Opt-out test puts Google AI Overviews and AI Mode CTR at about 0.9%

What changed

Cyrus Shepard reported on LinkedIn on 28 October 2026 that one site’s AI Overviews and AI Mode CTR was an estimated 0.9%, measured by opting the site out of Google’s AI features. Shepard leads Zyppy, an SEO consultancy in Oregon. CTR, or click-through rate, is the share of impressions that end in a click. AI Overviews and AI Mode are Google Search’s AI-written answers, explained in how Google AI Overviews work and choose the pages they show.

Shepard used Google’s Search generative AI control to block the site from AI Overviews and AI Mode, according to Search Engine Roundtable’s report of 30 October 2026. AI impressions had been about 8% of the site’s total, the report says. Shepard told the outlet he estimated the CTR from the site’s overall CTR and impressions, minus the known AI impressions.

Shepard’s LinkedIn post says the site’s AI impressions went to zero at once, and its regular organic clicks dropped too. The site’s average position rose during the test, which Shepard attributed to a couple of new posts and brand searches. The site appeared in AI Overviews before and after the test, he told Search Engine Roundtable.

Shepard describes the study as small and has not published the site’s name, the test dates or raw click counts. Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable noted that AI Overviews kept appearing on the result pages during the test without the site, so the test compares the site inside and outside Google’s AI answers.

Why it happened

Google announced the opt-out control and new Search Console reports on 3 June 2026, first for a subset of UK site owners, in a post that cites its work with regulators such as the UK Competition and Markets Authority. A footnote dated 31 August 2026 says both have rolled out to all websites worldwide. The reports carry impressions metrics and the pages that appear in AI responses.

Google’s AI features documentation counts AI Overviews and AI Mode traffic in Search Console’s Performance report under the Web search type, mixed with other Google traffic. On 2 November 2026, Gary Illyes, an Analyst on the Google Search team, replied on LinkedIn to a post asking when click data for AI Mode and AI Overviews would arrive: “The team is super interested in giving more data, data that makes sense, but we don’t have anything to announce yet.”

What it changes for GEO

Cyrus Shepard’s estimate supplies the AI click rate that Search Console does not report, and the rate is small: about 0.9% of one site’s AI impressions became clicks. Brands that judge Google’s AI answers by the clicks they send will undervalue them, because visibility in an answer is an intermediate number and revenue is the result.

Analytics undercount AI answers because buyers who meet a brand there often come back later through Google or direct. Shepard’s test fits that pattern: when the site left Google’s AI features, its regular organic clicks fell with its AI impressions, even as its average position rose. One site is thin data, and the test still has what most GEO advice lacks, a measured baseline and a comparison period.

Pew Research Center reached a similar figure by another method. In Pew’s browsing data of 900 US adults for March 2025, people clicked a link inside a Google AI summary in 1% of visits to pages with one, and clicked a regular result in 8% of those visits, against 15% on pages without a summary:

Pew counted clicks per visit and Shepard estimated clicks per AI impression of one site, and both measurements put clicks from Google’s AI answers near 1%.

Brands that opt out of Google’s AI features to protect clicks lose twice: their AI impressions go to zero, and Shepard’s site lost organic clicks too. A buyer who asks Google how to get something done gets one recommended answer, the most valuable moment in the purchase, and a missing brand loses that revenue. Brands that stay in and ask customers how they found them gain the reliable record of what AI answers earn.

What to do

The head of marketing should have the SEO lead confirm that the site is still included in Google’s AI features, under Settings and then Search generative AI in Search Console. Google’s help page for the control says an exclusion takes effect within 1 to 2 days, so a setting changed by mistake costs impressions fast.

Next, the SEO lead exports the generative AI performance report each month, page by page, beside the Web clicks in the Performance report, as brands do when they measure how often AI answers mention them. Sales asks every new customer how they found the company and logs each answer that names Google or an AI assistant. The check is whether pages gaining AI impressions show up in what customers say.