Emerging trends in AI and search show that while traffic from AI platforms like OpenAI's ChatGPT is increasing, Google's AI Overviews are causing a decline in click-through rates. Overall, general search referral traffic fell from 12 billion to 11.2 billion in a year, marking a 6.7% drop. The percentage of searches with AI Overviews stabilized at about 20%. Industry experts suggest that Google's generative AI search experiences will shift towards more conversational interactions, changing how users engage with search results.
AI platforms are driving traffic to publishers' sites, but Google's AI Overviews are decreasing click-through rates, indicating a complex shift in the search landscape.
Despite OpenAI's ChatGPT and Perplexity increasing referral traffic, general search traffic to web domains decreased by about 6.7%, highlighting a decline in search-driven visits.
Google's AI Overviews triggered in about 20% of U.S. desktop searches, plateauing in May 2025, suggesting potential stabilization in user interactions with AI features.
Future search experiences are evolving towards conversational interactions rather than traditional search query-results, according to industry experts, indicating a significant change in user expectations.
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