Google Shopping ads CTR climbs as AI Overviews cuts impressions

Google Shopping ads’ median click-through rate rose from about 1.20% to nearly 1.55% while impressions fell from roughly 1.85 million to 1.4 million between mid-2025 and mid-2026, per an analysis of 175 billion impressions by Mike Ryan of Smarter Ecommerce, shared on LinkedIn and reported by Search Engine Roundtable. The pattern runs opposite the “crocodile effect” seen in organic search, where AI Overviews have driven up impressions while cutting clicks. Ryan theorizes Google may be serving AI Overviews more often on lower-click-probability queries, which would lift Shopping CTR by shrinking the impression pool — an explanation Google has not confirmed.