Google Text Ad Click Share Rises Sharply In Some Verticals

An evaluation of 16,000 U.S. search queries discovered that textual content adverts gained 7 to 13 share factors of click on share between January 2025 and January 2026.

search engine optimization marketing consultant Aleyda Solis used Similarweb clickstream estimates to measure click on share throughout traditional natural outcomes, SERP options, textual content adverts, PLAs, and zero-click conduct.

She additionally tracked how typically AI Overviews appeared on the web page, however the dataset doesn’t attribute clicks to AI Overviews instantly.

What The Information Reveals

Textual content adverts gained between 7 and 13 share factors of click on share throughout each vertical Solis analyzed.

Within the headphones vertical (high 5,000 US queries), traditional natural click on share fell from 73% to 50%. Textual content adverts grew from 3% to 16%, and PLAs grew from 13% to twenty%. Mixed paid outcomes now seize 36% of clicks in that class, up from 16% a yr earlier.

Denims adopted the same sample. Traditional natural dropped from 73% to 56%, whereas mixed paid outcomes rose from 18% to 34%.

The web video games vertical noticed textual content adverts quadruple, from 3% to 13%, although the class had traditionally had virtually no advert presence.

In greeting playing cards, the one vertical the place complete clicks truly grew yr over yr, natural click on share nonetheless fell from 88% to 75% as textual content adverts practically doubled.

The AI Overview presence on SERPs grew throughout all 4 verticals. Headphones noticed AIO presence soar from 2.28% to 32.76%, and on-line video games went from 0.38% to 29.80%. However the evaluation measured how typically AIOs appeared on the web page, not what number of clicks they captured or prevented.

Solis wrote:

“After I began this analysis, my speculation was that textual content adverts and natural SERP options -not simply AI Overviews- might be vital culprits behind declining natural clicks. The information confirmed this throughout all 4 verticals, and the size of the textual content advert impression shocked me: they gained between +7 and +13 share factors of click on share in each vertical, making them the one largest measurable driver of the natural decline.”

Impartial Information Factors To The Identical Sample

The SERP-level click on knowledge traces up with what advertisers are seeing from the opposite aspect.

Tinuiti’s Q4 2025 benchmark report discovered Google textual content advert clicks hit a 19-quarter excessive in Tinuiti’s benchmark dataset, rising 9% yr over yr. General Google search advert spend rose 13% within the quarter, up from 10% in Q3.

Google’s earnings inform the same story. In its Q3 2025 report, Alphabet posted $102.3 billion in income, its first $100 billion quarter, with search advert income reaching $56.6 billion. CEO Sundar Pichai mentioned AI options had been increasing complete question quantity, together with business queries.

Extra queries and extra business intent create extra advert stock. The Similarweb knowledge is in keeping with extra clicks shifting to paid placements in these verticals.

Why This Issues

The business has spent a lot of the previous yr centered on AI Overviews as the reason for declining natural clicks.

AIO presence is rising, and Google reported 1.5 billion monthly AIO users as of Q1 2025. This knowledge signifies that textual content adverts are an more and more vital issue to think about.

When diagnosing drops in natural site visitors, it’s useful to have a look at the SERP composition on your business reasonably than assuming AI Overviews are the only cause.

Wanting Forward

Information from completely different sources point out that textual content adverts are gaining click on share.

Whether or not Google is actively increasing advert placements or advertisers are bidding extra aggressively on current stock is unknown.

What you might contemplate doing now’s monitoring SERP composition modifications in your personal vertical utilizing instruments that measure click on distribution reasonably than rankings alone.