There is some new data out that shows that yes, Google's AI Overviews are causing a huge decline in clicks to websites organically but it is also showing that for e-commerce queries, there is a massive increase in clicks on search ads and product/shopping ads.
Aleyda Solis posted on her blog Search Isn’t Just Turning to AI, it’s being Re-Monetized: Text Ads Are Taking a Bigger Share of Google SERP Clicks (Data) - the data she showed that for some e-commerce related queries that the clicks are going away from organic/free listings and to paid/product search ad listings. "Classic organic click share dropped in every single vertical… but the most consistent “winner” wasn’t AI. It was Text Ads (and PLAs in product categories)," she wrote on X.
Here is part of her data:
The data came from Similarweb's SERP composition + click share data across a few verticals showing a similar pattern, and here's the outcome of four of them in The US, comparing Jan 2025 vs Jan 2026.
Here is her summary:
1) Classic organic lost big across the board
- Headphones: 73% to 50% (-23pp)
- Jeans: 73% to 56% (-17pp)
- Greeting cards: 88% to 75% (-13pp)
- Online games: 95% to 84% (-11pp)
2) Text Ads surged in every vertical (biggest consistent shift)
- Headphones: 3% to 16% (+13pp)
- Jeans: 7% to 16% (+9pp)
- Greeting cards: 9%to to 16% (+7pp)
- Online games: 3% to 13% (+10pp)
3) Product verticals got the double hit: Text Ads + PLAs:
- Headphones paid share (Text Ads + PLAs): 16% to 36%
- Jeans paid share: 18% to 34%
- Greeting cards paid share: 10% to 19%
There is a lot more to this data, so check out her full write up over here.
In short, Google wants you to shift your spend to paid ads, Google Ads, so that you can get clicks from this new search experience. At least, that is what the data seems to imply.
Forum discussion at X.
