The End of the Search Era: How AI Is Quietly Breaking the Internet’s Traffic Model

According to Similarweb (via The Economist), the global search traffic fell by 15 percent year-on-year (YoY) as of June 2025. Older data also show that the no-click-through rate to news websites grew from 56 percent in May 2024 (this was when AI Overviews was launched), to almost 69 percent in May 2025.According to Similarweb (via The Economist), the global search traffic fell by 15 percent year-on-year (YoY) as of June 2025. Older data also show that the no-click-through rate to news websites grew from 56 percent in May 2024 (this was when AI Overviews was launched), to almost 69 percent in May 2025.