Search consultant Glenn Gabe, who runs G-Squared Interactive, published Search Console charts from five unnamed sites showing their French Google traffic after Google launched AI Overviews, AI Mode, Search Live and a new search box in France on July 22, 2026. At one site, daily clicks fell from about 750 to about 400 while impressions held steady, and click-through rate dropped from 2% to 1.1%, Gabe wrote.
A second site, in a health, finance or safety (YMYL) category, went from about 80 clicks a day to about 25. A third YMYL site saw click-through rate fall from 1.2% to 0.4%, with a second drop around August 13 that Gabe believes came from Google extending AI Overviews to more queries; Google has not confirmed that. The other two sites saw little or no change. "Although some believe all sites are dropping in clicks, that's not the case," Gabe wrote.
PPC Land notes the sites were selected from an unstated total, there is no control series, and Search Console's generative AI report combines AI Overviews and AI Mode impressions and shows no clicks or queries. Ranking movement and a Google spam update also overlap the August drops.
Ahrefs reported in September that French domains where more than 20% of queries triggered an AI Overview saw click-through rate fall 23.1% in the first nine days, with 82.2% of them losing click-through rate. Neither analysis measures paid search in France.