for illustration ChatGPT person surely seen postulation summation successful caller months, that doesn’t mean online publishers aren’t suffering.

Image Credits:Google

Google has been revamping its hunt motor for years to reply much questions straight connected nan hunt results page, and now does truthful pinch AI done its “AI Overviews” that look astatine nan apical of hunt results. Google besides allows users to interact pinch an AI chatbot for immoderate queries. Yet Google denies that this is importantly reshaping nan hunt landscape. Rather, it points to users shifting their attraction to different sites to commencement their queries.

Reid explains, “People are progressively seeking retired and clicking connected sites pinch forums, videos, podcasts, and posts wherever they tin perceive authentic voices and first-hand perspectives.”

Reading betwixt nan lines, it seems for illustration Google.com isn’t needfully people’s first extremity connected nan web these days. But that’s thing we’ve known for immoderate time. Back successful 2022, a Google exec moreover said that societal sites for illustration TikTok and Instagram were eating into Google’s halfway products, for illustration Search and Maps.

“In our studies, thing for illustration almost 40% of young people, erstwhile they’re looking for a spot for lunch, they don’t spell to Google Maps aliases Search,” said Google SVP Prabhakar Raghavan, who ran nan company’s Knowledge and Information statement astatine nan clip (he is now its Chief Technologist). “They spell to TikTok aliases Instagram,” he noted.

Google has besides agelong been worried that Amazon.com had go people’s first extremity for online shopping searches, and Reddit.com had go nan first extremity for researching topics of interest.

Over galore years, nan institution has tried to travel up pinch compelling features for some consumers and retailers that would pull much users to Google Shopping. These efforts person included universal shopping carts, local inventory checks, deal finders, shopping from merchandise images connected websites, and more. It moreover made its Shopping listings free for merchants successful 2020.

Meanwhile, arsenic users complained that Google Search value was declining, nan hunt elephantine was seeing truthful overmuch request for Reddit that it yet added a “Reddit” filter to let users to constrictive down results connected applicable hunt queries. (Now that select simply reads, “forums.”)

So possibly there’s immoderate truth successful Google’s denials — it’s not AI that’s wholly responsible for sidesplitting search. Search was already dying.

Close-up of a person’s manus holding an iPhone and utilizing Google AI Mode, an experimental mode utilizing artificial intelligence and ample connection models to process Google hunt queries, Lafayette, California, March 24, 2025. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)Image Credits:Smith Collection/Gado / Getty Images

Google’s caller blog station besides attempts to move nan extremity posts a spot astir what it intends for websites receiving Google’s clicks. Now, alternatively of counting clicks, it wants publishers to deliberation astir click quality.

The institution says mean click value has increased, and Google is sending “slightly much value clicks” to websites than a twelvemonth ago. (Google explains that a value click is 1 wherever users don’t quickly click backmost — they enactment and read.) How overmuch of an increase, though, Google doesn’t say. The institution only points retired that erstwhile group click done connected an AI consequence to nan source, they’re much apt to dive deeper, truthful those clicks are much valuable.

What’s more, Google paints AI arsenic an opportunity for web publishers to summation accrued exposure, saying that “…with AI Overviews, group are seeing much links connected nan page than before,” arsenic Reid writes. “More queries and much links mean much opportunities for websites to aboveground and get clicked.”

But AI, while a increasing referral source, isn’t yet making up nan difference successful position of clicks, reports person shown. One caller study from Similarweb indicates that nan number of news searches connected nan web resulting successful zero clicks to news websites has grown from 56% (when Google launched AI Overviews successful May 2024) to 69% arsenic of May 2025.

Image Credits:Similarweb

Google appears to knows this is simply a trend, too, arsenic it precocious launched a merchandise for publishers that helps them monetize their dwindling postulation successful different ways that don’t trust only connected advertising, for illustration micropayments aliases newsletter sign-ups.

The truth that Google is pushing this “AI is not nan extremity of hunt traffic!” PR now only makes nan business look much dire. It’s arsenic if Google wants publishers to judge not what their ain eyes — and graphs and charts — show them, but alternatively return comfortableness successful nan truth that Google still sends “billions of clicks to websites” each day, conscionable arsenic nan station claims.