In Graphic Detail: AI platforms are driving more traffic — but not enough to offset ‘zero-click’ search

Two trends are emerging in the world of AI and search: AI platforms are sending more traffic to publishers’ sites, while Google’s AI Overviews is reducing click-throughs across more search queries.

Recent data is helping to show the impact of AI tools and features on the search landscape and on referral traffic. And while it seems the percentage of queries triggering Google’s AI Overviews plateaued last month, “zero-click” searches are still on the rise.

However, the referral traffic from AI platforms like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Perplexity still isn’t enough to offset the decline in search-driven visits. General search referral traffic to 1,000 web domains dipped from 12 billion global visits in June 2024 to 11.2 billion in June 2025 — about a 6.7% decline year over year, according to data from analytics company Similarweb.

Continue reading this article on digiday.com. Sign up for Digiday newsletters to get the latest on media, marketing and the future of TV.