Matthew Widdop
Matty is a Digital SEO Executive at Intelligency, helping our clients to improve their digital performance. Matty is currently studying for his Level 3 Multi-Channel Marketer apprenticeship and has completed a Sport Journalism Degree at the University of Huddersfield.
Many in digital marketing predicted that AI search would spell the end of traditional Google Search, with websites losing out as a result. There’s been some evidence of this, most notably Reddit’s recent traffic collapse. But new data suggests the picture is more complicated, with organic click share on the rise.
Why is organic click share rising?
No one can say for certain yet, but the numbers are encouraging. According to Semrush’s State of Search Q3 2026 report, the share of US Google desktop searches leading to organic clicks on external websites rose from 39.74% in July to 46.11% in September, the highest level in the 15-month study.
One theory is that people are using Google differently. With AI Mode now built into search, users are treating Google more like an AI assistant, asking the longer, more detailed questions they might once have taken to ChatGPT or Claude. Better answers to richer queries give users more reason to click through to websites.
A second theory, also put forward by SparkToro’s Rand Fishkin, is that Google largely controls how much traffic reaches websites through how many links it includes in AI Overviews and AI Mode. On this view, the traffic hasn’t been won back through changing search habits. Google has simply chosen to give it back.
Is AI improving organic search performance?
The data suggests that AI in search could benefit website owners if Google chooses to make it so. But many businesses still see AI Mode and chatbots as a threat to their long-term viability, and Reddit is the latest example.
Reddit, the discussion platform where users ask each other questions and share advice and opinions on almost any topic, is blaming Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode for its traffic collapse. Its argument is that AI-generated answers now sit at the top of the results, pushing everything else, including Reddit threads, further down the page. Users get their answer without needing to click through to a human discussion.
The consequences have been severe. Reddit’s share price fell around 30% in a single day after CEO Steve Huffman confirmed its Google search referrals had dropped by more than a million a week in October.
What have we learnt?
AI is clearly changing how people search, but whether that’s a net positive or negative for websites remains to be seen. The Semrush figures are encouraging, but they cover desktop only, where click-through rates tend to be higher than on mobile, and two months of growth doesn’t make a lasting trend. Other studies that include mobile still show most Google searches ending without a click.
Reddit’s experience also shows that rising averages don’t mean every site benefits. Clicks may be returning overall while being redistributed away from certain types of sites. If Fishkin is right that Google can turn the traffic tap on and off at will, relying on Google alone is a risk. The safest approach is to keep investing in strong SEO while building visibility in AI answers and creating direct relationships with your audience through email, social and brand search, so your business isn’t at the mercy of the next change to the results page.
