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Have You Seen A Decrease In Organic Traffic? Is AI Killing Organic Search?

How Google’s AI Overviews Are Starving Businesses of Traffic

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What The Hell Is Happening to Organic Search?

It has to be said that SEO services are not what they use to be. Having provided SEO for businesses in Sydney in the last two decades, AI has changed the playing field. I really can say that when it comes to being found on the web, it just doesn’t feel like it is for the best for SEO companies but it is better for the every day user.

Before you read on, the following post only applies if your SEO on page and off page is on point and you are left wondering why, although you may be ranking, your business is not receiving any calls. If anyone reading this is remotely as old as I am, you will know when Google first cracked the scene with the internet and the surrounding buzz.

That everyone now had another option of Google advertising VS the then expensive Yellow pages advertising. Expensive at what? the average 500 dollars a month which is a drop in the bucket today compared to what Google wants from their bullshit ads. For the amount of keywords our own site ranks for right now, we would need over $340K per month to rank for the same keywords in Adwords, and people thought the Yellow pages was expensive, and now we have multimodel search which runs together with AI

At least with the Yellow pages, there weren’t any algorithms, and you only required one keyword to find the service, not a damn million. If you had a leaky tap, or a blocked drain or your shower wasn’t working, ” Plumber” was all you needed to search in the pages for that service.

What is even better, nobody could spam your business off the pages like they currently try to do with some of my clients right now.

Back in the late 90s, Google showed up on the internet with a fresh idea: offer cheap online ads that could replace the old ways of advertising like the Yellow Pages, billboards, and other traditional methods.

I remember it because It was a big deal. At the time, almost everyone relied on things like the Yellow Pages to find services, and it worked, better than now in my opinion. Google promised a smarter, more efficient way to reach people, and small businesses loved it. In a short time, Google pretty much made the old Yellow Pages obsolete.

But then things changed. Once Google had taken over, they started hiking up their prices. It felt like they made the rules so that doing well in free, organic search became nearly impossible. Instead of letting small businesses benefit from being easily found online, Google’s tweaks to their search algorithms made it so that if you didn’t pay for ads, you were almost invisible. Essentially, it was as if Google was forcing small business to spend money on ads just to stay competitive. Well, that is the picture it is pointing to currently, anyway.

The Search Impact Of AI

Here is another typical bad monopoly behaviour. Now, add to that Google’s latest move with their AI. Their “AI” now answers search queries directly on the search page, thanks partly to conversational search compared to traditional keyword targeting.

This means that when people search for something, they often get the answer right there without even clicking on a website.

For small businesses, this is a huge problem because fewer clicks mean fewer visitors to their sites. If users miss the little chain link just to the right of an AI answer, the site will never be seen. It seems like Google is purposely making it hard for businesses to get noticed organically, so they have to shell out more cash for ads if they do not apply their websites to the changing trend of search that it currently is multimodal search.

You can compare this whole situation with what happened when Woolworths came into Sydney. When Woolworths first opened, they offered rock-bottom prices that drove local, small businesses out of business. Once they dominated, they didn’t stick with those low prices—instead, they raised them, and now they’re charging more than the small local shops ever did. Both Google and Woolworths started off by offering something that seemed great for everyone, only to change the game later and favour themselves.

In both cases, what began as a bargain quickly turned into a situation where the big player ended up controlling the market and leaving the little guys behind. This is typical monopoly behaviour. All fast food franchises behave the same way as well. There is no difference from niche to niche.

All major monopolies:

Come in low,
Closed down the local market
Dominate the local market
Then overinflate their pricing when they control the market. The same with now Google.

We took some common search terms of people looking for services on Google, not questions, they are looking for services. Look at the image to the left above here.

Ever Googled something like “SEO services for website” and noticed that Google gives you the answer right at the top, no clicks required? Here’s the kind of AI-generated response you’d see:

“SEO services for a website refer to strategies and tactics to improve a website’s ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs), increasing organic traffic through content optimisation, technical SEO, link building, and more.”

Quick, clean, and… kind of brutal, right?

Why? Because you didn’t have to click on any website to get that answer. No blog post. No service page. No business website. Just a neat little AI summary right there in the search results with a little chain link to the right that if you missed that, you would never know there was website behind it.

Now, that is a keyword that is pretty much somebody looking for an SEO service provider to help them with their website.

Traditional SEO ” keyword ” is being wiped out because search behaviour is changing. SEO itself is not being wiped out but traditional ” keyword” SEO is being wiped out. If anyone out there right now is ranking for a shit tonne of keywords and not receiving calls, this will have something to do with it. It now comes down to ” Search Everywhere Optimisation ” not any longer
” search engine optimisation “…Times are now shifting when it comes to SEO. If you have a decreasing traffic issue, or traffic with no enquiry issue, I’m sorry to say, you have a lot on your hands to deal with, thanks To AI now answering user search queries rather than users clicking onto a website, as well as voice search. If you see the tiny chan link to the the side beside the AI response, it will take you to a site. If you miss it, the site does not get seen.

How AI Is “Killing” Organic Traffic

Since Google’s inception, businesses invested in SEO—writing blog posts, optimising pages, building links—all to climb Google’s rankings and get more clicks. But now, even if you rank #1 on Google, your website might sit below an AI-generated answer that satisfies the user’s curiosity without them ever visiting your site, and this is where people are now starting to ask..” what is the purpose of even having my business on Google ” This is a dangerous question not just for businesses, but all SEO specialists and agencies in business right now.

