Google searches ended without a click 68% of the time in the US during the first four months of 2026, up from 60.45% in 2024, according to SparkToro research using Similarweb clickstream data. The share of searches producing any click, to organic results, ads, or even Google’s own properties like Maps and YouTube, fell nearly 23% over those two years, while the share of searches that simply led to another Google search rose, pointing to Google answering questions in place and keeping users circling inside its own ecosystem. SparkToro ties the trend partly to AI Overviews, which now appear on more than 20% of searches and cut click-through rates by nearly 60% when they show, and warns the squeeze could deepen as AI Mode scales, it drove just 0.34% of searches during the study but has since passed a billion monthly users.
