68% of Google Searches Get Zero Clicks in 2026 (AU Guide)
68.01% of Google searches in the United States ended without a click in the first four months of 2026, up from 60.45% in 2024, according to SparkToro's analysis of Similarweb data. Google holds 88.22% of the Australian search market, so this shift changes what shows up above your listing here too.
Vikas Thakur Founder, RockingWeb 8 min read 
Key Takeaways
- 68.01% of Google searches ended without a click in the first four months of 2026 (SparkToro, using Similarweb clickstream data)
- That is up from 60.45% in 2024, a 7.56 percentage point jump, the fastest acceleration SparkToro has recorded
- AI Overviews now show up on 25.11% of all Google searches, just over one in four (Conductor, 2026 AEO/GEO Benchmarks Report)
- When an AI Overview appears, the number one ranking page’s average clickthrough rate falls 58% compared to before AI Overviews (Ahrefs, December 2025), up from a 34.5% drop in April 2025
- Ahrefs based that figure on 300,000 keywords tracked through Google Search Console data
- Google holds 88.22% of the Australian search market as of July 2026 (Statcounter), down from close to 94% in August 2024 (ACCC)
- The clickthrough hit is not limited to the top spot: position two loses 50.8%, position five still loses 32.6%
68.01% of Google searches ended without a click in the first four months of 2026. That number comes from SparkToro’s analysis of Similarweb clickstream data, and it is up from 60.45% in 2024, the fastest two-year jump the firm has ever tracked. AI Overviews are the reason: they now show up on just over one in four Google searches, 25.11% according to Conductor’s 2026 AEO/GEO Benchmarks Report, and Ahrefs found that when one appears, the top-ranking page loses 58% of its average clickthrough rate. Australian searches run on the same Google engine, 88.22% market share here as of July 2026, so this is not a US-only problem you can shrug off. Here’s the thing: the clicks have not vanished, they have moved to whoever gets quoted inside the answer instead of listed below it. This post walks through the full data set: the year-on-year jump, the clickthrough drop by ranking position, and what a page still needs to do to earn a click in 2026.
The 2026 Zero-Click Number, in Full
SparkToro pulled its 2026 figures from Similarweb’s desktop and mobile search panel, covering United States Google searches from January through April 2026. Across that window, 68.01% of searches ended with no click to any website, Google’s own or anyone else’s. In 2024, the equivalent rate was 60.45%. The 7.56 percentage point rise between those two years is the steepest increase SparkToro has recorded since it started tracking this metric.
| Period | Zero-click rate | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 (full year) | 60.45% | SparkToro / Similarweb |
| Jan to Apr 2026 | 68.01% | SparkToro / Similarweb |
For every 100 searches on Google in early 2026, roughly 68 sent nobody anywhere. That is the baseline every other number in this post sits on top of.
Takeaway: zero-click searches were already the majority behaviour by 2024. In 2026 they became the overwhelming majority, and the jump happened faster than in any prior two-year window SparkToro has measured.
Why the Jump: AI Overviews Eat the Click
SparkToro points to one driver behind the acceleration: AI Overviews, Google’s AI-written answer summaries that sit above the organic results. Conductor’s 2026 AEO/GEO Benchmarks Report analysed 21.9 million US Google searches over a four-week window and found 5.5 million of them, 25.11%, generated an AI Overview, and that share keeps growing.
Ahrefs measured what that does to clicks directly. Using Google Search Console data across 300,000 keywords, split between queries that trigger an AI Overview and comparable informational queries that do not, Ahrefs compared clickthrough rates from December 2023, before AI Overviews existed, against December 2025. The page ranking number one for a keyword that now triggers an AI Overview sees a 58% lower average clickthrough rate than it would have without one. In April 2025, the same comparison showed a 34.5% drop. The gap widened by almost 24 percentage points in eight months.
The hit does not stop at position one either. Ahrefs broke the drop out by ranking position:
| Ranking position | Average CTR reduction with an AI Overview |
|---|---|
| 1 | 58% |
| 2 | 50.8% |
| 3 | 46.4% |
| 4 | 38.8% |
| 5 | 32.6% |
Position one still loses the most, in percentage terms, but every position on the first page takes a real hit. A ranking that used to guarantee a steady stream of clicks now guarantees a steadily shrinking one, and the shrinkage is worse the higher the AI Overview coverage climbs for that query type.
