Click Insights: How Are Google Users Changing Their Search Behavior With AI?

A recent Pew Research Center report on search behavior put quite the scare in publishers, showing that less than 1 in 10 Google users actually clicked on a link after encountering an AI summary. 

According to its research on 68,000-plus Google searches earlier this year, 6 in 10 either left Google to browse elsewhere or ended their browsing altogether.

Now, a separate survey of 1,000 adults more recently appears to flip those numbers a bit, with more than 8 in 10 saying they click on a site link after reading AI Overviews — ranging from sometimes (42%) to often (31%) to always (13%) — according to Press Gazette’s review of NP Digital’s survey.

(Source: NP Digital, via Press Gazette)

“A third told the survey that they thought they were visiting fewer websites because of AI-generated summaries in search results,” writes Press Gazette’s Charlotte Tobitt, “while half (51.9%) said they had not noticed their habits changing in this way.”

Do Google users trust AI Overviews?

The survey also tried to get to the bottom of users’ ultimate trust in AI Overviews, finding more than 40% trust it about the same compared to Google’s traditional search snippets, 20% slightly more, and 11% much more.

“Overall 29.8% of respondents said they were very satisfied with Google AI Overviews [and] 36.6% were somewhat satisfied,” writes Tobitt. “Despite this, the majority said they would turn [off] AI Overviews for at least some queries if they had the option.”