Are AI answers taking clicks away from Google search results?
The best public evidence points that way, at least on Google. In a 2025 Pew Research Center study of 900 U.S. adults' browsing, users clicked a traditional search result on 8% of visits to results pages that showed an AI summary, against 15% of visits to pages without one, and clicked a link inside the summary on only 1% of visits.
What the study measured
Pew analyzed the March 2025 browsing of 900 U.S. adults who agreed to share it, covering 68,879 unique Google searches, of which 12,593 produced an AI summary. Users ended their browsing session on 26% of pages with an AI summary, compared with 16% of pages with only traditional results.
What it does not show
The study observes behavior; it does not prove that the summary caused the drop. It covers Google only, a panel of U.S. adults who opted in, and one month of activity. It does not measure what happened inside ChatGPT, Perplexity or other assistants.
What it means for a service business
If fewer people click past the answer, the answer itself becomes the place to be seen. A business that is named and described correctly in the summary has a chance of being chosen even when nobody scrolls. A business that only ranks below it is competing for a shrinking share of clicks.
The practical response is to work on both: stay visible in search, and work to be part of the AI answers for the questions customers ask, then track which channel the inquiries actually come from.
Sources
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GEO: recommended in AI answers
When a customer asks ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google's AI who to call, the answer names a few businesses. GEO is the work of making yours one of them.