SourceSparkToro (data from Datos)
PublishedJuly 2, 2024
TypeClickstream study
SampleDatos U.S. and EU clickstream panel, September 2022 to May 2024
The short version: Measure visibility, not only clicks: impressions and brand searches matter when most searches never click.
What they studied
SparkToro used panel data from Datos to see what happens after a Google search in the U.S. and the EU.
Key findings
- 58.5% of U.S. Google searches and 59.7% of EU searches ended without a click on any result.
- For every 1,000 U.S. Google searches, 360 clicks went to the open web (374 in the EU).
- Nearly 30% of U.S. clicks went to Google-owned properties such as YouTube, Google Images and Maps.
Key learnings
- Measure visibility, not only clicks: impressions and brand searches matter when most searches never click.
- YouTube and Google's own surfaces are part of search. Video and Maps listings can win attention the blue links cannot.
Things to keep in mind
- Clickstream panels are samples of users who agreed to be tracked, and Datos is owned by Semrush.
- Data runs to May 2024, the month AI Overviews launched in the U.S., so it mostly shows the world before them.
- We read this study through Search Engine Land's report of it.
Read it alongside
- Google users click less when an AI summary appears (Pew Research Center, 2025)
- AI Overviews and click-through rate: 15 months of client data (Seer Interactive, 2025)
Source
Clickstream study by Rand Fishkin, published by SparkToro (data from Datos), July 2, 2024.
We read the source and checked every figure on this page against it on October 13, 2026. Summaries and learnings are ours. Spotted an error? Tell us.
More research like this in SEO Insights Central.