1 min read
What changed
AI Overviews now appear in 25.8% of all US searches, rising to 39% for informational queries
Organic CTR drops 61% (from 1.76% to 0.61%) when an AI Overview is present
60% of Google searches now end without a click. On mobile, that figure is 77%. In AI Mode, it hits 93%
What it means
The overlap between top-10 rankings and AI Overview citations has collapsed from 75% to as low as 17%. Ranking well no longer guarantees visibility in AI answers. But there is a counterweight: brands cited in AI Overviews earn 35% more organic clicks and 91% more paid clicks. The game has shifted from ranking to being cited. For Australian businesses competing on informational queries, this demands a different content strategy.
What to do
Audit your top traffic pages in Search Console for CTR changes over the last 90 days
Identify which of your target queries trigger AI Overviews (use manual checks or SEO tools)
Structure content to be citation-worthy: clear answers, original data, named sources
Build entity authority through consistent brand mentions, structured data and topical depth
Source: Seer Interactive, Stackmatix, Search Engine Journal
