Google AI Mode Costs Websites Clicks: New Study Finds an 18.8-Point Drop, With No Gain in User Satisfaction
Our recent posts covered AI agents that work on your behalf. This one looks at the other side of the same trend: when AI answers in place of the results page, people click through to websites less. A new randomized controlled study finds that Google AI Mode cuts the external click-through rate by 18.8 percentage points, and users are not any more satisfied.
If your website is losing traffic even though its rankings haven't changed, this is likely why. Below are three data points worth knowing and how we suggest adapting to AI search.
1. AI Mode cuts clicks without making users happier
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Northeastern tracked the search behavior of 1,100 people over 7 days with a browser extension. Participants were randomly assigned to regular Google search, search with AI features hidden, or every search redirected to AI Mode.
Fewer clicks out: the AI Mode group's click-through to other websites was 18.8 percentage points lower than regular search. Clicks to news sites, Reddit and Wikipedia all fell.
No gain in satisfaction: trust in and satisfaction with Google were lower in the AI Mode group, not higher.
Searching elsewhere: use of competing search engines rose by 11.2 percentage points.
This is one experiment, posted as a preprint on arXiv and not yet peer reviewed, so treat it as a strong signal rather than a fixed number for every industry.
2. AI Overviews take nearly 40% of clicks too
A separate randomized study by Saharsh Agarwal (Indian School of Business) and Ananya Sen (Carnegie Mellon) focused on the AI Overviews summary at the top of the results page.
39.8% fewer organic clicks: on searches where an AI Overview appeared, organic clicks fell by 39.8%.
More zero-click searches: searches that ended without any click rose by 34.5%.
Same experience: satisfaction and perceived information quality were about the same in both groups.
The study covered 1,065 desktop Chrome users in the US and is still a working paper, so it doesn't yet reflect mobile users or markets like Vietnam.
3. Small websites are hit hardest
Chartbeat data published by Axios on March 17, 2026 shows that the two-year drop in search traffic varies sharply by size.
Small sites (1,000 to 10,000 daily page views): down 60%.
Medium sites (10,000 to 100,000 daily page views): down 47%.
Large sites (over 100,000 daily page views): down 22%.
Referrals from chatbots such as ChatGPT are growing, but still make up less than 1% of page views. Google says total organic clicks from Search are relatively stable, so the real impact will differ by industry and query type.
The Agenorix view: your website must be worth citing and worth visiting
SEO isn't going away, but the goal has changed. It used to be ranking at the top to get the click. Now it is being chosen by AI as a source, and giving the people who still click a reason to stay. This is how we run agenorix.com and the websites we build for clients:
Write what AI can't summarize on its own: original data, real projects and a clear point of view. Generic content is the first thing AI Overviews replace.
Structure for people and machines: headings that answer the actual question, short paragraphs, structured data, and two languages when your audience uses both.
Measure the right things: track impressions and citations, not only clicks. Fewer but better visits can still bring in more customers.
Turn visits into conversations: an AI assistant on your site, Zalo OA or email keeps you in touch with readers without depending entirely on Google.
Consistency over bursts: an automated research, writing and scheduling workflow keeps your site fresh without overloading your team.
Where to start?
Open Google Search Console, pick the 10 pages that brought in the most traffic last year, and compare their impressions with their clicks over the last 3 months. Pages with many impressions but few clicks are the ones to rewrite first. If you want to audit your website and build a content workflow that fits AI search, the Agenorix team is ready to help, and your first consultation is free: get in touch.
Sources: arXiv, "AI in Search Reduces Publisher Referrals Without Improving User Experience" (Aug 2026), Search Engine Land (Sep 23, 2026), Agarwal and Sen, SSRN (Jun 17, 2026), PPC Land, Axios and Chartbeat (Mar 17, 2026).
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