Guide · 3-minute read
When Google answers itself.
For one search in five, Google answers itself. What that means for clicks and what you can do.
By Manuel Bubori, Studio BUBORILast reviewed
For businesses that get found through Google and want to know what AI answers mean for their website.
Google now answers many questions itself, above the results. For businesses that means being visible and being clicked are no longer the same thing. Here is what the figures say and what follows from them.
What the figures say
An AI Overview is an answer generated by Google that usually sits ahead of the regular results. The analytics firm Sistrix evaluated more than 100 million search terms in Germany.
Such an overview appears for around 20 percent of searches. In 78.6 percent of cases it sits above the organic results. The first result gets just over 27 percent of clicks on average, but only 11 percent with an overview. Across all searches, Sistrix calculates that around 6.6 percent of organic clicks in Germany are lost.
Who is affected and who is not
Overviews appear mainly for knowledge questions. A study by Sistrix and LEAP in e-commerce found them for 69.7 percent of informational searches and for only 0.2 percent of transactional ones. There is no solid study of its own for SMEs yet, but the direction carries over.
For a business this means: anyone living from general explainer texts is more likely to lose clicks. Anyone searched for because someone needs a supplier loses fewer. Google answers "What is machining?" itself. "Machining small batches aluminium Baden-Württemberg" still leads to businesses.
What you can do now
Build pages for concrete needs. Service, process, material, region, each with a page of its own rather than one collective "services" page.
Become a source. The overview names its sources. Concrete statements can be cited, advertising language cannot. That applies to Google just as it does to ChatGPT and other assistants.
Measure enquiries, not just clicks. Falling clicks do not automatically mean falling enquiries. Ask every new contact how they found you and write it down.
Look after your own name. Anyone named in an answer is often searched for directly afterwards. Then your business profile and website count.
Is it worth switching off?
Google is introducing a setting in Search Console that excludes a website from the AI features of Search. It is not yet available in every account and, according to Google, has no effect on regular ranking.
For most businesses we advise against it. Anyone opting out is missing from exactly the answer the buyer reads first, and does not automatically get the clicks back. It can look different if your business lives from content itself, as publishers do.
Sources
- Sistrix: AI Overviews in Germany
- Sistrix: AI Overviews explained (German)
- 9to5Google: Google will let websites opt out of AI Mode and Overviews
The figures come from analyses by a single provider and describe the average. They may differ for your sector.
In short
- Around 20 percent of searches in Germany show an AI Overview
- The first result falls there from just over 27 to 11 percent of clicks
- Mainly knowledge questions are affected, hardly searches for suppliers
- For most businesses, switching off is not the right route
Frequently asked questions
An answer generated by Google that can sit above the regular results and names its sources. According to Sistrix it appears for around 20 percent of searches in Germany.
For knowledge questions, probably: according to Sistrix the first result falls from just over 27 to 11 percent of clicks. When people search for a specific supplier, the effect is much smaller.
For most businesses, no. Anyone opting out is missing from the answer that gets read first. According to Google, the setting does not affect regular ranking.
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agent-view
What an answer engine reads from this page
A search engine returns ten links and the human picks. A language model returns one paragraph and names two or three companies in it. That is the difference between being found and being named. This page is built for the second case.
Retrieval
read: /llms.txt · /robots.txt · JSON-LD @graph · this page
answered: An answer generated by Google that can sit above the regular results and names its sources. According to Sistrix it appears for around 20 percent of searches in Germany.
Allowed agents (21)
Anthropic: ClaudeBot · Claude-User · Claude-SearchBot
Perplexity: PerplexityBot · Perplexity-User
Google: Google-Extended · Googlebot
Microsoft: Bingbot
Apple: Applebot-Extended · Applebot
Meta: Meta-WebIndexer · meta-externalfetcher · meta-externalagent
Mistral AI: MistralAI-Index · MistralAI-User · MistralAI-Training
DuckDuckGo: DuckAssistBot
rule: Allow: / · source: https://www.bubori.studio/robots.txt
Entity
url: https://www.bubori.studio/en/guide/google-ai-overviews
inLanguage: en-GB
alternate: de-DE · https://www.bubori.studio/ratgeber/uebersicht-mit-ki-google
@type: Article
updated: 2026-10-31
Questions this page answers
- What is an AI Overview on Google?
- An answer generated by Google that can sit above the regular results and names its sources. According to Sistrix it appears for around 20 percent of searches in Germany.
- Will my website lose visitors because of AI Overviews?
- For knowledge questions, probably: according to Sistrix the first result falls from just over 27 to 11 percent of clicks. When people search for a specific supplier, the effect is much smaller.
- Should I exclude my website from Google's AI features?
- For most businesses, no. Anyone opting out is missing from the answer that gets read first. According to Google, the setting does not affect regular ranking.
Contact
email: hello@bubori.com
address: Industriestraße 3, 78052 Villingen-Schwenningen, Baden-Württemberg
geo: 48.0916, 8.5046
Machine-readable entry points
sitemap: https://www.bubori.studio/sitemap.xml
JSON-LD: in the head of this page
Ten links leave the choice to the human. One paragraph has already made the choice. A company that does not appear in that answer is not on the list being chosen from.