A study conducted by Semrush found that adopting ChatGPT does not reduce Google Search usage. In fact, Google usage was slightly higher among ChatGPT users—12.5 sessions per week compared to 10.5 sessions among non-users. The study also found no statistically significant difference between new ChatGPT users, long-term users, and those who have never used it. This suggests that ChatGPT is not replacing Google Search but rather expanding the ways people look for information.
While overall search behaviour has not shifted dramatically, news queries tell a different story. On Google, news-related searches have either declined or remained flat, while on ChatGPT, they have surged by 212%. This suggests that people are increasingly turning to ChatGPT for insights into current events. Most of these queries focus on stocks, finance, or sports, with growing interest in the economy, politics, and tariffs. Among all news-related topics, politics has shown the fastest growth.
An example of Google’s AI Overview, where an AI-generated summary appears at the top of the search results page above traditional links.
Google introduced AI Overviews last year, a feature that places an AI-generated summary of the search results at the top of the page. The rollout has drawn strong criticism, as these summaries have at times included inaccurate or fabricated information. Yet flaws aside, the key question remains: how are AI Overviews shaping search behaviour?
According to a Pew Research Center study, AI summaries significantly reduce click-throughs. When a summary is present, only 8% of users click on a regular result—roughly half the rate seen when no summary is shown (15%). Links inside the summaries attract even less engagement, with just 1% of users clicking them. This trend has fuelled the rise of so-called zero-click searches, which jumped from 56% to 69% in a single year. The study also found that people exposed to AI summaries were more likely to stop browsing altogether: 26% ended their session versus 16% of those who did not see one.
Image Source: “Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results.” Pew Research Center, Washington, D.C. (July 22, 2025). https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/
As of March 2025, about one in five Google searches produced an AI Overview. These summaries are more likely to appear for longer search terms phrased as full sentences or questions, while only 8% of one- or two-word searches generate an AI summary.
Pew also compared the types of sources cited by AI Overviews versus traditional search results. The sources most often cited in AI summaries are broadly similar to those in standard search results. However, Wikipedia and government websites appear more frequently in AI Overviews, while YouTube is cited somewhat more often in standard results. In both formats, only about 5% of links point to news websites.
Image Source: “Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results.” Pew Research Center, Washington, D.C. (July 22, 2025). https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/
In the US, where ChatGPT is used more than anywhere else and where AI Overviews were first rolled out, publishers have experienced a steep drop in organic traffic. Citing Similarweb data, the Wall Street Journal reports that outlets such as Business Insider, The Washington Post, and HuffPost have each lost around 50% of their traffic over the past three years. For Business Insider, the decline was so severe that the company laid off about 21% of its staff in May 2025.
Source: Wall Street Journal, “Google’s AI and the Future of News Publishers” (June 10, 2025), reporting Similarweb data. Visualisation: TaikaTilaus Oy.
Publishers view zero-click searches as a serious threat and are developing new strategies to offset the losses. These include improving newsletters and apps, investing in events, publishing more print issues, and strengthening reader engagement to build habitual traffic.
Google, for its part, insists it remains committed to sending traffic to the web. The company notes that users who do click links after seeing an AI Overview tend to spend more time on those sites. Still, with only 1% of users clicking through from an Overview, this offers little reassurance. Google also points out that it elevates links to new sites and avoids showing AI Overviews for breaking news, instead restricting them to older material. Yet the steep traffic declines reported by publishers suggest a growing gap between Google’s assurances and publishers’ lived reality.
At the same time, a Similarweb report found that referrals from ChatGPT to news sites have surged since spring 2024, rising from 1 million to 25.2 million in just a year. Yet this traffic does not compensate for the decline in organic search, since ChatGPT is nowhere near Google in scale. The gains are also uneven: some outlets benefit disproportionately, while others are barely visible. The largest share of referrals went to Reuters, the New York Post, and Business Insider, while CNN and The New York Times were absent or underrepresented.
Data: Similarweb, The Impact of Generative AI: Publishers (2025). Visualisation: TaikaTilaus Oy.
This highlights that visibility in AI-driven search is shaped not only by SEO but also by how AI models are trained, which data they prioritise, and whether publishers secure partnerships that help surface their content. For example, News Corp has struck a content deal with OpenAI, while The New York Times has sued Microsoft and OpenAI for copyright infringement—a move that restricts ChatGPT from linking to its content.
Publishers are facing a double bind. Google Search still dominates, but AI Overviews are cutting into organic traffic and fuelling the rise of zero-click searches. For digital newsrooms that rely on this traffic, the consequences are severe: fewer clicks, shrinking audiences, and, in some cases, layoffs.
At the same time, ChatGPT and other AI-driven search tools are opening up new referral channels, with outbound clicks to news sites growing rapidly. Yet this growth is not evenly distributed, benefiting certain outlets while leaving others invisible. Unlike traditional search, visibility in AI results depends not only on SEO but also on the training data used by large language models, partnerships, and how well a publisher’s content surfaces in generative answers.
For publishers, the key takeaways are clear:
In short, AI search is not replacing Google—at least not yet—but it is reshaping the pathways through which audiences discover news. Publishers that diversify their traffic sources and invest in loyal reader communities will be better positioned to navigate this transition.