Key facts
- AI Overviews answer many questions directly on the results page.
- Clicks can fall while impressions and rankings stay steady.
- Informational queries are affected most.
- Being cited in the Overview keeps your brand in front of searchers.
Why traffic falls
AI Overviews summarise an answer at the top of the results. For simple questions, that summary is often enough, so fewer people click. Definition, how to and quick fact pages tend to lose the most clicks, while questions that need deeper research, comparison or a purchase are affected less.
How to measure the impact
- 1In Search Console, compare clicks and impressions before and after for your top pages.
- 2Look for pages with steady impressions and position but falling click through rate.
- 3Check which of those queries now show an AI Overview.
- 4Note whether your page is cited in the Overview.
How to respond
- Make pages easy to cite: direct answers, clear sections, specific facts.
- Add what a summary cannot give: tools, data, examples and depth.
- Shift effort toward commercial and comparison questions.
- Build brand demand so people search for you by name.
- Track AI visibility as its own metric, alongside clicks.
Change how you report
If leadership only sees organic clicks, AI Overviews look like pure loss. Add impressions, AI citations, share of voice in AI answers, branded search and conversions. That gives a fairer picture of visibility, even when fewer people click.
Put this into practice with Variask AI traffic and crawlers, Variask AI visibility and the free AI visibility ROI calculator. See Variask pricing or read the Variask FAQ.