Data from Google Search Console reveals some big drops in clicks and click-through rate based on AIOs rolling out in France on July 22, 2026. But not all sites dropped. You might be surprised by what the data shows.
Google rolled out its generative AI features in France on July 22, 2026, which includes AI Overviews and AI Mode. Since there was a distinct date for the rollout, and we now have Generative AI reporting in GSC, it’s the clearest date we have for seeing the change roll out. In other words, we can see directly how AI Overviews are impacting clicks, impressions, click-through rate (CTR), and position in Search Console (for France).
I’ve been monitoring this across the sites in GSC and it was super-interesting to see the impact. For many sites, you can see the metrics change immediately on July 22, 2026. In addition, although some believe all sites are dropping in clicks, that’s not the case. I’ll cover more about that soon.
Note, ahrefs provided some data back in September based on sites they are monitoring, but there weren’t examples from GSC. You should read that post as well, but this post is focused on GSC data, specific examples of impact to sites, etc.
Below, I’ll cover several examples of how AIOs are impacting sites in France based on the July 22, 2026 rollout. Then I’ll cover some important bullets for site owners about the change, what they can do now to analyze their own data, some flags they should be aware of, and more. Needless to say, I was eager to dig in now that we have several months of data.
Mining French AIO Data in Google Search Console:
First, here is the process I used to analyze the data in GSC. I filtered the Performance reporting in GSC by France and first checked the Gen-AI reporting to see the surge. That report contains data from Google’s generative AI experiences, which includes AIOs and AI Mode.
Next, I switched to a second window to check the Performance reporting (Web Search) and kept the filter for France active. When doing that, I often saw clear impact starting on July 22, 2026 when AIOs rolled out in France. And then I checked the impact to impressions, click-through rate (CTR), and average position.
I’ll provide five examples below. And again, although you would think all sites dropped in clicks, that’s actually not the case. Let’s jump in.
Case One: Clear Impact As AIOs Surge Over Time
I don’t know if there is a clearer example of the impact of AIOs on a site than this one. You can see generative AI impressions surge on July 22, 2026 and then continue to increase over time. And the impact to clicks was immediate and severe.
First, here is the surge in generative AI impressions:
And right when AIOs roll out, clicks drop from about 750 per day to about 400 per day. So almost cut in half…
Impressions remain stable, so the site is still ranking, but just saw a big hit to clicks.
Click-through rate (CTR) reveals a big drop. A 2% CTR drops to 1.1% overnight. Again, this was a clear example of the impact of AIOs on traffic.
And you can see position start to wobble right when 7/22 arrives. I saw this with every site I analyzed that saw heavy impact based on AIOs rolling out.
Since a citation in AIOs only receives an impression when it’s visible, the wobbling could be the result of AIOs that are collapsed by default. So unless someone expands the AIO, the citations in AIOs might only be registering an impression sometimes (when expanded). And if they also rank in the 10-blue links, then that listing would register the impression with a lower position. I believe that is what’s happening here (and across sites I analyzed).
Case Two: Surge in Gen-AI Impressions, Relatively Big Drop In Clicks, Average Position ‘Wobbles’
This is a YMYL site showing clear impact from AIOs rolling out in the French SERPs. It doesn’t have as much traffic as the first site, but you can definitely see the impact once AIOs roll out on July 22, 2026. And there’s an interesting twist with impressions. I’ll cover that below.
First, the surge in generative AI impressions starting right on July 22, 2026.
And right when that happens, clicks dropped from about 80 per day in France to about 25 per day. BTW, notice the second drop around 8/10 or so. I’ll cover more about double drops in the next case.
Impressions dropped pretty heavily but about a week prior to the rollout. That impressions drop occurred in other countries as well, but traffic actually went up during that timeframe (in some countries outside of France). It’s a weird anomaly for that site in particular.
CTR was stable since impressions dropped. Again, a weird GSC scenario with impressions and CTR when you can clearly see generative AI impressions surge and clicks drop (right on 7/22).
And you can see the clear change in position right on 7/22 (the ‘wobbling’ effect I mentioned earlier). I saw this across every site I analyzed that was seeing heavy impact from AIOs rolling out.
Case Three: Heavy Impact For A YMYL Site With An Interesting Double Drop
I saw an interesting scenario play out while analyzing several YMYL sites. There was an initial drop in clicks when AIOs rolled out, but then another drop a few weeks later. I believe this was Google rolling out AIOs for additional query types after the initial rollout testing.
