AI in Search is driving more queries and higher quality clicks

Skepticism about Google’s claims

• Many commenters doubt Google’s “more queries, higher-quality clicks, happier users” narrative, calling it marketing spin or “gaslighting.”
• Some note that other reports claim clicks are down, and argue “more queries” may simply reflect poorer results requiring multiple attempts.
• Others say “higher-quality clicks” could just mean fewer but more desperate clicks after AI answers mislead or fail.

How people actually use AI search

• Several describe using AI overviews as a first-pass to identify terms, then running follow-up traditional searches (e.g., discovering “basin wrench,” then searching where to buy it).
• A sizable group say they now stop at the AI summary most of the time and rarely click through, especially for low-stakes facts.
• A minority explicitly ignore AI boxes and scroll straight to organic results or use “-ai” to suppress them.

Accuracy, prompting, and the “rum is healthy” example

• A long subthread dissects Google’s answer to “why is rum healthy,” which cheerfully lists dubious health benefits.
• Some argue this is just summarizing existing SEO junk; others counter that the model should be more critical and not amplify pseudoscience.
• People highlight how phrasing (“why is X healthy” vs “is X healthy”) steers the answer, exposing “garbage in, garbage out” behavior and weak disclaimers.

Impact on publishers, SEO, and knowledge creation

• Many see AI overviews as cannibalizing the sites they summarize, especially independent and niche content, while giving little back.
• There’s debate over whether only “SEO spam” suffers or whether genuinely high-effort sites and specialty resources are also being starved of traffic and incentives.
• Some content creators in the thread say they feel exploited and are reducing free output; others argue that public content was always reusable and new volunteers will fill gaps.

Ads, incentives, and long‑term ecosystem

• Commenters question how Google will monetize AI answers (likely embedding ads) and what incentive remains for sites to expose data if referrals drop.
• Several lament that Google created the SEO mess and is now “fixing” it in a way that centralizes more value and control inside Google itself.