3 Surprising Ways AI Is Already Impacting Your Website Traffic

Since the release of ChatGPT in 2022, the dynamics of website traffic have shifted significantly. Users are clicking less frequently on search engine results pages (SERPs) in favor of AI search-generated summaries.

Once users obtain the necessary information from the AI summary, they conclude the search. Websites, including those cited in the summary, receive less traffic.

As a consequence, businesses that have spent on SEO and paid ads are losing impressions and potential revenues. Digital marketers are reevaluating analytics, as many websites are experiencing alarming drops in search traffic.

These changes in user behavior have prompted Google to invest in AI technologies to adapt to the changing digital landscape.

If you’ve seen a decline in website traffic, the primary cause may not be content quality issues, technical SEO problems, or changes in Google’s algorithm.

Your website traffic might have been disrupted by AI search.

But don’t worry. As we’ll explain in this article, change can be good.

Change presents new growth opportunities when actionable strategies are implemented that align with the driving force behind the disruption: Artificial Intelligence.

3 Ways AI Has Impacted Website Traffic

Data analysis, workflow automation, content creation, virtual assistance, and forecasting are a few of the tasks Artificial Intelligence technology can do. AI technology has made it easier for humans to perform and complete tasks.

Add online search to the list.

“How?”

Type “How to make the best Christmas eggnog.”

At the top of the SERP, you’ll see “AI Overview,” Google’s AI search program.

Right below AIO, you’ll find a summary of the search query that includes relevant headings and links to its indexed web pages.

AIO is located before the websites listed in the SERP.

For users searching for the best recipe to make Christmas eggnog, AIO is amazing.

However, for online businesses seeking to drive traffic to their website, AIO can be a cause for concern.

Here are three ways AI is already impacting your website traffic.

1. AI Search Becomes a New Source of Website Traffic

Since the AIO summary has already provided users with the information they need to cook eggnog for Christmas, we can surmise that they’ll end the search so they can go out and buy the ingredients.

What do the numbers say?

15% of users who perform a search query that does not yield an AIO are likely to click on website links displayed in traditional search results.

In contrast, only 8% of users who conduct a search that generates an AIO result will click on the website links in the traditional search results.

It’s easy to understand why the AIO summary resulted in a 50% reduction in website traffic.

• Location: The AIO summary is located at the top of the SERP. It’s easy to find and is the first thing users see when the SERP appears on their screen.
• Structure: An AIO summary organizes the key points of the results into relevant headers that users can find helpful and valuable to their query.
• Convenience: The summary immediately provides users the information they need to answer their query… and more. If users scroll further, they’ll learn how to make eggnog with liquor.

To be clear, Google’s still the king of search. Google controls 89% of the global search market.

However, 58% of Google searches produce an AI-generated summary.

The likelihood of searches triggering an AIO summary will increase as AI technology evolves and becomes more adept at understanding human language and user behavior.

💡The Bottom Line: SEO isn’t enough. AI has changed the rules of the game.

If your business depends on SEO to generate leads and impressions for paid ad campaigns, the influence of AI on redirecting website traffic can result in potential revenue losses.

It’s time to realign your digital marketing strategy and focus on the new source of website traffic: AI summaries.

Case Study: Canada Vs. The AI Verse in the VUCA Age In June 2023, the Canadian government passed the Online News Act, which requires online platforms, such as AI company Meta, and Google, to compensate news publishers for publishing their licensed content without consent. The Canadian government claims that content shared on social media sites, community forums, and AI-generated summaries is unauthorized and has greatly decreased search traffic to these websites, adversely affecting their revenues. Meta countered that content shared on its platforms is done voluntarily by community members. Meta revealed that public sharing generated 1.9 billion clicks on media content, estimating the value of clickthroughs from their sites at $230 million. In response to the Online News Act, Meta banned Canadian news on Facebook and other company platforms. As a result, Canadian media companies lost 85% of their engagement on Facebook and Instagram and realized a total 43% decline in overall user engagement. There have been allegations from Canadian companies that engagement in Facebook had been declining in previous years because Meta had adjusted its algorithm to diminish the presence of news content. 💡Key Takeaway: We live in a VUCA environment – Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. The Army College coined the term in 1987 to describe the global state of affairs following the end of the Cold War. Geopolitics isn’t the only catalyst for VUCA. Technology is a driver of change. Innovation, such as AI, is a by-product of our need to be efficient. The ongoing conflict between the Canadian government and tech companies demonstrates that, instead of fighting change, it’s better to adapt to it.

2. Improve the Quality of Website Traffic

What about the links included in the AIO summary? Surely, users would click on these links because the AI’s algorithm found, indexed, and essentially qualified them as credible sources of information.

What do the numbers say?

Only 1% of users clicked on links included in the AIO summary.

While one percent may not seem encouraging, it can still lead to two significant changes in user behavior that positively impact your business.

Weed Out the Bad Bots

Bad bots or software designed to run malicious activities, such as hacking and phishing, account for 49.6% of online traffic.

