Key takeaways
- As of Oct. 29, 2026, Google requires supporting pages to be indexed and eligible for a search snippet. [2][3]
- Search Console’s Generative AI performance report includes impressions from both AI Overviews and AI Mode. [4]
- Pew and Ahrefs report lower clicking measures associated with AI summaries or Overviews in different observational datasets. [7][8]
Definition: AI Overviews are AI-generated summaries in Google Search results that provide information and links for further reading; Google says they appear when its systems determine they add value to classic Search. [1][2]
Where does the name come from?
Google’s documentation-update archive records the addition of AI Overviews documentation on May 14, 2024. [9]
How do they work?
As of Oct. 29, 2026, Google says AI Overviews may use query fan-out to run related searches across subtopics and data sources. [2] Its optimization guide says eligibility also requires inclusion in Search generative AI features through Search Console; meeting the requirements does not guarantee display. [3]
Google documents preview controls, including nosnippet, max-snippet, and data-nosnippet, as well as a site-level Search generative AI control. [5][6]
What does the click evidence show?
Pew Research Center analyzed browsing records from 900 US adults covering March 1–31, 2025, and reconstructed search results on April 7–17, 2025; its dataset contained 68,879 unique Google searches. [7] Pew reported traditional-result clicks in 8% of visits associated with an AI summary versus 15% without one, but the reconstructed results might differ from what participants originally saw. [7]
A study by Ahrefs, a commercial SEO software vendor, compared desktop click-through rates for 300,000 keywords using December 2023 and December 2025 data. [8] Ahrefs reported a 58% lower top-position click-through rate relative to its forecast based on the comparison group; this was an observational comparison, not a controlled experiment. [8]
Together, these studies support an association with lower clicking measures, not a universal causal estimate for every publisher. [7][8]
How should reporting be interpreted?
As of Oct. 29, 2026, the Generative AI performance report documents impressions, not a separate AI Overviews click metric or feature-level breakdown. [4] AI-feature traffic is included in overall Web performance reporting, and Google assigns all links within an AI Overview the Overview’s single search position. [2][10]
Google also says clicks from results pages containing AI Overviews are higher quality, but its cited documentation provides no numerical estimate or supporting dataset for that statement. [2]
Related terms
AI Mode · Query fan-out · Citation
How this was made: AVJ used AI tools to help draft this definition and compare it with the cited sources. Nhi Phan reviews the published version.
Sources
[1] Google. Find information in faster & easier ways with AI Overviews in Google Search. Google Search Help; accessed Oct. 29, 2026. https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/14901683
[2] Google Search Central. AI features and your website. Updated Dec. 10, 2025; accessed Oct. 29, 2026. https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features
[3] Google Search Central. Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search. Updated July 10, 2026; accessed Oct. 29, 2026. https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide
[4] Google. Generative AI performance report (Search). Search Console Help; accessed Oct. 29, 2026. https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/16984139
[5] Google Search Central. Robots meta tag, data-nosnippet, and X-Robots-Tag specifications. Updated March 24, 2026; accessed Oct. 29, 2026. https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots-meta-tag
[6] Google. Search generative AI control. Search Console Help; accessed Oct. 29, 2026. https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/16908024
[7] Chapekis, Athena, and Anna Lieb. Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results. Pew Research Center, July 22, 2025; accessed Oct. 29, 2026. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/
[8] Law, Ryan. Update: AI Overviews Reduce Clicks by 58%. Ahrefs, Feb. 4, 2026. Vendor research; accessed Oct. 29, 2026. https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overviews-reduce-clicks-update/
[9] Google Search Central. Latest documentation updates. May 14, 2024, entry; accessed Oct. 29, 2026. https://developers.google.com/search/updates
[10] Google. What are impressions, position, and clicks? Search Console Help; accessed Oct. 29, 2026. https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7042828