Source: Search Engine Journal
Google's AI Overviews are cannibalizing traffic unevenly. Commercial queries—those tied to product research and purchasing—see dramatic drops in clicks to traditional search results. Informational queries show minimal impact. The damage concentrates where consumer intent to buy lives. This creates a two-tier internet. Product research and shopping queries increasingly funnel through Google's own AI-generated answers rather than publisher sites. The economics of e-commerce content and affiliate marketing shift as a result. Publishers and brands tracking "average" AI Overview impact are missing the critical distinction: the queries that drive revenue and conversion are being starved of referral traffic.