For example, maybe Google was more cautious for sensitive YMYL queries when they first rolled out on 7/22/26 and then decided to roll out AIOs for more queries a few weeks later. I saw this trend across several YMYL sites. For this site, there was a distinct drop initially, but then another one about two weeks later.
First, the surge in generative AI impressions:
Next, the double drop in clicks (notice the second drop around 8/13).
Impressions were stable throughout the rollout and then saw a drop in early September.
Click-through rate drops heavily when AIOs roll out on 7/22. A CTR of 1.2% drops to .4% after the rollout. A huge drop.
And like I have explained before, average position wobbles heavily as soon as the rollout happens on July 22, 2026. Again, I saw this for every site I analyzed with heavy impact from the AIO rollout.
Case Four: Very Little AIO Impact, If Any
I mentioned earlier that not every site dropped when AIOs rolled out. Here is a good example. You can see generative AI impressions surge, but clicks remain strong over time. There is a drop during the summer months (even before AI Overviews roll out), but then clicks and impressions come back by early September.
Clicks remain strong over time:
Impressions are relatively stable over time:
Click-through rate is strong throughout the rollout.
And position wobbles heavily once AIOs roll out, which again, I saw across almost every site I analyzed. That can be due to how citations gain impressions and position in GSC based on AIOs being collapsed or expanded. That said, this site saw no drop in clicks really based on AIOs rolling out.
Case Five: Another Stable Site When AIOs Roll Out
I wanted to provide another example of a site that remained stable traffic-wise after AIOs rolled out. First, you can see generative AI impressions surge with the rollout.
Clicks remain stable for the most part throughout the rollout.
Impressions are relatively stable as well.
Click-through rate is relatively stable (the drop is earlier in July before AIOs roll out). Then CTR increases again to its normal level.
And average position wobbles right when AIOs roll out (like the other examples I provided). That said, it doesn’t wobble as much as some of the others. This could be the effect of more people expanding the AIOs and GSC registering the higher position, or the AIOs could be expanding by default for more of the queries.
Check Your Own Sites in Google Search Console today:
Again, it was super interesting digging into the data based on AIOs rolling out in France in July. Some sites were heavily impacted, but some were not impacted much. Below I provided some bullets for site owners that are ready to analyze their own reporting. I recommend digging in soon. Again, we’ve never had a clear date like this from what I can remember.
- July 22, 2026 is the date that AIOs launched in France so that’s the date to check closely for when big changes could have occurred.
- When you filter by France in the Generative AI reporting, that filter will remain in place across the other reports. That’s helpful and saves time…
- Check the queries that dropped in clicks and CTR and then check the SERPs. See what is actually going on with AIOs. Are they collapsed by default, are some important AIOs expanded by default (which take up a much larger amount of real estate pushing the 10-blue links down the page)? Google rolled that out in late August so you may see more impact for those queries.
- Position can be impacted by collapsed versus expanded AI Overviews. I believe that’s why average position ‘wobbles’ so much when AIOs rolled out on 7/22/26. Keep that in mind when analyzing the data.
- Identify the queries and topics where AIOs might not be triggering (at least yet). That can be very important for your content team.
- Communicate the changes you are seeing to key stakeholders to make sure everyone knows the impact to traffic based on AIOs rolling out in France (and to better understand the impact that might have occurred in other countries).
- Note, seasonal traffic can yield a tricky situation. It might look like traffic remained the same or increased, but in reality, you might normally see increased traffic in the fall. Make sure to check previous year stats, which might reveal a big drop this year as AIOs rolled out, or it might not. I saw that scenario with some sites that typically see surges in the fall…
- Query-wise, there are many ways to slice and dice the data (which is super important). All queries are not equal… Branded and navigational queries will yield higher CTRs than non-branded queries, some queries trigger a collapsed AIO where others trigger a fully expanded one, so on and so forth. You will need to dig into the data and spend some time understanding what is being displayed and the potential impact to traffic.
Summary: AIOs roll out in France – The clearest example yet of AIOs rolling out and the impact to clicks and CTR.
From what I can remember, we’ve never had such a clear date of AIOs rolling out in a specific country. And that means you can dig in today to see the impact of AI Overviews rolling out in France. July 22, 2026 is the date, and the data is waiting for you. I’m excited to hear what you find. Definitely ping me on social media with what you find. You might see big drops, or you might not. Good luck.
GG