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What We Learned From Studying Our Own “AI Proof” Keywords

What We Learned From Studying Our Own “AI Proof” Keywords

Ever since AI Overviews began decimating clicks in organic search, I’ve had two questions on my mind: “What kind of AI Overview keywords still drive clicks?”, and “Is there a way to engineer more clicks from zero-click search?”

I asked our ace data scientist, Xibeijia, if she could help me build a profile of “AI proof keywords”.

By “AI proof keywords” I mean queries that keep (or increase) their clicks, even when AI Overviews are present in the SERP.

Xibeijia ran a small-scale study on Ahrefs’ keywords to find out.

Read on to see what she found…

Ryan Law and Xibeijia Guan ran a (now famous) study back in April into the CTR impact of AI Overviews.

They found that pages lose 34.5% CTR, on average, when the AI Overview is present on the SERP.

Ahrefs AI Overview CTR study showing a CTR loss of 34.5% as a result of AI Overview presence

But, what about the keywords that don’t experience a CTR drop—what do they look like, and do they have anything in common?

ahrefs.com to see if we could learn anything from our own “AI proof keywords”.

It involved:

  1. Heading to the Keyword report in Google Search Console via Ahrefs
  2. Finding US keywords with 0-100% increase in CTR
  3. Setting a date filter for March 13th (this is when AI Overviews doubled, following the March Core Update)
  4. Applying the filter “impressions >= 100”
  5. Adding those keywords to a keyword list
  6. Filtering that list based on whether AI Overviews were present on the SERPs
Ahrefs GSC Keywords report showing keyword performance for the United States, filtered by impressions over 100 and improved CTR. The table displays keywords with metrics such as clicks, impressions, CTR, position, and associated URLs, for the time range 13 Mar – 4 Jul 2025.

Google Search Console performance in Ahrefs Dashboard

In total, 97 out of 1,393 keywords (~7%) also ranked in a SERP topped with an AI Overview.

As I said, the study was pretty small fry.

But, even so, Xibeijia spotted some interesting patterns in the data.

The keywords that saw stable or increased CTR fell into three categories:

1. They were “free tools” keywords

Xibeijia noticed that our “free tools” keywords didn’t experience as much of a CTR decline, despite growing AI Overview presence.

Meaning that utility pages like our Website Traffic Checker and our Free Keyword Generator still caused users to click.

Zero-click search summaries weren’t enough for users in this situation—they had a job-to-be-done, and they required a tool to do it—which meant they needed to click.

SERP overview comparison in Ahrefs for the keyword "free website traffic" between 10 Mar and 26 Jun 2025. The chart highlights that the Ahrefs traffic checker URL retained visibility but changed position slightly, while other URLs shifted or dropped out of the top 10.

Ahrefs SERP Overview in Keywords Explorer showing Ahrefs’ free tool—Traffic Checker—losing one organic position, but gaining an AI Overview citation, giving us two chances for clicks.

2. They didn’t rank originally

Some keywords didn’t rank on page one originally, but began ranking in the top 10 or in an AI Overview post-March 13th.

This reaffirms the importance of SEO.

If you optimize your content well, it is still possible to improve CTR in AI Overview SERPs—though some industries and content types will likely fare better than others.

Ahrefs SERP comparison for the keyword “gomovies alternative” between 13 Mar and 3 Jul 2025. Shows 10 changes in the top 10, with an Ahrefs URL appearing in the AI Overview box and improved rankings for several other URLs. Highlights include newly added and lost entries.

Ahrefs SERP Overview in Keywords Explorer showing one of Ahrefs’ “Top Websites” pages claiming position 7 and an AI Overview.

3. They appeared in SERPs where AI Overviews ranked below position one

As Patrick Stox shared recently on the Ahrefs blog, AI Overviews aren’t always in the first position in the SERPs—they can actually rank in positions one through six.

In fact, ~8.5% of the time they’re not in position one.

In our study, we saw either click-parity or click-growth across SERPs where AIOs ranked lower than position one.

In other words, our data indicates that when AI Overviews are not in position one, they don’t take as many clicks away.

SERP comparison in Ahrefs for the keyword "steamunlocked alternatives" between 11 Mar 2025 and 1 Jul 2025. It highlights 7 changes in the top 10, including position gains, losses, and an "AI overview" result appearing at position 6 on the latest date.

Ahrefs SERP Overview in Keywords Explorer showing one of Ahrefs’ “Top Websites” pages climbing one ranking in a SERP where the AI Overview ranks in position 6.

This is something we’re going to be testing in more detail, so watch out for an AI Overview position CTR study on our blog.

How to recreate this analysis using Ahrefs

First off, head to:

  1. Dashboard
  2. Projects
  3. Google Search Console
  4. Find your project

Ahrefs GSC project overview for the domain wordcount.com. The traffic graph shows a trend of increasing impressions and clicks from 2022 to mid-2025.

Then head to:

  1. Keywords report
  2. Select a region
  3. Set an impression threshold (e.g. >100)
  4. Set a positive CTR range (e.g. 0–100) and select “Improved”

Ahrefs GSC Keywords tab for “wordcount.com” showing keyword metrics filtered by impressions over 100 and improved CTR. Displays performance data for keywords like "sentence counter" and "word count" over the last 30 days, with a comparison to the previous period.

Export those keywords, open them in a spreadsheet, and copy all.

Ahrefs GSC Keywords view for “wordcount.com” with filters applied (impressions over 100, improved CTR). Displays metrics for individual keywords like "sentence counter" and "word count," including clicks, impressions, CTR, and performance changes. The export button is highlighted for downloading the data.

Then go to:

  1. Keywords Explorer
  2. Paste in your list
  3. Choose the same region
  4. Apply a “SERP Feature” filter
  5. Choose “Include > AI Overview”

Ahrefs Keywords Explorer filtered to display keywords containing the “AI Overview” SERP feature. The table includes data for high-volume keywords like "translate" and "english to spanish," showing metrics such as keyword difficulty (KD), search volume (SV), traffic potential (TP), and SERP features.

Finally, apply the filter “Target > [enter your domain] > show ranking positions”.

Ahrefs Keywords Explorer interface filtered to show keywords for which the domain “wordcount.com” ranks, including SERP features. Keywords shown include "how many works" and "calculate number of words," with ranking positions and metrics such as keyword difficulty and search volume.

This will show you your “AI proof” keywords—the ones retaining or gaining clicks, despite the presence of AI Overviews.

Check back on this report to see which types of keywords you can target to engineer more clicks.

Wrapping up

AI Overviews have undeniably changed the search landscape—often to the detriment of organic CTR—but our small-scale study shows that some keywords continue to drive clicks.

So, what makes a keyword “AI proof”? In our dataset, three factors stood out:

  • It promotes free tools: Utility-driven queries (like “free tools”) compel clicks—summaries alone aren’t always enough.
  • It didn’t rank highly to begin with: Ranking improvements still boost CTR—even in AI-dominated SERPs.
  • It has AIOs in lower positions: When AIOs don’t occupy the top slot in the SERPs, your page has more breathing room.

Even in zero-click search, some keywords still click.

So carry on tracking your keyword performance, and keep an eye on where AI Overviews appear in your SERPs.

Further reading

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