The gist in 30 seconds
According to a SparkToro study published in June 2026 by Rand Fishkin, 68.01% of US Google searches ended without a single click over the first four months of 2026, up from 60.45% in 2024. It is the steepest acceleration of the decade, driven by AI Overviews (present on 20%+ of searches, they cut click-through rates by nearly 60%). Fishkin's conclusion: the decline of traffic to the open web is structural. For an SME, chasing the click alone is now a losing bet. The way out: be visible inside the answers, not just below them.
On June 9, 2026, SparkToro published a new study showing that 68.01% of US Google searches ended without a click over the January-April 2026 period, according to data published by Rand Fishkin on the SparkToro blog. In other words: fewer than one search in three now sends a visitor to a website. The figure, calculated from the Similarweb clickstream panel, marks the tipping point SEO has dreaded since AI-generated answers arrived.
The number that changes the scale of the problem
The curve is not new, but its slope has turned sharply steeper. In 2019, the first rigorous measurement of the phenomenon by SparkToro, roughly 49% of searches ended without a click. In 2024, it was 60.45% (Datos data, now a Semrush company, reported by Search Engine Land). In 2026, it crosses 68%. That is +7.56 points in two years, the fastest acceleration ever recorded on this metric.
In detail, "clicks of any kind" fell by 9.51 points, a 22.9% relative decline in two years. And the share that survives is increasingly redirected to Google's own properties rather than the open web. The engine keeps the user at home.
The culprit: AI Overviews
SparkToro is explicit about the engine behind this shift: AI Overviews. These AI-generated answers at the top of the page now appear on more than 20% of searches and, when they show, they cut click-through rates by nearly 60%. The user reads the summary and no longer needs to open the link. It is the exact mechanism we documented when AI Overviews cut SEO traffic by 42% on the queries they trigger.
Alongside it, AI Mode, Google's conversational search experience, still accounts for only 0.34% of searches over the period. But Google claimed one billion monthly users at Google I/O 2026. Fishkin warns: if AI Mode follows the trajectory of AI Overviews, the erosion of the click is only beginning.
Why this is not just a US statistic. The study covers the US market, but AI Overviews are live in Europe and the mechanism is identical: the more complete the in-page answer, the less the user clicks. European markets follow the same slope a few quarters behind.
What it changes for your strategy
For twenty years, SEO had a single measurable goal: drive clicks to the website. That metric is turning misleading. If two thirds of your impressions no longer produce a visit, optimizing for the click alone means chasing a shrinking target. The right reflex is not to flee Google: it is to move the target. Three concrete priorities:
- Aim for the citation, not just the click. Being named and summarized in an AI Overview has become brand exposure that counts, even without a visit. That is the whole point of GEO, as distinct from classic SEO: structuring your content so AI wants to cite it.
- Focus SEO on what still clicks. Brand, local and high-purchase-intent queries keep generating clicks. That is where the "traffic" effort retains its full ROI; on pure informational queries, switch to a visibility mindset.
- Produce citable content. Direct answers at the top of the page, sourced and quantified data, clean markup: these are the signals AI engines reward. Our guide on how to appear in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews lays out the implementation.
What this article does not cover
The SparkToro study covers the US market (Similarweb panel, desktop and mobile, January-April 2026): exact figures for other countries are not measured here, even if the mechanism transfers. The panel has its own methodological limits, which Fishkin acknowledges (assumed 2/3 mobile - 1/3 desktop split, 2024 data affected by ad blockers). Finally, we do not cover here the full method to measure your AI visibility, a topic we treat separately via the new Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools reports.
The Cicéro take
The click is no longer the sole currency of search. Companies that keep judging their SEO on traffic alone will watch their curves drop without understanding why, while their brand has never been more exposed inside the answers. The right question in 2026 is no longer "how many visitors does Google send me?" but "do Google and the AIs cite my answer?". That pivot is exactly what we run, and it is prepared now, not once the traffic is already gone.
Sources
- → SparkToro, Rand Fishkin: "In 2026, Less than One Third of Google Searches Still Send a Click" (June 2026, Similarweb data)
- → Search Engine Land: "Nearly 60% of Google searches end without a click in 2024" (2024 baseline, Datos / Semrush data)
Frequently asked questions
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Growth and SEO content strategist, I founded Cicéro to help businesses build lasting organic visibility — on Google and in AI-generated answers alike. Every piece of content we produce is designed to convert, not just to exist.
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