AI Overviews in Australia and what they did to clicks
Informational content lost a great deal, local commercial search lost comparatively little, and that gap should decide where an Australian business spends.
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Quick answer
AI Overviews reduce clicks on the pages below them: a Pew Research study of US users found people clicked a standard result on 8% of visits when an AI summary appeared, against 15% without one. But they appear far less often on local searches. Ahrefs found AI Overviews on 7.9% of local queries against 22.8% of non-local ones, so the searches that bring a local business its enquiries are the least affected.
Key takeaways
- Clicks fall when an AI Overview appears, mainly on informational searches.
- Local searches show AI Overviews far less often; the map pack still dominates.
- Google's AI Mode began rolling out in Australia on 8 October 2025.
- Google says there are no special requirements to appear in AI Overviews.
What the click studies measured
| Study | Finding | Data |
|---|---|---|
| Pew Research Center, July 2025 | Users clicked a standard result on 8% of visits with an AI summary, 15% without; 1% clicked a link inside the summary | 900 US adults, 68,879 searches, March 2025 |
| Ahrefs, February 2026 | An AI Overview correlates with a 58% lower click-through rate for the top-ranking page | 300,000 keywords, December 2023 against December 2025 |
Both studies are of US searches, and both measure correlation rather than cause. Australian figures haven't been published at this scale, but the pattern is the same product working the same way.
Where AI Overviews appear, and where they mostly don't
An Ahrefs analysis reported by Search Engine Journal found AI Overviews on 20.5% of keywords overall, but on only 7.9% of local queries against 22.8% of non-local ones.
The effect falls hardest on general explainer content, the sort of article that answers a question in three paragraphs, because that is exactly what an overview can reproduce.
Why near-me searches still show the map
When somebody searches for a service near them, Google still answers with a map, businesses, reviews and phone numbers, because that's what the searcher wants and a summary can't replace it. For a Perth service business, those are the searches that produce enquiries, and they're the most defensible part of search right now.
What Google says
Google's documentation on AI features says there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and no special optimisations are necessary. It describes a "query fan-out" technique, issuing several related searches across subtopics to build a response, and says the clicks that do come from AI results are higher quality, with users more likely to spend time on the site.
In other words, the same work that makes a page rank makes it eligible to be cited. There is no separate markup or trick.
AI Mode in Australia
Google announced that AI Mode would begin rolling out to Australians from 8 October 2025. At the time, it said it didn't have firm launch dates for ads in AI Overviews or AI Mode in Australia.
What we changed as a result
| Search type | Example | How likely an AI Overview is | What we do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Near me or service plus suburb | electrician near me | Low | Priority: Business Profile, service pages, reviews |
| Service type without a location | switchboard upgrade | Higher | Service pages that answer the question and show who does the work |
| General explainer | what is a safety switch | High | Rarely worth writing just for traffic |
| Cost and how to choose | switchboard upgrade cost | High | Still worth a page, for the visitors who do click and for being cited |
We stopped recommending general informational content as a traffic strategy. A page explaining what a meta description is has almost no path to an enquiry now, and it never had a strong one. Cost and how-to-choose pages still earn a place, but for the people who click through and for being cited, not for volume. The likelihood column reflects the studies above and what we see in results; it isn't a measured Australian figure.
How to check your own Search Console
- Open the performance reportCompare the last three months with the same three months a year earlier.
- Look at queries with rising impressions and falling clicksThose are often searches where an AI Overview now answers the question.
- Split by page typeCompare service pages with blog posts. Usually the blog takes the hit.
- Check enquiries, not just clicksIf enquiries held while clicks fell, the clicks you lost weren't buyers.
Common questions
Are AI Overviews and AI Mode available in Australia?
Yes. Google said AI Mode would begin rolling out to Australians from 8 October 2025, and AI Overviews already appear in Australian results.
How much do AI Overviews reduce clicks?
In Pew Research's US study, users clicked a standard result on 8% of visits with an AI summary against 15% without. Ahrefs found a 58% lower click-through rate for the top result when an overview appeared.
Do AI Overviews show for near-me searches?
Much less often. Ahrefs found them on 7.9% of local queries against 22.8% of non-local ones; local searches still mostly show the map pack.
Do I need special optimisation to appear in AI Overviews?
Google says no: there are no additional requirements or special optimisations. Pages need to be indexed and eligible to appear in normal results.
Are there ads in AI Overviews in Australia?
When AI Mode launched here, Google said it had no firm Australian launch date for ads in AI Overviews or AI Mode.
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Sources
- Pew Research Center: Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears (July 2025)
- Ahrefs: AI Overviews reduce clicks by 58% (February 2026)
- Search Engine Journal: Google AI Overviews appear on 21% of searches (November 2025)
- Google: AI features and your website
- Google: AI Mode in Australia