Here’s what’s really happening:

🚫 More “Zero-Click” Searches

Google’s AI Overviews give users direct answers. That means fewer people clicking on websites—even when those sites are the original source of the information. Studies have shown that nearly 60% of Google searches now result in zero clicks. This trend is accelerating with AI-generated answers because users get what they need instantly, without engaging with the original content creators.

📉 Declining Organic Traffic for Businesses

Businesses that depend on organic search are seeing a MASSIVE drop in traffic. And it’s not because they’re doing SEO wrong—it’s because AI is cutting them out of the equation.

💰 More Pressure to Pay for Ads

Less organic traffic? No problem… if you’re ready to pay for Google Ads. Convenient, right? For Google, maybe. For businesses? Not so much.

🤖 AI Relying on Your Content (Without Sending You Traffic)

Here’s the kicker: AI-generated answers are built using content from real websites. Your hard work feeds the AI, but instead of driving people to your site, it keeps the traffic for itself. Now if this dirty tactic isn’t a push to get businesses to pay for stinking PPC Google ads, I don’t know what is.

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So What’s The Problem Here?

While this might seem like a win for user convenience, it’s a serious blow to businesses that depend on organic search traffic for lead generation, conversions, and revenue. Here’s why:

As already mentioned, clickless Searches Are the New Normal
Studies have shown that nearly 60% of Google searches now result in zero clicks. This trend is accelerating with AI-generated answers because users get what they need instantly, without engaging with the original content creators, even though AI steals the info from a website.
Businesses Are Losing Valuable Traffic
Companies invest time, money, and resources into SEO strategies—optimising content, building backlinks, and enhancing website performance—all with the goal of ranking higher in search results. But what’s the point if Google’s AI just summarises your content and steals the click? Yes, it would piss many people off. It’s ironic because Google holds its 90 plus percent market share thanks to businesses satisfying user enquiries but treat the very same business like total shit.
Traditional SEO Strategies Are Becoming Obsolete
Traditional SEO tactics like optimising meta tags, keyword placement, and on-page SEO are losing their impact if you are still using traditional keyword-targeted SEO methods. Even if you rank #1 on Google, your link might sit below an AI-generated snippet that’s already answered the user’s question.
Google Wins, Businesses Lose
Ironically, while organic search traffic declines, businesses are being pushed to spend more on paid ads to maintain visibility. This shift benefits Google’s advertising revenue, but forces small and medium-sized businesses to increase their marketing budgets just to stay afloat…So tell me now…do you think the yellow pages had more impact with less the headaches that we all experience now, and should I say cheaper?
As British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill once said..” You can’t reason with a Tiger when your head is in its mouth “…..So is now dealing with Google

Even VP of Creative and Campaigns at SEG Square 2 said:

” The traditional marketing tactic of search engine optimisation – the age-old effort to get on the first page of Google, Yahoo and Bing so that people searching for your company find you, click on your listing and visit your website – has already changed.

Our position is that on-page SEO no longer produces results to justify the investment of time, effort and money that we previously recommended clients invest in it. Therefore, it should no longer be a significant part of our client offering “

Now, do I agree with this comment wholeheartedly, No I do not. SEO is far from dead. The methods of SEO for ranking websites have changed, but is SEO dead, nowhere near it

The Hidden Cost: Content Without Reward

Perhaps the most frustrating part of this shift is the content paradox it creates. We took the same, identical keyword and searched on Bing. The result to the right is what we got. We are searching for “ SEO services for a website ” not to have a question fucking answered about what SEO services for a website is. Maybe I should start providing SEO services for Bing instead

I actually pray Google does lose its market share because personally, they have become bullies and deserve to lose their market share. They don’t respect the very hand that feeds them. They actually spit on it.

Bing provided the business relevant to that search query.

Google’s AI models rely on high-quality content to generate accurate answers. That content is created by businesses, bloggers, and publishers—yet these creators receive little to no traffic in return.

It’s as if businesses are feeding the AI with their expertise, only to watch it regurgitate their hard work without credit or compensation. Then this begs the question, then why bother being on Google to begin with?

What Can Businesses Do?

While the rise of AI in search presents undeniable challenges, businesses can adapt in five ways:

Focus on Branded Search:
Build strong brand recognition so users search specifically for your business, bypassing generic AI answers. This is going to be a little more difficult, but well worth the long term investment when you do not need keywords.
Invest in Diverse Traffic Channels:
Don’t rely solely on Google. Explore social media, email marketing, podcasts, and niche communities to drive traffic.
Create Content That AI Can’t Replicate:
Focus on thought leadership, personal experiences, case studies, and in-depth analyses—the kind of content that’s harder for AI to summarise effectively.
Double Down on Community Building:
Engage directly with your audience through newsletters, private groups, or forums where you control the conversation.
Traditional Keyword Targeted SEO Is Not Totally Finished, But It Has Changed Dramatically Thanks To Voice Search. If you are going to continue doing SEO, you must back off the original keyword ranking methods once used to rank client sites. This can lead to rankings without enquiries and is typically keyboard related. Keyboard search terms to voice search terms are completely different. AI targets question-based and voice search enquiries, so SEO-based conversational queries must be applied as the new norm. This is the new AI SEO

Let’s face it it. AI is here to stay and while AI is undeniably changing the search landscape, it doesn’t have to be the death of organic traffic—but it’s certainly a wake-up call. Businesses need to adapt quickly, think beyond traditional SEO, and find new ways to connect with their audience.

The rules of search are changing. The question is: Will your business change with them? Because if you don’t, someone else will be in position 0 thanks to AI