Traditional search behaviour has changed. Google is being accused of costing companies millions of dollars and is facing antitrust lawsuits directly due to its revamping of the search engine results page with “AI Overview” in May of 2024. The algorithmically generated summary takes up 57.45% of the total space of the SERP, effectively answering users’ queries directly rather than simply routing them to web pages. Today, this has drastically changed how CMOs, senior marketers, and brand managers should allocate their budget and efforts, since adaptability is no longer a competitive advantage; it’s a survival trait for companies that want to stay longer.

The fall of organic Click-through rates

The impact of Google’s AI Overview

Google’s AIO showing up on SERPs has been painted as the main cause for a significant drop in organic CTR. This is supported by logic and backed up with research regarding users’ behaviour when using keywords to write search queries on google.

• Ahrefs analysed 300,000 keywords and found that the presence of an AI Overview correlated with a 34.5% lower average CTR for the top-ranking page.

• Seer Interactive observed that for queries with AI Overviews, organic CTR dropped from 1.41% to 0.64% year-over-year

• Amsive found a CTR decline of 15.49% on average on keywords triggering AI Overviews.

• In extreme cases, MailOnline saw desktop CTR drop from ~13% to less than 5% when an AI Overview showed, and mobile CTR fell from ~20% to ~7%.

These results confirm what many SEOs have feared: more SERPs are becoming “answers-first” pages, eliminating the click entirely. While “safe” queries, such as the ones that ask very specific questions not generating an AIO, are still showing an improvement in organic CTR.

Ads and costs per click

Paid search also shares the same fate as organic content. Many sources have reported the rise of their CPCs and poor performance with ads on SERPs with or without an AI overview. This hints at an underlying cause that’s at the root of the shift to customer behaviour while browsing the internet. One thing is for sure, advertisers must fight for squeezed attention, and even top-of-funnel bids become more expensive as competition intensifies for fewer visible slots.

Accusations, push back, and the current narrative

Publisher complaints & antitrust pressure

Given the scale of disruption, it’s no surprise content owners, news publishers, and regulators are pushing back. Putting Google under intense pressure from multiple sources.

• In Italy, The Guardian reported, news publishers (FIEG) filed a complaint with Italy’s communications watchdog (Agcom), arguing that AI Overviews divert traffic, harm visibility and ad revenue, and flout parts of the EU Digital Services Act.

• Similarly, independent publishers across Europe have lodged antitrust complaints against Google, claiming Google exploits content (without compensation or opt-out), cannibalizes traffic, and stifles media diversity.

• The UK Competition and Markets Authority is reportedly reviewing evidence about Google’s content practices and AI features.

• Critics also point out that many publishers can’t opt out of being included in AI Overviews (unlike earlier “featured snippet” opt-out options).

AI hallucinations and misinformation

A key player feeding critics’ frustration about the AIO. Large Language Models (LLMS) sometimes “hallucinate” by confidently presenting the user with factual information which is completely wrong or misleading. This has been observed by multiple users who tested by asking the AI questions it couldn’t possibly know the answers for, but it still answered regardless. Google admitted to the fact and has stated that they implemented several techniques and feedback loops to limit hallucinations. While others have criticised how the AI doesn’t cite sources as much as it should be.

Google’s response

Google swiftly denied any allegations of lack of trust. They have repeatedly expressed their support for both businesses and consumers, and their response can be divided into a few main points:

1. Citations and visibility - Google emphasizes that AI Overviews include source links and that better content still rises through links below the summary.

2. Aggregate growth & fluctuations - They also argued that traffic fluctuations are normal (seasonality, algorithm tweaks, shifting user preferences) and asserted that overall web activity and search-driven traffic are rising.

3. User experience first - Their official positioning for this tool has always framed AI Overviews as a benefit to users, faster answers, less friction, more context, rather than a traffic-stealing engine.

4. Selective deployment & quality tuning - Google occasionally pulls back or adjusts how frequently AI Overviews appear. Some tests show they’re dialing back the frequency or trimming the length of summaries in some regions.

Despite their efforts, many in the SEO and publishing communities believe the structural incentive lies with Google: the more users get answers on Google, the less they leave, solidifying Google’s dominance.

