Total organic click volume from Google Search has been stable year-over-year, with average click quality increasing and slightly more quality clicks being sent to websites. Despite third-party reports suggesting declines in aggregate traffic, these claims are often based on flawed methodologies or outdated data. AI Overviews have led to more complex queries, resulting in increased opportunities for websites. Users continue to click through for in-depth content, indicating an evolving need for web content that provides detailed information.
Overall, total organic click volume from Google Search to websites has been relatively stable year-over-year. Additionally, average click quality has increased and we're actually sending slightly more quality clicks to websites than a year ago (by quality clicks, we mean those where users don't quickly click back - typically a signal that a user is interested in the website). This data is in contrast to third-party reports that inaccurately suggest dramatic declines in aggregate traffic - often based on flawed methodologies, isolated examples, or traffic changes that occurred prior to the roll out of AI features in Search.
With AI Overviews, people are searching more and asking new questions that are often longer and more complex. In addition, with AI Overviews people are seeing more links on the page than before. More queries and more links mean more opportunities for websites to surface and get clicked.
For some questions where people are looking for a quick answer, like 'when is the next full moon,' people may be satisfied with the initial response and not click further. This has also been true for other answer features we've added, like the Knowledge Graph or sports scores. But for many other types of questions, people continue to click through, as they want to dig deeper into a topic, explore further or make a purchase.
People are also more likely to click into web content that helps them learn more - such as an in-depth review, an original post, a unique perspective or a thoughtful first-person analysis. Sites that meet these evolving user needs are benefiting from this shift and are generally seeing an increase in traffic.
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