Google AI Overviews cut search clicks 42%: Report

Google’s AI Overviews may be reducing traditional search clicks, but publishers still have meaningful growth opportunities in breaking news and Google Discover, according to new data from Define Media Group.

• Organic search clicks have fallen 42% since AI Overviews began expanding in Google Search, according to Define Media Group’s analysis of Google Search Console data across its portfolio of 64 sites.

Why we care. AI-generated answers are reshaping search traffic. Evergreen content is losing clicks, while real-time news coverage and Discover distribution are emerging as stronger traffic channels for publishers.

By the numbers. Across Google Search, Discover, and Google News, breaking news traffic grew 103% from November 2024 through early 2026 in the company’s dataset. Losses were concentrated in informational and evergreen content:

• Organic search traffic averaged 1.7 billion clicks per quarter from Q1 2023 through Q1 2024.
• After AI Overviews launched, traffic fell 16% immediately and never recovered.
• As Google expanded AI Overviews in May 2025, declines accelerated.
• By Q4 2025, search traffic was down 42% from the pre-AI Overviews baseline.

Discover’s role: Google Discover, which grew 30% across the portfolio, is now the main growth engine for breaking news distribution. Discover traffic rose steadily as web search traffic fell. For the first time in the dataset, Discover and web search now drive roughly equal traffic.

• The report also found a sharp increase in Discover traffic after the December 2025 Google core update, though some gains softened after Google’s February 2026 Discover core update.
• Meanwhile, Chartbeat data showed Discover was the primary driver of Google referrals to news sites as of last summer. See: Google traffic to news publishers is steady, but it isn’t traditional Search.

Why is this happening? AI Overviews appear less often for news queries than for other topics. AI Overviews appeared for about 15% of news queries — nearly three times less often than in categories such as health and science — according to Ahrefs data cited in the report.

• News queries often trigger the Top Stories carousel, which links directly to publisher articles. Searches for major developing events, such as international conflicts, typically show Top Stories rather than AI summaries.
• Define Media Group suggests Google may be avoiding AI-generated summaries for breaking news because events change rapidly, accuracy stakes are high, and generative systems can still hallucinate.

The report. BREAKING! News Thrives in the Age of AI

View the full article