AI Overviews cut clicks, but lost traffic matches on‑site engagement
A randomized field experiment shows AI Overviews suppress about 40% of organic clicks, yet bounce rates, time on site, and back‑button returns stay statistically identical. The missing traffic isn’t low‑engagement "bounce clicks" as Google claims, but users with comparable engagement. This undermines Google’s quality‑click defense and signals a real traffic hit for publishers.