{"id":30027,"date":"2026-05-07T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitad.ca\/?p=30027"},"modified":"2026-05-03T23:18:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T03:18:53","slug":"state-of-ai-overviews-seo-impact-quebec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitad.ca\/en\/state-of-ai-overviews-seo-impact-quebec\/","title":{"rendered":"Digitad Study: What 419 Websites Revealed About AI Overviews\u2019 Impact in Quebec"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

About 2 years ago, AI Overviews<\/strong> started taking over Google\u2019s SERP and, since then\u2026 Positions 4 to 10 have lost around 70%<\/strong> of their click share!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s right, 70%<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The search results page no longer holds the same value it once did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For our Montreal SEO agency<\/strong><\/a> (and the businesses we work with), this raises some very<\/em> real questions: are people even still clicking on organic results? Is the behaviour and impact of AIOs observed in Quebec the same as in other markets (like the US)?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And most importantly, where are those clicks actually going today?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u26a0\ufe0f Spoiler:<\/strong> to the Top 3 (and to AI \ud83d\ude43)! According to our study, the first three organic positions now capture almost 9 out of 10 organic clicks in Quebec \ud83e\udd2f<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s without factoring in all<\/em> the visibility<\/strong> now happening directly inside AI Overviews (which, according to Search Engine Journal, appear on 42%<\/strong> of Google queries and reduce organic clicks by 38%<\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Comparison<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To answer this using data from our own backyard, our team of experts analyzed 10.4 million clicks<\/strong> and 54 million impressions<\/strong> from 419 websites owned by Quebec-based SMEs<\/strong> over a 16-month period (October 2024 to January 2026).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take a closer look\u2026 <\/em>\ud83d\udd0d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Study summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Digitad\u2019s 2026 State of AI Overviews Impact on SEO in Quebec Report<\/strong> looks at how organic clicks spread across Google\u2019s first page, as AI Overviews, ads, local results and other SERP features take up more and more space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Overview<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Why?<\/strong> Our SEO strategists and digital marketing consultants<\/strong><\/a> wanted to understand exactly<\/em> how traffic is being redistributed in Canada\u2019s French-speaking province (using Quebec-first data, then comparing it against major US and international benchmarks).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This analysis shows that page one<\/strong> is no longer a level playing field. Top positions still capture a massive share of clicks, but positions 4 to 10 have lost a huge chunk of their former value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On top of that, a large share of traffic is now going to \u201czero-click\u201d searches<\/strong> (which reportedly rise from 54% to 72% when an AIO appears, according to Search Engine Journal).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, did you know that SERPs with Ads + AI Overviews increased by more than 394%<\/strong><\/a> last year?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attention is now turning toward AI Overviews themselves (where being cited generates 120% more clicks per impression than not being cited, according to Seer Interactive).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To drive meaningful organic traffic today, businesses need to compete for top 3 positions, target long-tail searches, build stronger brand awareness and create clear, structured, credible content that AI-generated answers are more likely to cite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6 Key Findings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Digitad\u2019s<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

89.2% of page one clicks go to the top three results<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The first three organic results now capture (almost) 9 out of 10 clicks on Google\u2019s first page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

63.6% of organic clicks go to position #1 alone<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The first position dominates page one. On its own, it captures nearly two thirds of the organic clicks observed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Position #1 CTR has only dropped by 8% since AI Overviews arrived in Quebec<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Position #1 CTR is about 8% lower since AI Overviews arrived in Quebec. By comparison, Ahrefs and Semrush report click drops of up to 58% internationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zero-click searches rise from 54% to 72% when an AI Overview appears<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

AI Overviews don\u2019t just push clicks higher up the SERP\u2026 they can also make users less likely to click out of Google! Search Engine Journal confirms our findings<\/strong><\/a>: <\/strong>zero-click searches increased from 54% to 72% when AI Overviews were displayed (meaning they drive 33% more zero-click searches and 38% fewer clicks to organic links in the SERP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Positions 4 to 10 have lost around 70% of their click share (and now capture only 10.8% of clicks)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Before AI Overviews arrived, these positions generally represented between 30% and 45% of click share. Today, they represent only 10.8% (about 3.5 times less than before).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Position #7 has an average CTR of only 2.6%<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Being visible on page one no longer guarantees meaningful traffic. In position #7, only about 2.6 impressions out of 100 generate a click.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Methodology at a Glance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Methodology<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our web analytics agency<\/strong><\/a>, Digitad, analyzed Google Search Console data stored in our internal data warehouse, affectionately dubbed the \u201cBRAIN\u201d \ud83e\udde0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data was grouped by organic position, then analyzed through two main lenses: average CTR per position and the share of page one clicks captured by each position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study covers:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n