June 11, 2026 More than two-thirds of Google searches in the United States ended without a click during the first four months of 2026, according to new research from SparkToro based on Similarweb clickstream data. The study found that 68.01 per cent of searches resulted in no clicks, up from 60.45 per cent in 2024.
The findings suggest that users are increasingly finding answers directly within Google rather than visiting external websites. At the same time, the share of searches generating at least one click fell by 9.51 percentage points between 2024 and 2026, representing a 22.9 per cent decline.
SparkToro’s analysis counted clicks to organic results, advertisements, and Google-owned services such as Maps and YouTube, while excluding follow-up searches conducted within Google itself. Meanwhile, searches that led to another Google search increased by 7.2 percentage points over the same period. According to SparkToro, this reflects Google’s growing ability to answer questions directly while encouraging users to continue refining searches on its own platform.
The research points to AI Overviews as a likely contributor to the trend. AI-generated summaries now appear on more than 20 per cent of Google searches, according to the study. When AI Overviews are displayed, click-through rates drop by nearly 60 per cent.
AI Mode appears to have had only a limited effect during the study period, which covered January through April 2026. SparkToro found that only 0.34 per cent of searches transitioned into AI Mode during that time. However, Google said during its I/O 2026 conference that AI Mode had surpassed 1 billion monthly users and that usage was more than doubling each quarter.
SparkToro noted that zero-click search behavior has been increasing for years, although historical comparisons should be made carefully because the company’s studies have relied on different data providers and methodologies over time.
Previous studies found that 49 per cent of Google searches ended without a click in 2019, rising to 64.82 per cent in 2020. In 2024, the figure was measured at 58.5 per cent in the United States and 59.7 per cent in the European Union. The study’s authors said the data highlights how Google is increasingly satisfying user needs directly within search results rather than sending traffic to outside websites.
For publishers, SparkToro co-founder Rand Fishkin said SEO remains valuable, particularly for branded searches, local business queries and high-intent transactional searches. However, he suggested that many publishers may also need to invest more heavily in brand awareness and audience engagement beyond Google search traffic.
The study used desktop and mobile web panel data from Similarweb covering U.S. Google searches between January and April 2026.
