Every few years, marketing news cycles proclaim that some core tactic is “dead.” First it was email, then blogging, then search. Now, with AI on the rise, the big question is, “Is AI killing web traffic?” — and this time, the concern is more justified. As of December 2025, AI Overviews reduce the organic click-through rate (CTR) for top-ranking content by an average of 58%, and that’s no accident. We’re in the midst of a major transformation in how search engines present information, and it’s reshaping the playbook for marketers and content teams in every sector.
On one hand, Google’s AI Overviews now answer many queries directly on the results page, capturing searches that used to send visitors to websites. On the other, more users are bypassing Google altogether and going straight to AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity for answers. Both shifts cut into the volume of traffic search engines drive to your site — but they don’t erase it. Over the past year, I’ve worked through these traffic swings with HubSpot, refining our approach to align AI behavior with realistic website traffic expectations. Here’s what matters most right now.
Table of Contents
TLDR: Executive Summary
What AI Overviews Change on the SERP
How to Measure AI Overviews’ Impact on Your Traffic
Is AI Killing Web Traffic More for Certain Queries?
FAQs About AI Overviews and Web Traffic
Website Traffic is Reincarnating
TLDR: Executive Summary
AI Overviews reshape how people engage with search results by lowering CTR for certain informational queries and shifting where clicks go, rather than wiping out website traffic altogether. In short…