An evaluation of 16,000 U.S. search queries discovered that textual content adverts gained 7 to 13 share factors of click on share between January 2025 and January 2026.
web optimization advisor Aleyda Solis used Similarweb clickstream estimates to measure click on share throughout traditional natural outcomes, SERP options, textual content adverts, PLAs, and zero-click habits.
She additionally tracked how typically AI Overviews appeared on the web page, however the dataset doesn’t attribute clicks to AI Overviews immediately.
What The Knowledge Exhibits
Textual content adverts gained between 7 and 13 share factors of click on share throughout each vertical Solis analyzed.
In the headphones vertical (prime 5,000 US queries), traditional natural click on share fell from 73% to 50%. Textual content adverts grew from 3% to 16%, and PLAs grew from 13% to 20%. Mixed paid outcomes now seize 36% of clicks in that class, up from 16% a yr earlier.
Denims adopted the same sample. Basic natural dropped from 73% to 56%, whereas mixed paid outcomes rose from 18% to 34%.
The web video games vertical noticed textual content adverts quadruple, from 3% to 13%, though the class had traditionally had virtually no advert presence.
In greeting playing cards, the solely vertical the place whole clicks truly grew yr over yr, natural click on share nonetheless fell from 88% to 75% as textual content adverts almost doubled.
The AI Overview presence on SERPs grew throughout all 4 verticals. Headphones noticed AIO presence leap from 2.28% to 32.76%, and on-line video games went from 0.38% to 29.80%. However the evaluation measured how typically AIOs appeared on the web page, not what number of clicks they captured or prevented.
Solis wrote:
“Once I began this analysis, my speculation was that textual content adverts and natural SERP options -not simply AI Overviews- may very well be important culprits behind declining natural clicks. The information confirmed this throughout all 4 verticals, and the scale of the textual content advert impression shocked me: they gained between +7 and +13 share factors of click on share in each vertical, making them the single largest measurable driver of the natural decline.”
Unbiased Knowledge Factors To The Identical Sample
The SERP-level click on information strains up with what advertisers are seeing from the different aspect.
Tinuiti’s Q4 2025 benchmark report discovered Google textual content advert clicks hit a 19-quarter excessive in Tinuiti’s benchmark dataset, rising 9% yr over yr. Total Google search advert spend rose 13% in the quarter, up from 10% in Q3.
Google’s earnings inform the same story. In its Q3 2025 report, Alphabet posted $102.3 billion in income, its first $100 billion quarter, with search advert income reaching $56.6 billion. CEO Sundar Pichai mentioned AI options have been increasing whole question quantity, together with business queries.
Extra queries and extra business intent create extra advert stock. The Similarweb information is in keeping with extra clicks shifting to paid placements in these verticals.
Why This Issues
The business has spent a lot of the previous yr targeted on AI Overviews as the clarification for declining natural clicks.
AIO presence is rising, and Google reported 1.5 billion monthly AIO users as of Q1 2025. This information signifies that textual content adverts are an more and more essential issue to contemplate.
When diagnosing drops in natural visitors, it’s useful to take a look at the SERP composition in your business slightly than assuming AI Overviews are the sole cause.
Wanting Forward
Knowledge from totally different sources point out that textual content adverts are gaining click on share.
Whether or not Google is actively increasing advert placements or advertisers are bidding extra aggressively on present stock is unknown.
What it’s possible you’ll contemplate doing now is monitoring SERP composition adjustments in your individual vertical utilizing instruments that measure click on distribution slightly than rankings alone.
Disclaimer: This article is sourced from external platforms. OverBeta has not independently verified the information. Readers are advised to verify details before relying on them.
