Google’s AI Overviews have sparked concern and debate among publishers, SEOs, and content creators. A new Pew Research Center study finally puts numbers to these worries—revealing how AI-powered search results are dramatically reducing traffic to independent websites and reshaping how users engage with information online.
Research Highlights
What Did Pew Research Study?
- Sample Size: 900+ U.S. adults tracked for a month (March 2025)
- Searches Analyzed: 68,879 Google searches, including 12,593 that triggered an AI Overview
1. AI Overviews Drastically Reduce Web Referrals
- Lower Click Rates: Only 8% of users who saw an AI summary clicked through to any website, compared to 15% for those who only saw traditional search results.
- Barely Any Clicks on Citations: Just 1% clicked a citation link within an AI summary.
“Google users who encountered an AI summary also rarely clicked on a link in the summary itself. This occurred in just 1% of all visits to pages with such a summary.”
2. Engagement Drops with AI Summaries
- Early Session Endings: 26% of sessions with an AI Overview ended after the search page, compared to 16% for non-AI search results.
- Users Tend to Stay with Google: Around 66% either browse elsewhere on Google or leave the site without clicking on any links.
3. Dominance of a Few Major Platforms
- Top Cited Sources: Wikipedia, YouTube, and Reddit constitute 15% of citations in AI Overviews (17% in standard search).
- Inter-platform Variations:
- Wikipedia is most cited in AI Overviews.
- YouTube is linked more in traditional search results.
Google’s Standpoint
Google CEO Sundar Pichai claims that web content is thriving, pointing to increased content creation and diverse formats (video, images, text). However, Pew’s data indicates otherwise: AI summaries are leading to less user engagement, contradicting the optimism about the web’s health.
What Does This Mean for Publishers?
- Referral traffic from Google is declining.
- AI-generated answers discourage users from visiting original sources.
- Content consolidation: A handful of platforms (Wikipedia, Reddit, YouTube) increasingly dominate the search citation landscape.
The Threat of AI Overviews to Web Referral Traffic
The Pew Research Center’s analysis confirms dramatic shifts in how Google’s AI Overviews impact web publishers:
- Sharp Decline in Web Referrals: Only 8% of users who see AI summaries click any links versus 15% with traditional results.
- Minimal Citation Clicks: Just 1% click citation links in AI summaries, meaning almost all users get answers directly from Google without visiting the original websites.
- Session Drop-off: 26% of sessions with an AI summary end immediately, much higher than the 16% for sessions without AI summaries.
- Ecosystem Concentration: Wikipedia, Reddit, and YouTube dominate as the top cited sources, accounting for 15% of all citations in overviews.
What Does This Mean for Businesses?
- Traditional SEO is less effective. Appearing high in Google results no longer guarantees user clicks, especially when AI answers present information directly without referral.
- Visibility depends on being a top-cited, authoritative source — something most independent brands struggle to achieve alone. Content from a handful of major platforms gets disproportionate exposure.
- AI-driven content discovery (e.g., through ChatGPT, Perplexity, voice assistants) increasingly shapes how new customers find information, not just human-driven web search.
How Should Businesses Respond?
Search optimization is no longer one-size-fits-all. As the AI Overviews analysis by Pew demonstrates, AI-driven search innovations like Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) are fundamentally reshaping traditional SEO practices by prioritizing direct answers, conversational search interactions, and AI-friendly content.
Optimizing for traditional search is no longer enough. Business prospects and customers are moving to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and other AI search engines for information. This data underscores a hybrid future: businesses must balance traditional SEO with AEO/GEO to maintain visibility in an AI-dominated search ecosystem.
Several AI-powered platforms now offer content creation, optimization, and distribution features to support the implementation of hybrid AI brand visibility strategies. Below is a worked example analysing how AI EngineBoost responds to issues raised in the Pew Report and points to be considered in the buying process.
AI EngineBoost Worked Example
AI EngineBoost is specifically designed to counteract the reduced web referral traffic and authority consolidation highlighted by the Pew study:
| Pew’s Concern (AI Overviews) | AI EngineBoost Response |
|---|---|
| Loss of direct clicks | Distributes branded content to 300+ high-authority sites—more chances for AI to “see” your content |
| Dominance by a few big platforms | Publishes content across platforms (news sites, blogs, podcasts, video, infographics) to widen brand reach outside of just your website |
| Declining “citation eligibility” | Boosts your likelihood of being cited by LLMs and answer engines through content on major, credible domains |
| Algorithmic preference for authority | Links your brand to high-authority sources (AP, Business Insider, Medium, Yahoo, etc.), making your business more “algorithmically attractive” for citations |
| AI-first content consumption | Repurposes one topic into multiple AI-friendly formats (podcasts, news, video, threads)—increasing surface area for AI discovery |
Justification for Investing in AI EngineBoost
When AI EngineBoost Is Justified
- You want to be found by AI-driven platforms. AI EngineBoost multiplies the points of entry for your business across platforms that AIs crawl.
- You need visibility beyond your website. As Google and other search engines send fewer visitors to stand-alone sites, syndicating content is needed to maintain discovery.
- You aim to build “authority” in the eyes of LLMs and answer engines. Having your content in trusted digital neighborhoods boosts the odds AI cites or recommends you.
- Multi-format presence matters to you. The more formats/search surfaces AI can encounter your message, the safer your brand is from referral collapse.
When AI EngineBoost Might Not Be Needed
- You have a hyper-local, non-competitive niche: If your business isn’t threatened by reduced web referrals (e.g., through loyal direct customers), AI EngineBoost may be less urgent.
- Limited or no online marketing budget: If the cost outweighs potential traffic, or you lack content worthy of syndication to major platforms, reconsider the expense.
Conclusion
The Pew article provides strong evidence for getting proactive about AI-driven changes in web search and content discovery. Several AI-powered platforms now aim to directly tackles the challenges raised—offering broader, multi-channel visibility, improving citation chances, and counteracting the centralizing forces of modern AI search. For most businesses serious about ongoing online relevance, these services are now more of a strategic necessity than a luxury