What AI Overviews and chat assistants do to search clicks, plus the crawlers and files that decide whether your site is seen. Where studies disagree, we show the numbers side by side.
of US adults use AI chatbots to search for information, the most common use Pew measured (Feb 2026)
| Group | US adults |
|---|---|
| Search for information | 42% |
| Tasks at work (employed) | 38% |
| Fun or entertainment | 25% |
| Create or edit images or videos | 24% |
| Medical advice | 20% |
| Diet and fitness information | 20% |
| Get news | 13% |
| Emotional support or advice | 10% |
| Companionship | 4% |
Source: Pew Research Center, Feb 2026
of US adults use AI chatbots to search for information, the most common use Pew measured (Feb 2026)
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| Group | US adults |
|---|---|
| Search for information | 42% |
| Tasks at work (employed) | 38% |
| Fun or entertainment | 25% |
| Create or edit images or videos | 24% |
| Medical advice | 20% |
| Diet and fitness information | 20% |
| Get news | 13% |
| Emotional support or advice | 10% |
| Companionship | 4% |
Same data, any style
| Group | Zero-click searches |
|---|---|
| Germany | 62.1% |
| Italy | 63.4% |
| Canada | 63.8% |
| France | 65.3% |
| US | 68% |
| UK | 69.5% |
| Group | Share of search visits |
|---|---|
| Clicked a normal result, no AI summary | 15% |
| Clicked a normal result, with AI summary | 8% |
| Clicked a link inside the AI summary | 1% |
| Group | Change in click rate |
|---|---|
| 1 | -58% |
| 2 | -50.8% |
| 3 | -46.4% |
| 4 | -38.8% |
| 5 | -32.6% |
| 6 | -30.5% |
| 7 | -29.7% |
| 8 | -28.8% |
| 9 | -29.7% |
| 10 | -19.4% |
Every stat
Each card links to its own page with the source, a ready citation and the data.
of US Google searches ended without a click to any website in January to April 2026
Sample: Similarweb desktop and mobile web clickstream panel, US, Jan-Apr 2026; searches in the Google mobile app are not included
of US Google searches led to at least one click of any kind (website, Google property or ad), Jan-Apr 2026
Sample: Similarweb desktop and mobile web panel, Jan-Apr 2026
clicks reach the open web (non-Google, non-ad sites) for every 1,000 US Google searches, Jan-Apr 2026
Sample: Similarweb desktop and mobile web panel, Jan-Apr 2026
of UK Google searches ended without a click in January to April 2026, the highest of six countries studied
Sample: Similarweb desktop and mobile web panel, six countries
of German Google searches ended without a click in January to April 2026, the lowest of six countries studied
Sample: Similarweb desktop and mobile web panel, six countries
of US Google searches moved on to AI Mode in January to April 2026
Sample: Similarweb desktop and mobile web panel, US
of US Google searches ended without a click in SparkToro's 2024 study (Datos panel, Sep 2022 to May 2024)
Sample: Datos clickstream panel (tens of millions of devices; few iPhones), Sep 2022 to May 2024
of US Google searches were followed by another Google search instead of a click, Jan-Apr 2026
Sample: Similarweb desktop and mobile web panel, Jan-Apr 2026
of Google searches worldwide (desktop and mobile) ended without a click to another web property in 2020; an old figure, often misquoted as US data
Sample: Similarweb panel of 100M+ devices, ~5.1 trillion Google searches in 2020
of Google search visits with an AI summary led to a click on a normal result, against 15% when no summary appeared
Sample: Web browsing data of 900 US adults (Ipsos KnowledgePanel Digital), 68,879 Google searches, 1-31 March 2025
of Google search visits with an AI summary included a click on a link inside the summary
Sample: Web browsing data of 900 US adults (Ipsos KnowledgePanel Digital), 68,879 Google searches, 1-31 March 2025
of Google results pages with an AI summary ended the browsing session, against 16% of pages without one
Sample: Web browsing data of 900 US adults (Ipsos KnowledgePanel Digital), 68,879 Google searches, 1-31 March 2025
of Google searches by a panel of US adults produced an AI summary in March 2025
Sample: Web browsing data of 900 US adults (Ipsos KnowledgePanel Digital), 68,879 Google searches, 1-31 March 2025
of Google searches that began with who, what, when or why produced an AI summary in March 2025
Sample: Web browsing data of 900 US adults (Ipsos KnowledgePanel Digital), 68,879 Google searches, 1-31 March 2025
of US adults at least sometimes come across AI summaries in search results
Sample: 5,153 US adults, American Trends Panel, 18-24 Aug 2025
of US adults who have seen AI search summaries have at least some trust in them; only 6% trust them a lot
Sample: 5,153 US adults, American Trends Panel, 18-24 Aug 2025
lower desktop click rate for the top-ranking page when an AI Overview shows, December 2025 vs a forecast without one
Sample: 300,000 keywords from Ahrefs Keywords Explorer: 150,000 with an AI Overview, 150,000 informational without
lower desktop click rate for the top-ranking page when an AI Overview showed, March 2025 vs a forecast without one
Sample: 300,000 keywords from Ahrefs Keywords Explorer
monthly active users of Google's AI Overviews (more than 2.5 billion), as stated by Google at I/O in May 2026
monthly active users of Google's AI Mode, passed within a year of its global launch (Alphabet, July 2026)
more Google queries worldwide (Alphabet says over 10%) for the types of searches that show AI Overviews, per Alphabet in July 2025
