Short version: Google's AI answers now sit above the links for many searches in Australia, and ads moved inside AI Mode here on 28 October 2026. The best available studies show fewer clicks to websites, but the visitors who do arrive from AI tools are often ready to act. For small and medium businesses, the job is shifting from "rank and get traffic" to "be the business the AI names, then convert the enquiry".
How AI search arrived in Australia
- October 2024: Google rolled out AI Overviews in Australia, putting AI-generated answers above the standard results for many queries (ABC News).
- 8 October 2025: AI Mode, Google's chat-style search, began rolling out to Australians. Google says early testers were asking queries two to three times longer than traditional searches (Google for Business).
- 28 October 2026: Google expanded ads in AI Mode to Australia and other English-language markets (Google).
Australians are already using AI tools to look things up. An ANU survey of 3,577 people in October 2025 found 48.6% of Australians had used generative AI. That rises to 53.2% in capital cities and more than 70% of people under 35. Searching for facts or information was the most common use (ANU, AI Adoption in Australia, May 2026).
What the data says about clicks
There isn't much Australia-specific click data yet, so the most reliable studies come from the US and global datasets. They point the same way:
- Pew Research Center tracked the browsing of 900 US adults in March 2025. Users clicked a traditional result on 8% of searches with an AI summary, against 15% without one. Only 1% clicked a link inside the summary itself. Users also ended their browsing session more often after an AI summary (26% vs 16%) (Pew, July 2025).
- Ahrefs found AI Overviews cut clicks to the top-ranking page by 58% on December 2025 data, up from 34.5% in April 2025 (Ahrefs).
- Similarweb reported that zero-click searches, where the user never visits a website, rose from 56% to 69% between May 2024 and May 2025 (Search Engine Roundtable, reporting Similarweb).
Put simply, ranking first is worth less than it was two years ago, especially for simple informational questions.
But AI visitors can be high-intent
The traffic that does come through from AI tools is small but often valuable:
- Across 94 e-commerce brands in 2025, visits referred by ChatGPT converted at 1.81%, compared with 1.39% for non-branded organic search, which is 31% higher. But non-branded organic still delivered about 70 times more sessions (Search Engine Land, reporting Visibility Labs).
- A peer-reviewed study of 973 e-commerce sites found AI chatbot traffic converted better than paid social but worse than other traditional channels. It also found the channel is still low in volume and strongest in complex product categories (Marketing Science).
The honest read: AI search won't replace Google traffic for an SMB this year. What it will do is shape which three or four businesses a customer shortlists before they ever click. If you're not in that answer, you're not in the consideration set.
What gets a business named in an AI answer
AI tools build answers from sources they can read and trust. For a local or specialist SMB, that means:
- Clear, specific pages. One page per service, stating what you do, who it's for, where you operate and what it costs or how it's priced. Vague brand copy gives the model nothing to quote.
- Structured data. Schema markup for your business, services, location and FAQs, so machines don't have to guess.
- Third-party mentions. Directories, review platforms, industry associations and "best of" lists are what AI tools check before naming a business. Consistent name, address and description everywhere matters.
- Reviews. Volume, recency and detail on Google and your industry's review platforms.
- Original data. Content with real numbers, sources and a clear point of view gets cited. Generic "10 tips" posts don't.
How to measure it
- Create an AI referrals channel in GA4. Group traffic from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com, copilot.microsoft.com and claude.ai so you can see volume and conversion rate separately.
- Ask every new lead how they found you. "ChatGPT recommended you" won't show up in analytics if the customer called rather than clicked.
- Test prompts monthly. Ask the main AI tools the questions your customers ask, such as "best [service] in [suburb]", and record whether you're named.
- Judge ads in AI Mode on leads, not clicks. If you test them, start with a small budget, send traffic to a page built for that exact query, and compare cost per qualified lead against your existing search campaigns.
The bottom line for SMBs
Search is still the biggest source of demand. Australian search advertising hit a record $8.0 billion in 2025 (IAB Australia). But the path from search to enquiry is shorter and more filtered. Businesses that win will be easy for AI to understand, well reviewed and fast to convert the smaller number of visitors who arrive.
Round15 helps Australian small and medium businesses with analytics, audience strategy and activation across Google, Meta and AI search. Book a free consultation and we'll check how your business currently shows up in AI answers.
Sources are linked throughout. Most click studies are from US or global datasets; Australian-specific data is still limited. Written November 2026.
