How to Explain an AI Overviews Traffic Drop to Clients

What's actually happening to the traffic?

Search hasn't stopped. People still search, and your client still ranks. What's changed is that Google now answers many questions at the top of the page. If the summary is good enough, the searcher doesn't need to click.

Ahrefs compared 150,000 keywords that showed AI Overviews with 150,000 informational keywords that didn't. On desktop, the click-through rate for position one on AI Overview keywords fell from 7.3% in December 2023 to 1.6% in December 2025. Based on the trend for keywords without overviews, they'd have expected about 3.7%. That gap is the 58%.

Pew Research Center found a similar pattern from a different angle. When people saw an AI summary, they clicked a traditional result 8% of the time. Without one, 15%.

How do you prove AI Overviews caused the drop?

Clients trust their own data more than industry studies. Pull this from their Search Console before the meeting:

1. 1
   Compare like with like

   Choose the same three months this year and last year, so seasonality doesn't muddy the picture.

2. 2
   Split queries by intent

   Filter for informational queries, the ones starting with how, what, why, best or vs. Then look at branded and transactional queries separately.

3. 3
   Show the three lines together

   For informational queries, chart impressions, average position and clicks. The tell-tale sign is impressions and position flat or rising while clicks fall.

4. 4
   Check the generative AI report

   Search Console now has a report showing impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode by page. If the pages that lost clicks are appearing in AI features, that's strong evidence.

5. 5
   Look up the queries yourself

   Search a handful of the biggest losers. Screenshot the AI Overview sitting above the client's result. A picture settles most debates.

What should you actually say to the client?

Keep it short, factual and calm. Something like this works:

Your rankings held, and people are still seeing your pages, but Google now answers many of these questions at the top of the page, so fewer people click. Industry studies show the top result losing more than half its clicks on these queries. This affects every site in your market, not just you. Here's what we're changing, and how we'll measure it from now on.

A plain-words explanation that works in most client meetings

Then move quickly to the plan. Clients forgive a drop they understand. They don't forgive surprises or vague answers.

What should you report instead of traffic alone?

We explain the main AI metric in AI share of voice, and how to get cited in Google's summaries in how to show up in AI Overviews.

What should change in the SEO plan?

• Shift effort to queries that still click. Comparisons, pricing, local and product queries tend to hold up better than simple definitions.
• Aim to be the cited source. Clear answers near the top of the page, specific numbers and original data make a page more likely to be used in the overview.
• Build brand demand. People who search the brand name by name still click. PR, reviews and community presence feed this.
• Track AI answers directly. Add a monthly check of what AI assistants say about the client and their competitors.