Is Google becoming increasingly selfish with AI Overviews? Since AIOs are a relatively new phenomenon, it may be too early to judge, but the trends, findings, and expert commentary suggest that it is… Now, if that is right, the future belongs to a new age of content creation and optimization keeping Google as a part of it, if not at the center. I take a look at this pressing challenge in this blog.
By now, you may have seen it: a Google search result is no longer dominated by the traditional blue links prompting users to follow them to learn more, but by a block of AI-generated text that tactfully summerizes everything you were about to learn by clicking on a website link.
It’s AI Overview – part of Google’s shift toward an “answer engine” rather than a “search engine.”
And if you’re a content creator, SEO professional, or website owner, you’re probably wondering: where did my traffic go?
The art of killing traffic bit by bit
AI Overviews are eating your clicks. Google now answers many queries directly at the top of the page by summarizing content from other websites. Quite often without requiring users to visit those sites at all.
This sounds convenient for users. And maybe it is… But for the people and businesses behind those original web pages, it’s not a welcome move. They’re losing traffic, and it means no ROI on the time, effort and money spent creating, optimizing and marketing those high quality pieces of articles.
A March 2025 analysis by Semrush found that keywords triggering an AI Overview had a significantly higher rate of zero-click searches. In other words, users are getting their answers without ever leaving Google. For some publishers, like Mail Online, the drop in click-through rate was over 50% when AI Overviews appeared above their #1 ranked article.
Worse? Even if you’re cited in the overview, that doesn’t guarantee meaningful traffic.
What it means is being the source doesn’t necesarily mean being the destination. For publishers, it’s a big blow.
From a loved search engine everyone was looking to to walled garden
As a content professional, 70% of my efforts have always been focused on Google, and creating information experience users love. AI Overviews now allow Google to own the experience from query to answer. It reduces the need for clicks, and just for anybody’s guess, weakens the open web.
And while Google still links to sources in the AI Overviews, the incentive for users to click is lower. That’s a seismic shift in how the Web works. And in an ecosystem that runs on volume (ads, affiliate links, pageviews) that’s a serious problem.
The broken incentive loop
Here’s the scary part: if this trend continues, it could create a feedback loop that breaks the internet as we know it.
- Google scrapes content to generate answers
- Fewer people click links
- Creators stop publishing
- Google has less quality content to scrape
And so the cycle continues until AI starts generating answers based on increasingly stale or generic data. It’s not just bad for creators. It’s bad for users, too. In others words, imagine a world where AI is fetching AI content.
The varied mixes
Not all sites are feeling the burn equally though!
Big publishers and Google partners (like Reddit) seem to be shielded, or even favored in this new ecosystem of decisive changes. Smaller websites; especially independent blogs and educational sites, are more vulnerable as it appears to be.
Take the nonprofit World History Encyclopedia. After its content started showing up in AI Overviews, its Google-driven traffic dropped 25%. For a site that depends on ad revenue, that kind of hit isn’t sustainable.
SEO is asking us to change our approach!
Ranking #1 on Google isn’t enough anymore. While traditional SEO and content practices would not become stale overnight, the focus should now be on altering the convinent, templated appraoch we have been relying on over the years.
The new goal is to be the answer, the source that AI Overviews choose to summarize. That means writing more authoritative, structured content.
Creating content that can’t be used by AI overviews is another solution. This presently may include podcasts, videos, gated content etc.
But let’s be real. There’s no guarantee that AIOs can’t steal your content, no matter how hard you try to hide them. Even if you optimize perfectly, your content might still be summarized and served back to users without giving you the credit (or the click) you deserve.
Some SEOs are advising clients to diversify away from Google entirely. Build your email list. Grow a community. Launch a podcast. In other words: own your audience before Google owns it for you.
Final thoughts here:
We’re entering a new era of search, one where content is valuable only if it can serve Google’s AI. With fewer or no incentive in it, why would you create valubale content?
So, if you’re a creator, it’s time to think beyond rankings. Protect your brand. Prioritize direct relationships with your audience. Because in this new world, traffic isn’t a guarantee. It’s something you’ll have to fight for.
Google may have the answers. But who gets the credit? This is no less than a fight between intellect and technology.
References:
- Semrush, Impact of Google AI Overviews on Click Behavior, March 2025. Found a higher rate of zero-click results on AI Overview-triggering queries, but a slight dip in zero-click behavior on individual keyword comparisons post-AIO.
- Press Gazette, Mail Online sees search traffic collapse from AI Overviews, April 2025. CTR dropped from ~13% to <5% on results with AI Overviews.
- CMSWire, World History Encyclopedia Faces Traffic Drop Amid Google AI Changes, Nov 2024. Nonprofit reported a 25% loss in traffic after AIOs started surfacing their content without clicks.
Leave a Reply