monthly active users of the Gemini app, per Alphabet's Q2 2026 earnings call
weekly active users of ChatGPT, as stated by OpenAI in August 2026 (more than 1 billion)
of US adults use AI chatbots to search for information, the most common use Pew measured (Feb 2026)
Sample: 5,119 US adults, American Trends Panel, 17-23 Feb 2026
of US adults say they use ChatGPT, up from 34% in 2025 (question wording changed in 2026)
Sample: 5,119 US adults, American Trends Panel, 17-23 Feb 2026
of US adults use an AI chatbot every day, including 4% who use one almost constantly
Sample: 5,119 US adults, American Trends Panel, 17-23 Feb 2026
of US adults say they use Google's Gemini chatbot, second to ChatGPT (44%)
Sample: 5,119 US adults, American Trends Panel, 17-23 Feb 2026
average monthly web visits to generative AI platforms worldwide, June 2025 to May 2026, up 70% in a year
approximate share of worldwide generative AI website visits that went to ChatGPT in May 2026, down from about 76% a year earlier
rise in visits to US retail sites from generative AI tools in the 2025 holiday season (1 Nov-31 Dec) vs 2024
Sample: Adobe Analytics, over 1 trillion visits to US retail sites, 1 Nov-31 Dec 2025
of desktop websites name OpenAI's GPTBot in robots.txt, up from 2.9% in 2024
Sample: HTTP Archive crawl of millions of home pages, desktop and mobile
of desktop websites name Anthropic's ClaudeBot in robots.txt, up from 1.9% in 2024
of desktop websites have a valid llms.txt file (2.10% of mobile sites)
of llms.txt files found on the web were made by the All in One SEO plugin (3.6% by Yoast)
Reconciled
The different numbers you see quoted are often all real: they come from different panels, years and questions. Here they are side by side.
| Number | When | Who measured | Why it differs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 49% | 2019 | SparkToro / Jumpshot panel | First SparkToro study; a now-defunct panel, US. Not comparable with later panels. |
| 64.82% | 2020 | SparkToro / Similarweb | Worldwide, not US, desktop and mobile; often misquoted as US. Same post gives US Q4 2020 as 68.3%. |
| 58.5% | Sep 2022-May 2024 | SparkToro / Datos panel | US; few iPhones in the panel; weighted 63% mobile. |
| 60.45% | 2024 (restated) | SparkToro, 2026 post | The 2026 post restates the 2024 US figure as 60.45%; it does not explain the change from 58.5%. |
| 68.01% | Jan-Apr 2026 | SparkToro / Similarweb panel | US, browser searches on desktop and mobile; Google app excluded; SparkToro calls the comparison with earlier years 'a bit of apples and oranges'. |
| 62.1% to 69.5% | Jan-Apr 2026 | SparkToro / Similarweb, six countries | Germany lowest, UK highest; same panel and period, so these can be compared with each other. |
| Number | When | Who measured | Why it differs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15% to 8% | Mar 2025 | Pew Research Center, 900 US adults, 68,879 searches | Share of search visits with a click on a normal result, without vs with an AI summary. Real tracked browsing; Google only; one month. |
| 1% | Mar 2025 | Pew Research Center | Visits where a link inside the AI summary was clicked. |
| 16% to 26% | Mar 2025 | Pew Research Center | Share of results pages after which the browsing session ended, without vs with a summary. |
| -34.5% | Mar 2024 vs Mar 2025 | Ahrefs, 300,000 keywords (vendor) | Click rate of the number one result, desktop, vs a forecast without AI Overviews. |
| -58% | Dec 2023 vs Dec 2025 | Ahrefs update (vendor) | Same method, two-year gap and new baseline, so not a trend from -34.5%. Positions 2-10 also lose (-50.8% to -19.4%). |
| nearly 60% | 2026 | SparkToro (citing Ahrefs) | Restates the Ahrefs figure; not a separate measurement. |
Stat check
Famous stats with no real source, or quoted wrong, and where they came from.
60% of Google searches are zero-click
A rounding of SparkToro's 2024 US figure (58.5%, Datos panel, Sep 2022-May 2024), repeated with no year, region or panel. The current US figure is 68.01% (Jan-Apr 2026, a different panel). Where it came from
Quote this instead: 68.01%65% of US Google searches end without a click (64.82%)
64.82% is a worldwide figure for all of 2020 (Similarweb via SparkToro, published March 2021). The US figure in the same post was 68.3% for Q4 2020. SparkToro now flags the post as possibly out of date. Where it came from
Quote this instead: 68.01%SEO is dead
A recurring headline when Google changes results. Even SparkToro, whose data shows 68.01% zero-click searches, writes that SEO 'still matters as much or more than ever before', but earns less traffic. Branded, local and high-intent searches still send clicks. Where it came from
Quote this instead: 23193% of online experiences begin with a search engine
From a 2006 report. Ahrefs found 700+ sites linking to a page for this stat that no longer even mentioned it. Where it came from
Quote this instead: 42%AI Overviews now appear on almost every Google search
Early 2024 reports claimed AI Overviews on up to 84% of queries (noted by SparkToro). Pew's tracked browsing found an AI summary on 18% of Google searches in March 2025; SparkToro's 2026 post says 20%+. Where it came from
Quote this instead: 18%Every number on this page was checked at its original source. Free to cite with a link to the stat page.
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