Takeaway: AI Overviews are not a side effect of the zero-click trend, they are most of the cause, and the damage runs down the whole first page, not just the top result.
What This Means for Australian Businesses
None of the 68.01% figure is Australian data. SparkToro’s panel covers United States search behaviour, and no Australian study has published a zero-click rate at the same level of rigour. That gap matters, and this post will not paper over it by presenting a US number as a local one.
What is Australian, and verifiable, is how much of local search runs through Google in the first place. Statcounter put Google’s share of the Australian search market at 88.22% in July 2026. That is down from close to 94% in August 2024, a figure the ACCC cited in its ninth Digital Platform Services Inquiry report. Google still runs roughly nine out of every ten searches an Australian customer types.
Google rolls out search features globally, not market by market. AI Overviews launched in Australia on the same platform Australian searchers already use for nine in ten queries, and there is no reason to expect the underlying mechanics, an AI answer replacing the need to click through, behave differently here than in the US panel SparkToro measured. The honest read: Australian businesses are exposed to the same shift, even without a local number to point at yet.
Takeaway: the headline stat is US data, but the search engine it describes runs almost all Australian search traffic too, so the exposure travels with it.
What Still Gets a Click
A page that used to rank well and pull steady organic traffic can now sit at position one and see its click volume fall by more than half, purely because of what Google adds above it, not because the page got worse. Three things still earn a click in a zero-click environment.
Branded and navigational searches. Someone searching a business name, a product name, or “near me” with clear intent to visit a specific site is not looking for a summarised answer. AI Overviews mostly trigger on informational queries, so brand demand still converts to a click.
Transactional queries. A search with buying intent, “book,” “quote,” “price,” “near me,” still needs the searcher to land somewhere to complete the action. An AI Overview can summarise a topic, but it cannot take a booking or process a payment.
Content that gets quoted, not just ranked. When Google or an AI Overview does pull an answer from a page, that page’s brand name, structured data, and clear, extractable answer format increase the odds it becomes the source line under the summary rather than an invisible input to it, which keeps the business name in front of the searcher even without a click.
Takeaway: the businesses least affected by the zero-click shift are the ones whose search traffic was never purely about generic informational queries in the first place.
Quick Win: Check Your Own Exposure
Open Google Search Console, filter to your top 20 queries by impressions, and search each one manually. Any query where an AI Overview appears above your listing is a query where your clickthrough rate is now structurally lower than your rankings suggest, regardless of position. That gap between impressions and clicks is the zero-click tax on your own traffic, and it is worth measuring before deciding whether to change anything.
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage of Google searches end without a click in 2026?
68.01% of Google searches in the United States ended without a click between January and April 2026, according to SparkToro’s analysis of Similarweb clickstream data. That is up from 60.45% in 2024, a 7.56 percentage point jump in two years.
Why are zero-click searches increasing so fast?
AI Overviews now appear on 25.11% of all Google searches, according to Conductor’s 2026 AEO/GEO Benchmarks Report, based on 21.9 million US searches analysed. Ahrefs found that when one appears, the top-ranking page’s average clickthrough rate drops 58% compared to before AI Overviews existed. Google is answering more queries directly on the results page instead of sending the click through.
Is the 68% zero-click figure Australian data?
No. SparkToro’s 68.01% figure comes from United States search behaviour tracked through Similarweb’s panel. Australia-specific zero-click research at the same level of detail has not been published, but Google runs 88.22% of Australian searches as of July 2026 (Statcounter), so the same AI Overview rollout applies here.
Does ranking number one still matter if searches are going zero-click?
Yes, but it matters less on its own. Ahrefs found the clickthrough rate drop from AI Overviews extends down the results page, from 58% at position one to 32.6% at position five, so a top ranking is still worth more than a lower one, even as the absolute click volume falls across every position.
Get Your Search Visibility Checked
Rankings alone do not tell you what is happening to your clicks anymore. Our SEO service covers both classic search ranking and the newer GEO layer, getting your pages structured so ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews can quote them, not just index them. Get in touch for a search visibility check that looks at your actual Search Console data, not just where you rank.
Vikas Thakur
Founder of RockingWeb. 16 years building for companies like TPG, iiNet and Monadelphous, now focused on websites and marketing that comply with AHPRA's advertising guidelines and still book patients.
