Health and finance see up to 60% CTR drops as AI Overviews disrupt search

Gone are the days when Google ranking mattered above all else. Today, even if brand sites rank on Google's first page, it doesn't guarantee clicks. Since May 2024, when Google officially rebranded its AI-powered feature to AI Overviews at its I/O conference, the search landscape has undergone a shift. The feature, which displays AI-generated summaries at the top of search results, was first launched in the United States and has since expanded to over 100 countries, altering how users interact with search results.

The impact has been swift and severe. According to research, organic click-through rates for queries featuring AI Overviews fell 61% since mid-2024, while paid Click-Through Rates (CTRs) plunged 68%. Even more concerning for marketers, queries without AI Overviews saw organic CTRs drop 41%, suggesting that users are simply clicking less everywhere, likely due to the rise of ChatGPT and other AI platforms alongside social search. A Pew Research Center study found that users who encountered an AI Overview clicked on website links just 8% of the time, compared to 15% for those who didn't see an AI Overview. The links displayed within AI Overviews themselves saw minimal engagement, with click-through rates of just 1%.

By March 2025, approximately 18% of all Google searches were producing AI Overviews, with the vast majority (88%) citing three or more sources. But for publishers and brands, the question isn't just about visibility anymore. It's about survival in an ecosystem where being seen doesn't necessarily mean being clicked.

When visibility no longer guarantees traffic

The decline in click-through rates is not uniform across all sectors. Health and financial services have been hit particularly hard, with different verticals experiencing varying degrees of disruption.

"AI Overviews appear predominantly on informational queries, causing substantial organic click declines, typically 30 to 50% CTR drops as users get instant answers without visiting websites," says Rubeena Singh, MD India at NP Digital. "This effect is most pronounced in sectors with high AI Overview visibility. Health sees almost 50 to 60% declines, while finance and professional services see approximately 20 to 25%."

Singh observes that recent CPC increases of 10 to 15% and CPL rises of 5 to 10% over the past 12 to 24 months are driven by heightened competition, automated bidding, and Google's pricing pressures. She notes that if searches shift from direct terms toward exploratory queries, the line between informational and early-stage commercial intent will blur, requiring advertisers to rethink strategies.

Aparna Thakur, Sr. VP of Client Servicing at HiveMinds, notes that informational keywords in categories such as BFSI, health, travel, and education have seen CTR drops in the 15 to 25% range. 

“Brand keywords have seen relatively stable CTRs with dips being less than 5%, as the users come with high transactional intent.” HiveMinds has observed CPC rising by 20 to 40% across competitive sectors. “CPL increase has also been observed in the 15-35% range, especially in lead-gen heavy industries like BFSI, EdTech, and Health,” Thakur continues.

"Since mid-2024, when Google AI Overviews rolled out broadly, click behaviour has shifted dramatically," says Shailendra Singh Mehta, AVP of Paid Media at AdLift. "In a representative 2025 sample of over 3,000 queries, the average position-1 organic CTR dropped from 1.76% to 0.61%."

Mehta's data shows that in sectors with high AIO exposure, such as finance, insurance, SaaS, and high-consideration ecommerce, non-brand CPC has risen 18 to 25% over the past 18 to 24 months, with cost-per-lead climbing 20 to 35% for many clients. Similarly, Senthil Kumar Hariram, Founder of FTA Global, confirms that while high-intent and branded queries remain fairly consistent, overall performance costs are trending upward across nearly all verticals.

A pivot from volume to intent

With this shift, certain keywords have observed spikes in costs. Singh explains. "The sharpest cost spikes have occurred on broad, informational keywords like 'best,' 'top,' and 'which,' largely because AI Overviews now answer these queries directly without requiring clicks."

NP Digital is implementing a strategic pivot away from high-cost, upper-funnel informational terms and reallocating budget toward transactional and navigational keywords where user intent signals readiness to purchase. This prioritises precision over volume, concentrating resources on commercial intent and outcomes.

"Marketers are shifting budgets toward high-intent and long-tail keywords, refining audience signals and strengthening value-based bidding models," says Hariram. FTA Global has observed that the biggest spikes are occurring in insurance, legal services, education, and high-value SaaS, with specific states seeing the largest increases. The agency is re-evaluating its keyword taxonomy, categorising based on intent rather than search volume, while focusing on lower-competition and problem-solving keyword searches.

HiveMinds’ Thakur describes how the SERP layout has evolved to become more visually rich, with elements such as popular products, suggested brands, and product-led modules now appearing before traditional site links. These elements help drive higher CTR for D2C and ecommerce categories as the SERP becomes more product-forward. 

The agency’s approach includes A/B tests, introducing broad match keywords, and ensuring landing page content remains updated and relevant.

"Because AIOs now cover a growing share of informational queries (over 40% of all SERPs in some 2025 analyses) and CTR losses are persistent, marketers are adapting rather than pausing search spend," Mehta notes.

At AdLift, tactics include reclassifying keyword taxonomies by grouping them by AI exposure and intent rather than just the funnel stage. They are de-emphasising broad info-queries that trigger AIOs while doubling down on high-intent modifiers like "apply," "price," and "near me." 

The shift extends beyond paid search tactics to a more fundamental rebalancing of marketing channels. Singh emphasises that changes driven by AI are making search discovery less predictable, meaning that relying only on search marketing is becoming too risky. Many marketers are moving budget toward channels that build awareness and trust before the final search. Content is becoming key, making search far more effective as a full-funnel approach ensures that when users search, the brand is already familiar and trusted.

