{"id":1223,"slug":"ahrefs-ai-overview-click-loss-dec-2025-58pct-feb-2026-publication","title":"Ahrefs December 2025 re-run (published February 4, 2026) — for every 100 clicks you could historically earn for a top-ranking page, Google now keeps 58 (up from 34.5% click loss in April 2025)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","candid-team"],"topics":["seo-content","ai-search-citations","ai-mode"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** Ahrefs' **April 2025** study of 300,000 keywords found AI Overviews \"reduced clicks to top-ranking content by **34.5%**.\" Its **December 2025 re-run (published February 4, 2026)** found the figure had worsened to **58%** — **\"for every 100 clicks you could historically earn for a top-ranking page, Google now keeps 58\"** (Ryan Law, Ahrefs).\n\n**Source:** Ahrefs, April 2025 + February 4, 2026.\n\n**Confidence:** **Single-source** (one SEO vendor) but trend (worsening, not stabilising) is directionally consistent with [[pew-research-ai-overview-click-through-jul-22-2025-8pct-vs-15pct]] and [[seer-interactive-ai-overview-ctr-drop-sep-2025-61pct-organic-68pct-paid]].\n\n**Why this matters for Candid:** Useful as the freshest single citation in the brief (early 2026). The trajectory matters more than the exact number — losses are getting bigger, not stabilising.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"pew-research-ai-overview-click-through-jul-22-2025-8pct-vs-15pct","title":"Pew Research (July 22, 2025) — real-browsing field study of 900 US adults / 68,879 March 2025 searches: clicks to traditional results 8% with an AI summary vs 15% without; only 1% clicked a link inside the AI summary","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"seer-interactive-ai-overview-ctr-drop-sep-2025-61pct-organic-68pct-paid","title":"Seer Interactive (September 2025) — 3,119 informational queries across 42 organisations / 25.1M organic impressions (June 2024 → Sep 2025): organic CTR fell 61% (1.76% → 0.61%), paid CTR fell 68% (19.7% → 6.34%)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-businesses-found-on-web-google-smb-june-2026","title":"Research brief: How businesses got found on the web — a then→now timeline (Google-focused, SMB lens, June 2026)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"rule-answer-customer-questions-in-first-100-150-words-for-ai-citation","title":"Rule: Restructure top service and FAQ pages to answer the customer's question directly in the first 100–150 words, with specific local detail","kind":"rule","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"caveats-google-history-smb-brief-cost-coercion-vendor-data","title":"Caveats for the June 2026 Google-history SMB brief — cost/causation claims are weak; \"now\" data is mostly US/global not Canada-specific; vendor sources were used skeptically; rollout state is moving fast","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-06-18T00:10:55.868Z","updated_at":"2026-06-18T00:10:55.868Z"}