Google AI Overviews Cut English Wikipedia Traffic by 5%, Study Says

Image credit: Search Engine Journal

Google’s AI Overviews reduced monthly search referrals to English Wikipedia by approximately 5 percent after the feature became the default in the United States in May 2024, a University of Washington working paper estimated.

This reduction translates to about 100.27 million fewer search referrals each month for English Wikipedia, potentially totaling around 1.20 billion annually, according to the study.

The paper, authored by Mehrzad Khosravi and Hema Yoganarasimhan, utilized a difference-in-differences model to compare traffic to English Wikipedia with that of German and French Wikipedia editions, where AI Overviews were not yet the default.

The researchers last updated the working paper on Sept. 2, and it has not yet undergone peer review.

The Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia, reported an overall 8 percent decrease in human pageviews across all Wikipedia languages in October 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.

This broader decline was attributed partly to the rise of generative artificial intelligence and the evolving nature of social media, according to the Wikimedia Foundation.

Google introduced AI Overviews as a prominent feature in its search results, designed to provide summarized answers directly at the top of the search page.

Critics have raised concerns that these AI-generated summaries could reduce the necessity for users to click through to original source websites, thereby impacting their traffic and revenue.

Marshall Miller, a spokesperson for Google, did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the study’s findings.

The University of Washington study focused specifically on the impact on English Wikipedia, a major online repository of information frequently cited in search results.

The findings suggest a tangible effect of AI Overviews on web traffic to significant informational platforms.

Source: Search Engine Journal