Coined “The Great Decoupling,” this shift marks the breakdown of the once-strong relationship between search impressions and click-through rates (CTR).
AI Overviews often provide users with instant, summarised answers directly in search results, which increases impressions but leads to fewer actual visits to websites. Studies such as Rand Fishkin’s research with SparkToro suggest this results in an average 34.5% decrease in organic search traffic, even as overall search activity continues to rise.
Emerging research suggests a 20–40% downward trend in organic traffic across destination websites, due to Google’s AI Overviews presenting self-contained travel answers before users click through to a site.
Users are increasingly relying on AI-generated summaries during the inspiration and planning phases of travel. This reduces engagement with regional tourism websites that traditionally played a central role in trip research and itinerary building.
AI Overviews frequently draw from a narrow range of high-authority sources, which means that regional or niche tourism websites may be excluded from these summaries, despite offering more relevant or locally informed content. This can disadvantage North Queensland tourism providers who don’t meet Google’s perceived authority thresholds.
When AI Overviews are present, ad click-through rates can drop by up to 58%, as users get what they need from the AI summary without ever seeing the ads.
AI-generated content often sits above or between ads, making paid placements less prominent, especially for informational or research-based queries.
As non-branded queries become increasingly difficult to monetise, advertisers are increasing their spending on branded keywords, driving up costs.
Note:
While early data supports the trends listed above, this landscape is evolving quickly. Continued monitoring of traffic data, keyword rankings, and ad performance is essential to accurately measure the long-term effects of AI Overviews on North Queensland’s tourism industry.
