OCTOBER 21, 2026 — A recent Inc. article included Seer Interactive's research from our multi-part study on how AIOs impact Google CTR. The article focused on how revenue teams can collaborate better together, citing the growing role of AI in the buyer journey and how LLMs are becoming a pre-sales touchpoint for buyers.
In v2 of our study, we looked at how AI citations influence CTRs, and found brand citations in AI lead to a 35% higher organic click-through rate. We also saw AI citations lead to a 91% increase in paid CTR.
In the 2026 version (v3) of the same study on AIO CTR, we surprisingly saw the trend reverse: organic CTR on AIO-present queries rebounded 85% and closed the gap with CTR for non-AIO queries.
We've now been tracking the impact of AIOs on Google click-through rates for 18 months, and our 2025 data trends showed drastic declines. But we've seen a rebound in 2026, with CTRs recovering and revealing a more dynamic relationship between AIO presence and organic performance. Research from Ahrefs shows a different result from our study, with CTR continuing to fall in 2026. We know AI results are constantly changing, and that could be impacting these studies.
Our research combined with conflicting studies like the Ahrefs data proves how volatile the AI search space is - the models are always evolving, and that makes past data less reliable for future plans. Assume AI will continue eating into your organic traffic as no-click search grows, and adapt your strategy to encompass AI optimizations.
Two of the best things you can do when it comes to CTR and AI visibility are creating content that buyers want and protecting (or fixing) your brand narrative. Before you optimize for specific AI search terms or start tweaking individual pages, understand what AI is saying about you and try to influence it if it's wrong. We call this foundational document a brand canon - learn how to build one here.
Check out the Inc. article: Sales and Marketing Don't Have a Personality Problem. They Have a Paperwork Problem.
Read v2 of Seer's AIO CTR study: AIO Impact on Google ctr: september 2025 Update
Read v3 (the latest update) to our AIO CTR study: AIO Impact on Google CTR: 2026 Update