AI Overviews cut the click-through rate on Germany’s top organic position by 59%, according to a SISTRIX analysis of more than 100 million keywords.
The data, published by founder Johannes Beus, puts numbers on a pattern that multiple studies have now documented across different markets. The dataset stands out for its size and for offering category-level detail in Germany.
What The Data Shows
SISTRIX found that AI Overviews appear on roughly 20% of all keywords in German search results. That’s close to SE Ranking’s finding of about 21% in the US market from November, though the datasets cover different markets and use different methodologies.
When AIOs are present, the CTR at position 1 drops from 27% to 11%. Across all positions, a typical search leads to an organic click 57% of the time without an AIO. With one, that falls to 33%.
About 79% of AIOs in German results appear above the organic listings. The rest show up further down the page, after the first few organic results.
SISTRIX estimates the total cost at 265 million lost organic clicks per month across the German market. Averaged across all keywords, including those without AIOs, that works out to a 6.6% click loss.
Impact Varies By Category
SISTRIX broke down the data by category, and the gap between the most-affected and the least-affected is large.
Parenting and baby content sites lost over 24% of their organic clicks. The health and home improvement categories also showed losses well above average.
At the other end, recipe sites like Chefkoch lost about 1%. News and media sites lost 7.37%, below the average. Shopping and travel booking sites were barely affected.
SISTRIX’s Beus wrote that informational queries are hit hardest. Transactional searches, where people need to do something that an AI summary can’t replace, are mostly spared.
Biggest Losers
In raw numbers, Wikipedia leads with an estimated 31.6 million lost clicks per month in Germany, representing about 5% of its Google traffic in that market. DocCheck (4.8 million), AOK (4 million), ADAC (3.1 million), and Pons (3.1 million) follow.
By percentage, specialized health portals are hit hardest. SISTRIX data shows lumedis.de losing 30% of its organic clicks, ratgeber-herzinsuffizienz.de losing 29%, and herzstiftung.de losing 29%.
Sites with the smallest losses include wetter.com (0.18%), Booking.com (0.46%), Idealo (0.85%), and Amazon (1.73%).
How This Compares To Other Markets
The German data aligns with other regions, but comparisons are limited by differing methods and keywords.
A Pew Research Center study of US searches found that users clicked 8% of the time when an AIO was present, compared to 15% without one. That’s a 47% relative reduction. A GrowthSRC analysis found a 32% drop at position 1 in the US.
The German numbers (59% loss at position 1) are steeper. Whether that reflects actual differences between the markets or differences in measurement methodology isn’t clear from the available data.
Why This Matters
The category-level breakdown is the most useful part of this data if you’re managing organic search in European markets. A blended 6% average click loss sounds manageable, but losing 24% of clicks in your specific vertical isn’t.
SISTRIX’s data shows search volume alone doesn’t reliably predict traffic where AIOs are active. Whether an AIO appears and impacts CTR in your category must now be part of keyword analysis.
Looking Ahead
SISTRIX previously reported 17% AIO prevalence in Germany in August, and that’s now 20%. Growth slowed, but the feature’s presence in German search results continues expanding.
SISTRIX is a commercial SEO analytics provider. The data in this analysis is drawn from their proprietary keyword database.
Featured Image: Lana Sham/Shutterstock
