Google’s head of Search, Liz Reid, instructed Bloomberg’s Odd Heaps podcast that AI Overviews are decreasing “bounce clicks” from writer pages, persevering with an argument she has made in public appearances since final yr.
Reid appeared on the April 23 episode of Odd Lots. Hosts Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway requested how AI Overviews have an effect on writer site visitors and advert income.
What Reid Mentioned
Reid described what she referred to as “bounce clicks” as the class of clicks AI Overviews are decreasing.
She stated customers who shortly click on and return to search not want to go to the web page as a result of they get the truth from the Overview. These wanting to learn longer nonetheless click on by way of. She acknowledged fewer advert clicks for some queries however stated elevated question quantity balances this. The argument aligns with Reid’s factors in different public appearances.
The Sample
Reid revealed a Google blog post in August stating that natural click on quantity from Google Search to web sites was “comparatively steady” year-over-year and that “high quality clicks,” outlined as visits the place customers don’t shortly click on again, had elevated.
In an October Wall Street Journal interview, she explicitly used the phrase “bounced clicks” and stated that advert income with AI Overviews had been comparatively steady.
The Bloomberg look makes the similar primary case Reid made in August, describing some misplaced clicks as low-value visits the place customers would have shortly returned to Search.
What Reid Didn’t Say
In none of these three appearances has Reid supplied supporting knowledge.
Her August weblog publish included no charts, percentages, or year-over-year comparisons. On Bloomberg, she instructed Weisenthal and Alloway that Google tracks whether or not individuals come to search extra usually as one in every of its key alerts, with out offering numbers.
Weisenthal and Alloway requested about site visitors and monetization, however the interview didn’t embrace follow-up questions requesting proof for Reid’s rationalization.
Google has not publicly shared knowledge that might let exterior observers check that distinction.
What Unbiased Knowledge Reveals
Chartbeat knowledge revealed in the Reuters Institute’s Journalism and Technology Trends and Predictions 2026 report discovered that world writer Google search site visitors dropped by roughly a 3rd. Google Uncover referrals fell 21% year-over-year throughout greater than 2,500 writer web sites.
Seer Interactive’s analysis discovered that natural click-through price for queries with AI Overviews fell from 1.76% in 2024 to 0.61% in 2025, a 61% drop. Seer famous these queries have a tendency to be informational searches that traditionally had decrease CTRs.
Pew Analysis Heart’s study of 68,000 real search queries discovered customers clicked on outcomes 8% of the time when AI Overviews appeared, in contrast with 15% once they did not.
Digital Content material Subsequent, a commerce physique whose members embrace the New York Occasions, Condé Nast, and Vox, reported a median 10% year-over-year decline in Google search referrals throughout 19 member publishers between Could and June 2025. DCN CEO Jason Kint said at the time that the member knowledge provided “floor fact” about what was taking place to writer site visitors.
Why This Issues
Reid’s “bounce clicks” description solutions a query the knowledge raises, but it surely solutions it with out knowledge of its personal. That’s value maintaining in thoughts when evaluating any public declare from a platform that controls the measurements.
A enterprise proprietor can’t verify from Reid’s Bloomberg look whether or not AI Overviews are reducing solely low-value clicks or reducing throughout question varieties. The impartial knowledge measures whole clicks and click-through charges, not the subset of clicks Reid describes as low-value. If Google has inside knowledge that separates the two, it hasn’t shared it in the eight months since the August weblog publish.
See additionally: The Data Behind Google’s AI Overviews: What Sundar Pichai Won’t Tell You
Wanting Forward
Reid stated that Google measures how usually individuals return to Search. That sign tracks Google’s retention. Publishers want a site visitors metric, however Google hasn’t shared one. Till it does, “bounce clicks” must be handled as a declare reasonably than a discovering.
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.
