The Near Memo Trust Before Clicks: What Google’s AIO UX Study Reveals About Real User Behavior
🎙️ Trust Before Clicks: What Real Users Do With Google’s AI Overviews
We’ve all seen the headlines: Google’s AI Overviews (AIOs) are changing search forever. But how do real people actually use them?
In this episode of The Near Memo, we dive into the first behavioral UX study of Google’s AIOs, conducted by Kevin Indig and Eric Van Buskirk. The results? Totally eye-opening—and a little humbling for SEOs.
This wasn’t another clickstream analysis. This was watching users scroll, click (or not), skim, and decide across 8 real-world search tasks. Think local searches, health queries, shopping comparisons—all captured through screen recordings, scroll logs, and detailed annotations.
📊 Here’s What They Found:
1. Clicks Are Not Conversions
Only about 1 in 5 “final answers” came from AIOs. Most users finished their journey with traditional organic results, Reddit, YouTube, or maps. Clicking doesn’t always mean trusting—or converting.
2. Trust Comes Before Relevance
Users no longer scan the SERP for “the best answer.” They scan for brands they recognize and sources they trust. If they don’t know you, they scroll right past—even if you’re ranked #1.
3. Reviews Are the Ultimate Shortcut
In both local and shopping searches, people hunted for review stars. They scrolled back and forth just to find them. The takeaway? Reviews aren’t just helpful—they’re directional beacons in search.
4. Most People Skim AIOs
A whopping 86% of users skimmed AIOs. Unless the query was high-risk (think: health or finance), they treated the AI summary like a TL;DR intro and kept scrolling.
5. Risk = Depth
The more serious the query, the deeper the engagement. People spent more time reading, clicked more links to fact-check, and acted with more skepticism.
6. AIO Links Are Largely Ignored
Those little citation icons in AIOs? Most users didn’t touch them. Even large panels full of links got barely any engagement. Why? Because people didn’t perceive them as useful or actionable.
7. Users Are Skeptical—But Still Satisfied
Despite checking citations and bouncing around the page, users still reported high satisfaction with AIOs. Trust is sticky. If something “feels” complete, users stop looking—even if it’s flawed.
8. Google Benefits from the Illusion
Kevin and Eric argue that Google has long benefited from the mistaken belief that it’s the whole journey. In reality, search behavior is multi-touch, cross-platform, and often ends somewhere else entirely.
🎯 Final Thought: Trust Is the New CTR
If your brand isn’t already in the user’s mind, your perfect answer won’t matter.
Clicks are a vanity metric. Final answers are what really count.
To win now, SEOs must:
- Build brand trust before the search starts
- Be visible across platforms (Reddit, YouTube, forums)
- Focus on reviews and SERP presence
- Understand how different search intents drive behavior
This is Part One of a two-part conversation. In Part Two, we unpack the strategic takeaways and what marketers should do next.
Because in the era of AI Overviews, it’s not about ranking first—it’s about being the last place users need to go.
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