Thakur notes that brands are becoming more amenable to investing in awareness and consideration. 

“Usage of video platforms for both horizontal and vertical videos has been on the rise. Traffic-driving campaigns on Meta and Google Demandgen are being deployed to drive more traffic to the websites.”

Beyond regular performance-oriented keywords, brands are planning for informational or problem-solution-based keywords to capture top-funnel audiences. 

With Google introducing Circle to Search, Google Lens, and Gemini Live, each represents a new entry point that allows users to bypass traditional search results.

Hariram confirms that budgets are being redistributed toward social, programmatic, and owned channels. Search remains viable for branded and action-oriented terms, but cannot operate as a standalone performance engine. 

At Google Marketing Live in India in July 2025, the company announced plans to bring ads to AI Overviews in India later that year. The ads, already rolled out to U.S. users in October 2024, will be displayed for relevant search queries and labelled as "Sponsored." For Indian brands already grappling with declining organic CTRs and rising CPCs, the introduction of ads within AI Overviews represents both a challenge and an opportunity, adding another layer of paid visibility while increasing competition within an already crowded SERP.

Optimising for the algorithm behind the algorithm

As AI Overviews become more prevalent, Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) is emerging. Research found that pages ranking for AI Overview "fan-out" queries are 161% more likely to be cited than pages ranking only for the main query. About 68% of cited pages didn't rank in the top 10 for either the main query or any fan-out query, suggesting that traditional SEO alone doesn't fully explain how citations are selected.

"To be cited by an AI, you must write for the machine as well as the human," Singh explains. "We find that content which follows an 'answer-first' structure works best. You must answer the user's question directly and simply in the first few sentences of the page, before expanding on the details."

Content that uses clear data structure, lists, and strong, factual headings is easier for AI models to use. The focus must be on authority and unique insights, with content backed by original research, expert quotes, or proprietary data having the highest chance of being chosen as the cited source.

Thakur provides shares that the content Google cites is usually well-organised, detailed, and full of useful facts. 

Effective formats, according to her, include:

• Simple explainers that break topics into parts; 
• Pages with specific details like size, material, and price range; 
• FAQs answering common questions in short, clear lines; 
• How-to guides and checklists; and 
• Pages with proper schema, such as FAQ, HowTo, and Product, so Google can understand content better.

"The currency of the future is Authority," says Hariram. "The most favourable formats are those exhibiting excellent E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness." This includes original data studies, peer-reviewed research, and step-by-step expert guides structured with clear headers and schema markup. Google's AI seeks definitive sources, making content with originality more likely to be cited than generic information.

According to Mehta, “Pages optimised in this style tend to win citations and see 35% more organic clicks and 90%+ higher paid click rates than non-cited pages.” Seer Interactive's research found that brands cited in AI Overviews earned 35% more organic clicks and 91% more paid clicks than those not cited.

Navigating the zero-click future

However, leaders note that brands relying on general, weak content will disappear from the search results as AI answers take over the informational space. They see substantial opportunity for brands willing to adapt. 

Thakur outlines how educational-heavy platforms may lose up to 30 to 40% of long-term traffic as AI Overviews address queries without requiring website visits. She recommends that brands cater to lower-funnel traffic to maximise revenue despite traffic loss while keeping a keen eye on evolving consumer preferences and the competitive landscape. She believes shifting toward a zero-click SEO strategy by delivering complete, brand-relevant information directly on the SERP can ensure strong visibility even without page visits. Brands should also focus on Google's results to maximise visibility where users make decisions.

Hariram highlights the danger of long-term dependency on a single platform for traffic, which creates vulnerability as organic visibility declines. According to him, brands should develop multiple methods of acquiring traffic, build out owned channels, and produce high-quality, authoritative content that can be consistently cited by AI systems. 

Publishers who rely heavily on informational traffic risk decreased revenue, but if they establish themselves as trusted sources for AI Overviews, they have an opportunity to create revenue growth. While total clicks may decrease, users who do engage will have higher purchase intent, creating a better conversion experience.

"The biggest risk is zero-click loss," Mehta states. "As AI Overviews take over more queries, users get answers without visiting brand sites, leading to 25 to 80% traffic drops in some categories." He also points to the risk of misinterpretation, where AI summaries can blend or distort brand information, especially in finance, health, and education. If brands don't optimise for AEO, they risk becoming invisible inside AI answers. 

Google's own Q3 2025 earnings report painted a more optimistic picture, with CEO Sundar Pichai describing an "expansionary moment for Search" and arguing that AI features are expanding search usage. The company reported that overall queries and commercial queries both grew year over year, with AI Mode queries doubling in the quarter to reach over 75 million daily active users. However, the company did not share outbound click share from AI experiences, leaving marketers to rely on their own analytics.

According to an NP Digital report on Search Engine Trends 2025, 56% of marketers are seeing an increase in web traffic despite AI Overviews, and 48% report higher revenue from ads and affiliate links. This suggests that while the path to conversion may be changing, opportunities remain for those who adapt.

The consensus among leaders is clear: AI Overviews are not a temporary disruption but a permanent shift in search behaviour. The step forward requires a reorientation from chasing clicks to building precise intent and multi-touch engagement.