Google AI Overviews CTR reveals early indicators of restoration: Examine

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Google AI Overviews CTR reveals early indicators of restoration: Examine


After bottoming out at 1.3% in December 2025, the click-through charge (CTR) on Google’s AI Overviews climbed to 2.4% in February 2026. That’s an 85% leap in two months, based on new information from Seer Interactive.

Paid Organic Ctr Trends 14 Months SeerPaid Organic Ctr Trends 14 Months Seer

What strikes CTR. When an AI Overview seems, pages cited in it get extra clicks than pages on that very same outcomes web page that aren’t cited. However each nonetheless get fewer clicks than searches with no AI Overview:

  • No AI Overview: ~3.3% CTR
  • AI Overview with quotation: ~2.1% CTR
  • AI Overview with out quotation: ~0.9% CTR

The place clicks are shifting. Searches with out AI Overviews are getting extra priceless. CTR on these queries elevated from 2.8% in early 2025 to three.8% by February 2026.

  • One motive: AI Overviews deal with fast solutions. The customers who nonetheless click on by are on the lookout for extra.

AI Overviews fluctuate by question intent. AI Overviews present up inconsistently throughout question sorts:

  • Informational: ~36% present AIOs
  • Transactional: ~5%
  • Comparability: ~95%
  • Query: ~86%

Sure, however. Decrease CTR doesn’t all the time imply worse outcomes. In some instances, clicks stayed flat whereas impressions grew. This implies manufacturers could have appeared in additional AI Overviews whilst CTR dropped.

Paid search is much extra secure. When Google confirmed an AI Overview, paid CTR rose barely from 14.6% to 16.2%. When it didn’t, CTR fell from 26% to 21.8%.

Why we care. Google’s AI Overviews aren’t simply decreasing clicks — they’re redistributing them, sending extra visitors to websites they cite and much much less to these they don’t. Meaning you’ll want to get featured in AI Overviews and likewise focus extra on searches the place individuals click on.

Concerning the information. Seer studied 53 manufacturers, 5.47 million queries, and a pair of.43 billion impressions from January 2025 to February 2026.

The report. AIO Influence on Google CTR: 2026 Replace


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Danny GoodwinDanny Goodwin

Danny Goodwin is Editorial Director of Search Engine Land & Search Advertising Expo – SMX. He joined Search Engine Land in 2022 as Senior Editor. Along with reporting on the most recent search advertising information, he manages Search Engine Land’s SME (Topic Matter Knowledgeable) program. He additionally helps program U.S. SMX occasions.

Goodwin has been enhancing and writing concerning the newest developments and tendencies in search and digital advertising since 2007. He beforehand was Government Editor of Search Engine Journal (from 2017 to 2022), managing editor of Momentology (from 2014-2016) and editor of Search Engine Watch (from 2007 to 2014). He has spoken at many main search conferences and digital occasions, and has been sourced for his experience by a variety of publications and podcasts.