Search behaviour: Google vs AI platforms

Not only is users’ behaviour is changing on Google, an increasing number of queries are being performed outside of Google altogether on a contextual basis. To understand how big the shift might become, we need to look at how users are redistributing query intent across platforms such as ChatGPT, Grok, and many others.

Google remains a dominant force

One media report claims Google handles ~14 billion daily queries, whereas ChatGPT, the most popular of the AI platforms, processes around 66 million daily (i.e. ~210x difference). Other reports estimate the number to be much higher with Google handling 373 times more search queries than ChatGPT.

This isn’t surprising: Google is deeply embedded in browsers, mobile OS, local search, maps, integrations, and user habits. AI answer platforms are still supplementary tools, especially for exploratory, conversational queries.

But AI adoption is rising

• An analysis by SEOClarity estimates that ChatGPT is already meaningfully handling a nontrivial share of “search-like” prompts. Their model suggests that under a “base” scenario, ChatGPT might already be handling ~1.18 billion search-like prompts per day, representing ~8.7% of Google’s volume.

• Deepseek, Grok, Perplexity, and others are positioning themselves as “answer engines” rather than traditional search. That means query shares may scale faster than raw search expectations.

• Some studies comparing ChatGPT search vs Google (on a test set of queries) show they diverge significantly in coverage and ranking, and overlap in answers is very small (8-12%) meaning brand presence in Google does not guarantee presence in AI outputs.

Google remains the leader, but the share of “solved queries” happening inside generative tools is rising. Over time, the portion of informational searches that never leave the AI interface could expand.

How can businesses adapt?

Given this disruption of the regular user behaviour, what do marketing seniors need to do to survive? The answer lies in focusing less on “ranking” and more on consistent signal presence across all touchpoints and answer surfaces.

Brand consistency matters more now than ever

In AI Overviews / answer engine context, source attribution is a key differentiator. If your brand is consistently cited across multiple inputs, your chance to be selected as a reference or summary source increases.

Gaps in indexing are more punishing. If a brand produces rich, structured content on some channels but lacks representation on others, AI systems may simply never “see” their voice in those verticals.

Cross-channel reinforcement builds credibility signals. If your brand appears in web, app, voice assistant, chat, and structured data layers coherently, AI summarization systems are more likely to show your content.

Resilience when clicks go extinct: when users stop clicking links, brand recall and brand mention (rather than clicks) become key metrics of success.

So the strategy shifts: from “rank #1 = get clicks” to “be the consistent voice that AI systems trust and cite.” That’s the new form of SEO / AEO.

Leveraging AI to optimize for other AEO

Writa is the first tool of its kind designed to help marketers and brand teams stay consistent across every channel where their message appears. A crucial advantage in an AI-driven search world.

• Centralized Brand Messaging & Templates
  Writa lets you store and manage all brand messaging, tone guidelines, and copy templates in one place. This ensures that every piece of content, from web copy to social posts, aligns with your brand values and communicates with one unified voice.

• Brand Voice & Tone Consistency Tools
  Through guided frameworks and reusable content models, Writa helps teams maintain a consistent tone and language across blogs, emails, and marketing campaigns, so your brand sounds the same everywhere AI encounters it.

• Multi-Channel Content Adaptation
  You can easily repurpose content for different formats and platforms (website, email, social, blog) without losing the essence of your message. Writa keeps the structure and brand context intact while adapting wording to fit each channel’s best practices.

• Collaboration & Approval Workflows
  Built-in workflows make it easy for marketing teams, copywriters, and decision-makers to collaborate, edit, and approve content in one streamlined process, reducing inconsistencies and ensuring the final message is brand-approved.

• Strategic Guidance for Brand Visibility
  Writa’s brand DNA methodology helps businesses define their message pillars and ensures all new content reflects those principles. This alignment helps AI systems, search algorithms, and customers alike recognize and trust your brand voice.

With a consistency-first model powered by tools like Writa, brands position themselves not just to survive the AI revolution but to come out of it as leaders of their own categories. Contact the Writa team today for customized solutions ensuring your brand’s consistency.