Organic search clicks are shrinking across major verticals — and it’s not just because of Google’s AI Overviews.
- Classic organic click share fell sharply across headphones, jeans, greeting cards, and online games queries in the U.S., new Similarweb data comparing January 2025 to January 2026 shows.
- The biggest winner: text ads.
Why we care. You aren’t just competing with AI Overviews. You’re competing with Google’s aggressive expansion of paid search real estate. Across every vertical analyzed, text ads gained more click share than any other measurable surface. In product categories, paid listings now capture roughly one-third of all clicks. As a result, several brands that are losing organic visibility are increasing their paid investment.
By the numbers. Across four verticals, text ads showed the most consistent, measurable click-share gains.
- Classic organic lost 11 to 23 percentage points of click share year over year.
- Text ads gained 7 to 13 percentage points in every case.
- Paid click share doubled in major product categories.
- AI Overviews SERP presence rose ~10 to ~30 percentage points, depending on the vertical.
Classic organic is down everywhere. Year-over-year classic organic click share declined across all four verticals. Headphones saw the steepest drop. Even online games — historically organic-heavy — lost double digits. In two verticals (headphones, jeans), total clicks also fell.
- Headphones: Down from 73% to 50%
- Jeans: Down from 73% to 56%
- Greeting cards: Down from 88% to 75%
- Online games: Down from 95% to 84%
Text ads are the biggest winner. Text ads gained share in every vertical; no other surface showed this level of consistent growth:
- Headphones: Up from 3% to 16%
- Online games: Up from 3% to 13%
- Jeans: Up from 7% to 16%
- Greeting cards: Up from 9% to 16%
In product categories, PLAs compounded the shift:
- Headphones: Up from 16% to 36%
- Jeans: Up from 18% to 34%
- Greeting cards: Up from 10% to 19%
AI Overviews surged unevenly. The presence of Google AI Overviews expanded sharply, but varied by vertical:
- Headphones: 2.28% → 32.76%
- Online games: 0.38% → 29.80%
- Greeting cards: 0.94% → 21.97%
- Jeans: 2.28% → 12.06%
Zero-click searches are high — and mostly stable. Except for online games, zero-click rates didn’t change dramatically:
- Headphones: 63% (flat)
- Jeans: Down from 65% to 61%
- Online games: Up from 43% to 50%
- Greeting cards: Up from 51% to 53%
Brands losing organic traffic are buying it back. In headphones:
- Amazon increased paid clicks 35% while losing organic volume.
- Walmart nearly 6x’d paid clicks.
- Bose boosted paid 49%.
In jeans:
- Gap grew paid clicks 137% to become the top paid player.
- True Religion entered the paid top tier without top-10 organic presence.
In online games:
- CrazyGames quadrupled paid clicks while organic declined.
- Arkadium entered paid after losing 68% of organic clicks.
The result? We’re seeing a self-reinforcing cycle, according to the study’s author, Aleyda Solis:
- Organic share declines.
- Competition intensifies.
- More brands increase paid budgets.
- Paid surfaces capture more clicks.
About the data. This analysis used Similarweb data to examine SERP composition and click distribution for the top 5,000 U.S. queries in headphones, jeans, and online games, and the top 956 queries in greeting cards and ecards. It compares January 2025 to January 2026, tracking how clicks shifted across classic organic results, organic SERP features, text ads, PLAs, zero-click searches, and AI Overviews.
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