A new study by Ahrefs has revealed that AI Overviews on Google search results have caused a substantial drop in click-through rates (CTR), with the most significant impact seen in top-ranking content. According to data gathered in December 2025, the presence of an AI Overview on the search results page has led to a 58% reduction in CTR for the top-ranking search result.

This decline marks a continuation of the trend observed in previous research. Back in April 2025, a study showed a 34.5% drop in CTR due to AI Overviews. And with the ongoing rollout of AI Overviews to more countries and languages, the situation appears to be getting worse.

What Happened

The study analyzed data from December 2025 using 300,000 keywords from the Ahrefs Keywords Explorer database. It was conducted by Ryan Law, Director of Content Marketing at Ahrefs, and Xibeijia Guan, a data scientist working for Ahrefs. The results showed that in December 2023, the CTR for top-ranking informational keywords (position one) was 0.076%, meaning that out of 10,000 people who saw the top-ranked link, only seven or eight people actually clicked on it.

By December 2025, this statistic had dropped to 0.039%, indicating that fewer than 4 users clicked the top result. Keywords that triggered AI Overviews saw an even sharper decline. In December 2023, the CTR for the top result was 0.073%. However, that figure had fallen to just 0.016% by December 2025.

Background and Context

AI Overviews are a feature within Google search that provides users with summarized answers directly on the search results page. These summaries answer users' questions directly, resulting in users not clicking through to websites listed as search results below. This is part of a larger trend of Google's search features reducing the need for users to click through to external websites.

Features such as Featured Snippets, Local Packs, and Top Stories increasingly resolve user queries directly on the search results page. As the presence of these features has grown, so-called "zero-click" searches have been growing for a long time. This trend is significant for adult-industry platforms and operators, who rely on click-through rates to drive traffic to their websites.

Why It Matters

The impact of AI Overviews on click-through rates is substantial, with a 58% reduction in CTR for top-ranking content. This decline marks a continuation of the trend observed in previous research and suggests that the situation is getting worse. For every 100 clicks that would have gone to the first-ranking page in the past, only 42 clicks remain now, with the remaining 58 clicks kept by Google.

This has significant implications for adult-industry platforms and operators, who rely on click-through rates to drive traffic to their websites. The decline in CTR means that platforms will need to adapt to a new reality where users are less likely to click through to external websites. This may require changes to content strategy, optimization techniques, and even the way platforms present information to users.

What Comes Next

The study's findings suggest that AI Overviews are having a significant impact on click-through rates, particularly for top-ranking content. As the rollout of AI Overviews continues, it is likely that this trend will continue. Adult-industry platforms and operators will need to adapt to this new reality and find ways to mitigate the impact of AI Overviews on their traffic.

Key Facts

  • The presence of an AI Overview on the search results page has led to a 58% reduction in CTR for top-ranking content.
  • In December 2023, the CTR for top-ranking informational keywords (position one) was 0.076%, meaning that out of 10,000 people who saw the top-ranked link, only seven or eight people actually clicked on it.
  • By December 2025, this statistic had dropped to 0.039%, indicating that fewer than 4 users clicked the top result.
  • Keywords that triggered AI Overviews saw an even sharper decline, with a CTR of just 0.016% by December 2025.
  • The impact of AI Overviews on click-through rates is substantial and suggests that the situation is getting worse.

Ahrefs' study highlights the need for adult-industry platforms and operators to adapt to a new reality where users are less likely to click through to external websites. As the rollout of AI Overviews continues, it is likely that this trend will continue, and platforms will need to find ways to mitigate its impact on their traffic.