AI Overviews makes click-through rates drop on Google searches

A new study from GrowthSRC Media finds that click-through rates (CTRs) for Google’s top-ranking search result have declined from 28% to 19%. This 32% drop correlates with the expansion of AI Overviews, a feature that now appears across a wide range of search results. While top positions saw notable declines, the study observed a 30.63% increase in CTRs for positions 6 through 10 compared to the previous year. This suggests that users may be scrolling past AI-generated summaries to find original sources further down the page. Across positions 1 through 5, the study reported an average CTR decline of 17.92%. The analysis focused on approximately 74,000 keywords ranking in the top 10.The decline in organic CTRs for top positions highlights how search behavior is changing as AI-generated content plays a larger role in discovery. What should be the point of focus ?