Google’s AI Overviews are bulldozing traditional SEO, snatching 30% of clicks that once went to actual websites. The March 2025 update cranked AI Overviews up to 47% of searches, with entertainment queries seeing a mind-blowing 528% increase. Zero-click searches now dominate 60% of all queries. Sites are hemorrhaging traffic even when they rank well. The old SEO playbook? Pretty much toast. There’s still hope for brands that adapt, though.
Google’s AI Overviews are killing organic clicks. The numbers don’t lie—search impressions jumped 49% year-over-year, but click-through rates tanked by 30%. That’s not a coincidence. It’s Google’s new AI baby doing exactly what it was designed to do: keep users on Google.
The March 2025 core update was when things got real. AI Overviews exploded across entertainment, restaurants, and travel sectors. Entertainment queries alone saw a 528% increase, making what used to be AI-free territory suddenly AI-dominated. These aren’t just little text snippets either. They’re taking up half the screen on desktop and mobile, aggregating content from multiple sources and serving it up on a silver platter. Why click through when Google’s already done the homework?
March 2025 changed everything—AI Overviews now dominate half your screen, killing the need to click anywhere.
Zero-click searches now account for 60% of all queries. Let that sink in. More than half of searches end without anyone clicking anywhere. Traditional SEO folks are probably crying into their keyword spreadsheets right now. Effective website design remains crucial for the visitors who do click through, impacting both user retention and search rankings.
The data’s brutal. Researchers analyzed 700,000 keywords across finance, education, SaaS, healthcare, and pets. Every industry got hit. Keywords triggering AI Overviews consistently showed lower click-through rates than those without them. Even if a site ranks well organically, tough luck—the AI Overview’s already answered the question.
These AI summaries appear in up to 47% of all searches now. Nearly half. They’re not going away, and they’re not getting smaller. Featured snippets used to be the enemy, but at least they were predictable. AI Overviews are a whole different beast.
There’s a silver lining, sort of. AI Overviews pull from website content, so theoretically, well-optimized content could get featured. Getting cited in an AI Overview might even enhance brand credibility—Google’s basically saying, “This source knows what’s up.” But that’s cold comfort when traffic’s down 30%. The real kicker is that 89% of citations come from beyond position 100, meaning even sites buried deep in search results can suddenly become Google’s favorite source.
The old playbook’s dead. Ranking number one doesn’t mean what it used to when an AI-generated answer sits above everything else, hogging the spotlight. SEO professionals need to accept this new reality fast. The game’s changed, and Google’s holding all the cards. Again.
