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Google AI Overviews & AI Mode

Google AI Overviews optimisation for sites losing clicks

Google AI Overviews optimisation starts with finding which clicks the AI answers took and whether they mattered. Then we shift effort to the pages closest to a purchase.

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An AI answer

Example

Who fixes burst pipes near me tonight?

Your Business Plumbing offers 24-hour emergency call-outs and lists its service area and prices on its site.

  • yourbusiness.comCited
  • a local directory
  • a review site
Example AI answer with an invented business. It shows the idea, not a real result or a promised citation.

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What is going on

What your Search Console data is telling you

Most teams start with a number, such as organic clicks down by some percentage, and a guess at the cause. The number is usually right. The guess is usually only partly right.

Clicks fell, but impressions held steady.
This pattern points to AI answers. Your rankings are probably fine: Google still shows your page, but fewer people need to click. An algorithm update usually shows as falling impressions, and seasonal changes move impressions and clicks together.
The drop hits some searches much harder than others.
Information searches (how, what and why questions, definitions) take most of the hit. Buying searches are hit far less, because someone choosing a provider still needs to visit a site. A single site-wide percentage blends the two and causes panic when you need a decision.
The lost traffic was worth less than it looked.
Weigh the loss by conversion rate and much of it often turns out to be traffic that never became customers. The problem is smaller than it looked, and the right fix costs less.
The obvious fix makes things worse.
Many teams publish more information content to win the clicks back, which competes head-on with the AI answers that took them. The better move goes the other way, towards the sales pages an AI answer can’t replace.

Sizing the drop

How to work out what the traffic drop cost you

The site-wide percentage most teams start with is correct, but it tells you very little. Split it into these four parts and the drop becomes a clear decision about where to spend next quarter.

What a click drop cost into four multiplied parts.
Information search share
How much of your organic traffic came from how, what, why and definition searches, compared with buying searches.
Click loss on those searches
Measured as falling click-through rate while impressions held steady. A single site-wide percentage hides it.
Its conversion rate
Count conversions as well as visits. Much of the loss is often traffic that never converted.
Value of a conversion
This turns a worrying chart into a budget decision. Most traffic reports leave it out.

How we find the cause

How we diagnose a Google AI Overviews traffic drop

We group your searches by what the searcher wanted: information, comparing options, buying, or your brand name. Then we look at impressions and click-through rate for each group, over a window long enough to rule out seasonal changes.

That shows which parts of your site are losing clicks to AI answers, which to competitors, which dips are seasonal and which pages are unaffected. Each needs a different response.

Next we weigh each loss by what it was worth. Traffic that almost never converted and traffic that brought in enquiries are different losses, and your budget should follow that difference.

Sometimes the data can’t separate the causes. Our report then says so, which beats a confident guess that sends a year of budget the wrong way.

What we do next

What we change once we know the cause

  • Shift content effort toward searches that still reliably earn a click
  • Merge information pages that now compete with each other for fewer clicks
  • Rewrite the information pages worth keeping so AI tools can quote them
  • Strengthen the sales pages an AI answer can’t replace, such as comparisons, service pages and pricing guides
  • Set up tracking so the next shift shows up within weeks
  • Report the effect by type of search, so your leadership team sees a clear decision

Questions

Questions teams ask when clicks start falling

How do we know AI Overviews caused our traffic drop?

By the pattern it leaves. AI Overviews usually cause falling click-through rates while impressions stay steady, mostly on information searches. A Google algorithm update usually shows as lost impressions. Seasonal changes move impressions and clicks together.

Splitting Search Console data by what the searcher wanted separates these in most cases. When it can’t, our report says so.

Is SEO still worth investing in?

Yes, though where you spend changes. Searches close to a purchase have been hit far less, because someone comparing providers or ready to buy still wants to visit a site.

Broad information content written to pull in early research traffic has weakened. If that was your plan, it needs rethinking. If your plan was to win the searches people make before buying, little has changed.

Should we publish more content to win the clicks back?

Usually not. More information content competes directly with the AI answers that took those clicks, and you can’t win that by volume.

The better move is to rebalance. Keep fewer, better information pages written to be quoted, and put more effort into the sales pages an AI answer can’t replace.

Can you get us cited in AI Overviews?

We can make you a better source, but we can’t guarantee inclusion. Nobody outside Google controls which sources it picks, and the choice changes by search and by user.

What we can do is make your best pages crawlable, clear, sourced and better than the pages Google uses now.

Find out what caused your traffic drop

Give us Search Console access and we split your data by search type before the call. We show you how much of the drop came from AI answers, how much from competitors, and how much mattered.

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References

Sources for Google AI overviews optimisation

The official documents and research this page is based on. Platform rules change, so check the source before you act on a detail.

  1. Google Search Central — AI features and your website
  2. Google Search Console — performance reports

Related

More on google AI Overviews

Last updated · Published by Zubair Afzal, responsible editor · We check this page every three months. Next check: .