AI Tools Now Handle 1 in 4 Search Queries
Roughly 25% of informational queries now get answered by AI tools before a user ever visits a website.
~25%
of informational queries resolved by AI without a site visit
Estimated share as of early 2025 based on aggregated search behavior reporting
3×
higher citation rate for sites with structured schema markup
Sites with clean JSON-LD and entity definitions are cited more often in AI-generated answers
62%
of SEOs report declining click-through rates on informational content
Consistent trend across multiple industry surveys conducted in 2024–2025
The shift is not uniform ... navigational and transactional queries still drive clicks ... but informational intent is being intercepted at scale. For content-heavy sites, this means a meaningful portion of their potential audience is getting answers without converting into sessions. The sites that adapt by making their data machine-readable are positioning themselves as the source AI pulls from, not the destination that gets skipped.
Source
Aggregated from industry reporting: SparkToro, Search Engine Land, BrightEdge 2024–2025
2025-Q1