[IN THE NEWS]
AI
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APRIL 24, 2026 — In a new article, Search Engine Land highlighted the latest research on how AI is impacting click-through rates from Seer Interactive — an update to Seer's previous research on the topic. Other search publications also covered the research, including Search Engine Journal and Search Engine Roundtable.
What We Found
In v3 of our AI Overview CTR study, we found the ongoing trend of declines in click-through rates when AIOs are present has slowed. We actually saw AIO organic click-through rates rebound 85% in the first two months of 2026.
The Bigger Picture
Last year our data trends showed that decline was inevitable — but our 2026 data has disrupted that assumption. With CTRs recovering and transactional queries bouncing back, it's now clear the relationship between AIO presence and organic performance is more dynamic than a straight-line model. The biggest takeaways are that aggregate benchmarks can mislead you and your own data is the strategic input.
Our Take: What This Means for Marketers
Our latest research suggests there are more upsides compared to our findings in previous iterations of this study, but it also proves you can't extrapolate from 2025 for your 2026 plans. instead, assume AIO will suppress organic CTR for informational content and plan accordingly. Earn AIO citations to protect brand performance, use paid search to help cover organic losses, and look for opportunities to rank where AIOs don't exist.
Also from our study: "No-AIO queries are moving from control group to competitive opportunity. That no-AIO pool skews towards users who are actually going to click and there's not a universal answer to the question they're trying to answer — an opportunity to differentiate with value. Informational no-AIO organic CTR improved from 2.93% to 3.97% across 901M impressions in 2025. These are the queries your content team should be actively identifying and doubling down on."
Resources
Check out the Search Engine Land article: Google AI Overviews CTR Shows Early Signs of Recover: Study
View the post from Search Engine Journal: AI Overview CTR Fell 61%, But Clicks Didn't Collapse
Read the coverage from Search Engine Roundtable: Google Click Through Rates Improving for Organic Results with AI Overviews
Review our 2026 AIO CTR research: AIO Impact on Google CTR: 2026 Update