Pew: Click-Death Real, Local Pack in Danger, Google Q2 Growth, Local AI lags

Pew: Click Decline Is Real

A recent report from the Pew Research Center confirms something we already knew: AI Overviews (AIOs) kill clicks – the so-called "great decoupling." Pew combined survey and behavioral data (n=900 adults) purchased from Ipsos – people who'd consented to allowing a third party watch their on-device behavior – to assess the impact of AIOs on search activity. (Mobile and desktop browser users were monitored but not mobile app users.) Just under 60% saw at least one AIO during a month-long behavioral observation period in March. Roughly one in five (18%) Google searches yielded an AIO. Most of these presented three or more links/sources. Longer queries framed as questions were more likely to generate an AIO. Pew also reported that users clicked on organic search links in 8% of visits when AIOs were present compared to 15% in AIO free pages. Pew found that Wikipedia, YouTube and Reddit were common to search and AIOs alike. Pew further explained that "One-in-ten respondents made a search [in March] that directly related to AI" (e.g., "AI" or "ChatGPT"). It also said that 13% of survey participants "and 20% of those ages 18 to 29" visited an AI site "at least once" in March. This includes ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Copilot or Perplexity.