Are AI Overview results hurting Google Organic traffic in Ireland?
Table of Contents
- Have zero-click AI Overview search results and other AI Platforms led to a drop in Google Organic Clicks to Irish websites in the last year?
- The Study Parameters
- What are Zero-Click Results?
- What are the Main Reasons for Zero Click Results?
- What Google organic click results should we see?
- Why are we seeing these unexpected results?
- Impressions and Click-Through Rates
- What Effect will AI searches have on Digital Marketing Going Forward?
Have zero-click AI Overview search results and other AI Platforms led to a drop in Google Organic Clicks to Irish websites in the last year?
No, based on my analysis of Google Search Console of 55 Irish websites, I am actually seeing a small 0.77% increase in the average number of Google Organic clicks to these Irish websites over the last year. Up from 288,830 clicks in 2025 to 291,046 clicks in 2026.
The Study Parameters
I performed an analysis of 55 different Irish websites that represent a range of eCommerce, B2B and B2C websites, all of which are commercial in nature. These websites range in size from under 100 monthly Organic Clicks to 13000 monthly clicks. I used Google Search Console to obtain the data and filtered out the traffic for Ireland only, as international traffic would have very little commercial interest to the majority of these companies.
I then compared the data for the last 3 months vs the same period a year ago, making it an ideal time period to compare, as AI Overview results were launched in Ireland on 26 March 2025.
What are Zero-Click Results?
A zero-click result is basically any search on Google or other search engines that does not result in the searcher clicking through to a website. They may not have liked any of the listed results and performed another search, or they were provided with the answer they were looking for directly on the SERPs page and hence didn’t need to click through to any websites.
Zero-click results are nothing new in SEO; they have, however, grown considerably in recent years, particularly since Google introduced AI Overview results. In traditional SEO, the goal was to have your website be listed at the top of the organic results in the Google SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), and receive website visitors who “Clicked” on these links.
What are the Main Reasons for Zero Click Results?
Research shows that nearly 60% of Google searches end without a click in 2024, but this number may now be closer to 70%. Zero clicks can occur for the following reasons:
- User behaviour and Intent – the user may realise their original search was poor and submit an alternative search.
- Google-owned properties – Searches leading to Google services are considered zero-click results.
- People may also find what they are looking for under the “People also ask” results without having to leave the results page.
- Local packs and maps – Searchers often obtain phone numbers or addresses directly from the GMB (Google My Business) listing without having to click on anything.
- Knowledge panels and Entity profiles often provide important facts about a person or organisation.
- Featured Snippets – This is normally at the top of the SERP results, providing a summary of information taken from a website and may satisfy the searcher’s needs.
- AI Overviews (SGE) – AI reads the content on the top listings and provides comprehensive answers to both simple and more complex queries.
- Factual & Quick-Answer Queries – Simple questions regarding weather, currency conversions, math formulas or public figure ages are answered instantly through direct answer boxes or knowledge panels.
What Google organic click results should we see?
Given that the majority of the websites in the study are commercial in nature, and a few are shopping, we should expect to see a 7% – 8% drop in Organic traffic from Google, but as I mentioned in the opening paragraph, we are actually seeing a small increase in Google organic traffic on average across the 55 websites.
Why are we seeing these unexpected results?
I have read so many articles claiming a 70% drop in click-through rates when an AI Overview result is present, and this may be true, but not all searches result in an AI Overview being offered. Apparently, anything from 13% to 55% of Google search results in an AI Overview being presented
- Not all websites are affected in the same. Informational queries, such as “How To” or “What is”, are most likely to trigger Zero Click results 88% to 99.9%.
- Longer queries containing 7 – 8 words or more are 7 times more likely to trigger an AI Overview.
- Problem-solving searches – 74% of problem-solving queries and 69% of question-based searches result in an AI summary.
- At the other end of the spectrum, AI Overviews only appear for about 3% of shopping searches and under 9% of commercial queries. Most of the sites I analysed are more commercial in nature and therefore less likely to appear in these types of searches in great numbers.
- A number of these websites are actively improving their SEO to varying degrees, while others are not. One website that is not performing any SEO lost 58% of its organic traffic, whereas one that is actively engaged in improving its SEO gained almost 80% more clicks. All of our SEO clients are already practising SEO for AI to ensure they stay ahead of the pack.
- The percentage that gained vs lost is 50/50, so it’s quite evenly spread across the 55 sites.
- The sheer number of Google searches continues to grow each year as access to the internet expands and improves, and the number of people connected to the internet grows. In the last year, Google search volume has grown by 22%
- I also find that I perform more searches online in my day-to-day activities because I can now get a direct answer to my query as opposed to being provided with a list of websites that I need to sift through, and I imagine this is the same for many of us. Google is becoming a more powerful search tool. In fact, I made quite extensive use of AI searches in the research for this article; it’s much more efficient compared to traditional searches and having to click through to numerous websites to dig out information.
Impressions and Click-Through Rates
I would have loved to have included a section in this article about the considerable increase in Impressions/Visibility and the dropping Click-Through Rates that the AI overview may be creating, but unfortunately, Google Search Console has been experiencing a technical glitch since May 2025, whereby it is over-reporting on the number of impressions, making these figures inaccurate. This will apparently be rectified in the coming weeks, so maybe next year we can take another look.
What Effect will AI searches have on Digital Marketing Going Forward?
AI platforms are here to stay, although given the massive development costs, the number of available platforms may start to decline as the market becomes more settled. The first thing we noticed from a marketing point of view is the change at the start of the buyer’s journey. The top of the funnel comprises more general searches that are more likely to generate AI Overviews in Google search results.
I predict the big vanity metrics, such as clicks, impressions, and site visitors, will become less important as quality metrics and Conversion Rate Optimisation become more important. Marketers will need to add that additional AI layer on top of their traditional SEO to ensure their Brand remains visible in the era of AI searches or miss out on the top of the funnel stage of the buyer’s journey.
Are you unsure of how to proceed with your own SEO for AI? Then give us a call, and our SEO expert, Steven Dunlop, will have a plan for you.
