AI Overviews "eat" the clicks: only 1% of users click the cited links
The question "do AI Overviews steal website traffic" now has a data-backed answer, and the mid-2026 picture is clearer than ever: users read the AI's answer and leave, barely ever clicking through to the sources.
3 independent datasets point the same way. Pew Research Center (behavior study, 3/2025): when a results page shows AI Overviews, only 8% of users click a traditional result versus 15% without - and only 1% click the links cited inside the AI block. Ahrefs (2/2026): top-ranked pages lose 58% of CTR on queries with AI Overviews. Digital Content Next (19 publishers, published 8/2025): Google traffic to publishers down a median 10%, non-news publishers down 14%. For Vietnamese business websites, the game shifts from winning clicks to being cited by AI - exactly GEO territory.
What do the numbers say?
Pew Research Center tracked the real behavior of about 900 US users (3/2025): the presence of an AI Overviews block nearly halves clicks on regular results, from 15% down to 8%. Most striking: of users who saw the AI block, only 1% clicked a source link cited inside it. Ahrefs research published 2/2026 at larger scale points the same way: position 1 loses 58% of CTR when a query triggers AI Overviews. And Digital Content Next's survey of 19 publishers (8 weeks, published 8/2025) recorded Google Search traffic down a median 10% year on year; tech outlets like Digital Trends lost up to 97% of Google clicks in under 2 years.
Why should Vietnamese businesses care?
AI Overviews have shown in Vietnam since 2025 and cover ever more commercial queries - exactly the keywords businesses spend SEO budgets on. The Chegg scenario was the earliest warning: the education company lost 49% of organic traffic in a single month once AI Overviews covered its queries, as we analyzed in the Chegg case study. What is new in 2026 is that the data is thick enough to conclude: this is not a temporary glitch but a structural change in search - users still ask Google, but the answering increasingly happens right on the results page.
Chạm AI's take: losing clicks is not losing customers
First, the metric to watch is changing: alongside organic traffic, measure whether your brand appears inside the answers - the checking method we walked through in checking your brand on ChatGPT. Second, content structure decides citations: self-contained 100-150-word answers, sourced statistics, FAQs and schema - the full formula is in optimizing for AI Overviews. Third, when the AI block cites you by name, customers arrive by other roads: typing your name directly, asking the AI a follow-up, or remembering you at purchase time - so 1% clicks does not make your presence worthless, as long as AI names you correctly. Score your website's GEO readiness with Chạm AI's free SEO + GEO Audit tool.
Sources: Pew Research Center - behavior study of ~900 US users, 3/2025 · Ahrefs - CTR research on AI Overviews, 2/2026 · Digital Content Next - survey of 19 member publishers, published 8/2025 · Digital Trends figures via AdExchanger. US-market data, offered as reference for Vietnam.
Frequently asked questions
How much traffic do AI Overviews take?
Per Pew Research Center (3/2025), with AI Overviews present only 8% of users click a traditional result versus 15% without - and only 1% click the cited links inside the AI block. Ahrefs (2/2026) measured top-page CTR down 58% on queries with AI Overviews; Digital Content Next recorded publisher traffic from Google down a median 10%.
What should a Vietnamese business website do as clicks fall?
Shift part of the goal from clicks to citations: structure articles for GEO (self-contained answers, sourced statistics, schema, FAQs), measure brand mentions on ChatGPT and Google AI instead of only organic traffic, and build channels independent of Google - email, community, direct return visitors.
Is traditional SEO still worth it?
Yes. A solid technical SEO foundation (indexing, speed, structure) is the precondition for both Google and AI to read your content. The change sits on the layer above: content must become a source AI cites - meaning add GEO, not drop SEO.