SEO and Declining Clicks: The Impact of AI Overviews
There is growing concern in the SEO industry about declining organic traffic, especially for informational queries, largely due to the rise of AI Overviews. These AI-generated summaries on search result pages reduce the need for users to click through to multiple websites, causing a drop in click-through rates (CTR) despite ranking positions.
The Old SEO Playbook and Its Flaws
Startups used to build content moats by aggressively publishing high volumes of blog posts to dominate search results, often prioritizing quantity over quality. This led to bloated content clusters designed more for SEO than user value.
Limitations of Google’s Quality Measurement
- Google relied on traffic, engagement, backlinks, and other manipulable signals rather than true content quality.
- SEO tactics often included keyword stuffing, mimicking competitor subheadings, and burying real value deep in pages.
- This resulted in unnatural on-page SEO and a poor user experience.
User Experience Before AI Overviews
Users had to open multiple tabs, skim various articles, and cross-check information to find answers, a process termed “post-search browsing.”
AI Overviews: Changing the User Journey
AI Overviews provide summarized answers directly on search pages, satisfying user intent but reducing incentives to click through. This shift means:
- Higher rankings no longer guarantee traffic.
- Traditional content marketing focused on volume is losing effectiveness.
Adapting Content Strategies for the New Era
Rewire the Mindset
- Stop creating shallow content clusters just for traffic; focus on relevance and depth linked to core products.
- Avoid mimicking low-quality SERP content; instead, aim for meaningful, user-centric content.
Create Informational Content that Converts
Informational pages should be designed to facilitate user action and business goals, such as:
- Attracting new users
