Users seeing AI summaries click traditional results just 8% of the time. Brand discovery is being rewritten, and companies that don't adapt will disappear.
The Big Picture
When Pew Research Center analyzed 68,879 Google searches in March 2025, they found something alarming. Users who encountered an AI-generated summary clicked on a traditional result just 8% of the time. Those who didn't see a summary clicked nearly twice as often, at 15%. A quarter of users who saw an AI summary ended their session without clicking on anything at all.
Generative AI platforms like ChatGPT now pull in 5.72 billion monthly visits. The question isn't whether AI search matters, but whether your content is structured for the two distinct ways AI retrieves and presents information. SimilarWeb's framework for AEO vs GEO draws a useful line between these approaches.
“Brands cited in AI Overviews earn 35% more organic clicks and 91% more paid clicks.”
Why It Matters
People are searching more than ever. They're just not clicking. BrightEdge reported in May 2025 that Google search impressions climbed 49% in the year following the launch of AI Overviews. Over that same period, click-throughs dropped nearly 30%.
