Industries Affected by Google AI Overviews in SEO 2025

Remember when search results were just a clean stack of 10 blue links? Those days are long gone—and your old metrics have probably illustrated this shift.

Google’s AI Overviews (AIOs) now pull insights from multiple sources and present them as a single, on-page answer. These “zero-click” summaries give users the information they want without ever visiting a website.

Because AIOs rely on authoritative sources and condense content into short, digestible explanations, even well-ranked pages can lose traffic if their insights are fully captured in the overview. At the same time, brands that aren’t featured in AIOs risk being overlooked by their target audience and missing key share of mind touchpoints.

The challenge for brands today: Striking the right balance between driving traditional SEO performance and ensuring visibility within AI Overviews.

Performing in traditional organic search results alone isn’t enough—brands must also position themselves as the authority AI chooses to cite.
Brands that succeed in both areas maintain visibility, credibility, and long-term relevance.

Let’s break down which industries have been most affected by Google AI Overviews in 2025’s SEO landscape.

Top Sectors That Felt the Traffic Pinch

Sectors that rely on top-of-funnel, informational content—like health, science, and educational blogs—saw the biggest traffic losses.

Their content often consists of well-documented, consensus-based answers, making it easy for AI to synthesize and feature in AIOs.

Here’s data that elaborates further (from Semrush, SellersCommerce, and Wordstream):

• Healthcare, Sciences, and IT own the highest share of keywords generating AIOs.
• AIOs are estimated to decrease clicks by nearly 35% — or more, illustrating Google AIOs’ impact on CTR.
• “Top-ranking sites are losing around 7% of clicks” for specific searches. Some sites have reported traffic drops of 20–40%.
• Almost all keywords that generate AI Overviews are informational in nature.

Each industry faces unique challenges. Below, we outline the pain points and adaptations that can help organizations build and maintain optimal traffic performance.

Health and Sciences

• The challenge: These industries generate many “fact-seeking” queries that require authoritative, high-trust, non-commercial answers. Yet they often lack consensus on the correct information. So when Google condenses content into an AI Overview, the risk of misinformation and regulatory issues rises.
• The adaptation: Focus on hyper-specific, niche content that AI cannot easily aggregate. Expert commentary, case studies, and specialized research help these sites maintain visibility.

IT and B2B Tech

• The challenge: AI Overviews are increasingly capturing answers to highly-specific technical questions, which can reduce traffic to detailed guides and tutorials. The IT and B2B technology sector is seeing steady AIO growth, particularly for how-to and technical implementation queries.
• The adaptation: Focus on creating deep, niche content that addresses complex technical problems, emerging technologies, and coding challenges. Establish authority through thought leadership, expert insights, and step-by-step tutorials that AI cannot easily condense.

Sectors That Didn’t Feel the Traffic Pinch as Much

Some industries haven’t seen the same traffic drops as others—but that doesn’t mean they’re in the clear. As AI and traditional search continue to evolve, the smartest move is to optimize for both. Search real estate is shifting, and a hybrid strategy is becoming essential (more on this in a minute).

A few patterns stand out from Google AI Overview statistics:

Industries driven by commercial or transactional intent are seeing slower AIO adoption. In fact, only 10% of commercial or transactional keywords generate AIOs, largely because AI is less likely to replace clicks when users are ready to buy.

E-commerce and Retail

• The challenge: Transactional queries (like “buy X online”) are generally a “safe” target, but comparison content—think “best laptops” or “top headphones”—can be easily summarized by AI. This may reduce click-through rates from search results.
• The adaptation: Optimize product pages with structured data, reviews, and user-generated content. Video content and interactive comparisons help differentiate your pages from AI summaries. It’s also important to inform the comparative content in AI overviews so that your brand is represented accurately to potential customers.

Technical SEO and structured data can help content stand out.

News and Media Publishers

• The challenge: News and sports searches are almost entirely focused on up-to-date, time-sensitive information. The slower growth of AI Overviews in these categories suggests that Google remains cautious about summarizing breaking news or live events.
• The adaptation: Focus on building direct audience relationships and providing unique, original coverage. Exclusive reporting and in-depth analysis offer value that AI cannot yet replicate, keeping readers engaged and maintaining traffic.

The Bottom Line: SEO Is Shifting, Not Disappearing

Google AI Overviews’ impact on search is becoming impossible for brands to ignore.

AI is certainly changing what it means to be visible online. But this isn’t the end of SEO. It’s simply evolving, changing the way people find information.
Brands that combine traditional SEO foundations with AI-aware strategies (modular content, clear structure, semantic optimization, and strong E-E-A-T) will become the trusted voices that AI chooses to reference.

Learn more about AI Search Engine Optimization strategies.

Let’s Help You Stay Afloat Amid the AI Tides

How has AI search impacted your digital marketing? Get in touch for an opportunity analysis today, and see how your content can stay front and center in an AI-powered search world.