AI’s focus on indexing authoritative and trustworthy web pages that offer comprehensively researched, updated, and expertly written information to users will keep these nefarious black hat online marketers from infiltrating your website.

The increasing use of AI can eliminate harmful bots and enhance your SEO strategy by delivering high-quality traffic to your website.

Increase Conversion Rates

The 1% of users who click on the website links have the highest probability of engaging with your business as a customer, a follower, or a subscriber.

Statistics indicate that the conversion rate for AIO clickthroughs is three times higher than that for SERP clickthroughs.

3. Enhance Website Brand Reputation

If your website is cited by AIO, it tells users that your business is credible and possesses the expertise and experience required to provide them with the information, products, and services they need to address their concerns.

In short, getting cited by AIO is great for your business brand.

Appearing in an AIO summary is a quality seal; a stamp of approval from an algorithm that considers multiple factors when qualifying the sources it cites for users.

And it’s not just the sources AIO specifically cites in the summary.

On the right side of the summary, you’ll find a list of websites that were qualified by the AI as credible sources of information.

Take note that the list of AI-qualified websites appears before the traditional search results.

💡Bottom Line: Quality content is a prerequisite for ranking high in the SERP… and it plays a bigger role in showing up in AIO. You’ll have to level up your content creation game to be found and cited by AI search engines.

In the next section, we’ll explain GEO and how to create content that appears in AI search summaries.

How To Adapt Your Website To AI’s Growing Online Presence

In business, there’s a saying that goes:

“Change feels risky until you realize staying the same is worse.”

AI is here to stay. The technology will evolve, expand its presence in the digital world, and increase its influence on the online community of users.

The right approach is to get your website to adapt to AI’s growing presence.

1. Include AI Metrics

SEO measures performance by analyzing clickthroughs, traffic volume, page views, session duration, conversions, and other metrics that measure brand impact.

For AI search, the focus of analytics isn’t on brand impact, but on user behavior. A user who doesn’t click on your website link could engage with your brand in other ways.

Here are three Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that measure how your brand is performing in the age of AI search.

• Brand Mentions and Visibility: Consumers utilize AI applications like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Copilot to assist with various activities, including shopping, learning new skills, and obtaining quick health diagnoses.
  AI search tools can monitor how many times your brand is mentioned or referenced by these AI search engines.
  If your brand receives frequent mentions, it’s a positive indication that your business is growing, even if website visits are declining.
• Answer Rankings and Search Impressions: Keyword rankings measure SEO performance. With AI search, performance is evaluated by how often your webpage is cited and its position or ranking in the search summaries.
• Third-Party Sources: Users might not visit your website, but they can mention your brand on other platforms such as social media, review sites, and community forums.
  The AI search tool can analyze how users perceive your brand and provide insights into whether the overall sentiment is positive or negative.

2. Incorporate GEO In Digital Marketing

To keep driving traffic to your website, it’s not enough to be seen by search engines. You have to be found, analyzed, and cited by the AI algorithm.

In addition to SEO, you must incorporate GEO or Generative Engine Optimization into your digital marketing playbook.

GEO utilizes strategies and tactics to help content become visible to Generative Engines (GEs) that rely on Large Language Models (LLMs).

LLMs help the technology understand user queries and produce personalized responses that are presented in a conversational manner.

A GEO strategy campaign will include the following:

• Create content that follows Google’s E-E-A-T guideline; content that highlights your Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness as a source.
• Structure content to make it easier to read and understand by users, search engines, and AI.
  For example, adding headers, using bullet points, maximizing space to make content scrollable to mobile screens, and including an FAQ section.
• Reference information only to credible, authoritative, and reputable sources. Preferably, the root sources.
• Emphasize natural human language in the content creation process. Write as if you’re having a conversation with your audience.
  Keywords play a role, but they must be used naturally and not “forced” into the content for the purpose of getting found by Google.

The focus of GEO is to create well-structured, expertly researched, and comprehensively informed content that is easy to read, understand, and adaptable across multiple platforms.

💡Key Takeaway: Quality content matters more to AI than the use of high-ranking keywords.

3. Build Your Local SEO Strategy

If your e-commerce business is experiencing a decline in website traffic, but you have a physical location, shift gears and focus on local SEO.

Local SEO isn’t affected by AI search.

In fact, AI search appears to give local SEO efforts a boost in sales.

Unlike traditional SERPs, the clickthrough rates for local SEO have continued to rise, even with fluctuations in traffic.

Users who search for local businesses are ready to transact. They are further down the sales funnel compared to users who are reviewing the SERP.

Think about our eggnog example earlier.

Here are four tips to build your local SEO strategy:

• Create a Google My Business (GMB) account. GMB is the most referenced online business directory by AI search engines.
• Write content conversationally using natural language, and include long-tail keywords, because that’s how users phrase local search.
  Check our example below.
• Frequently update or refresh your local SEO content.
• Create detailed descriptions that highlight the main selling point of your product.

If a user asks AI…

“Where can I find a store that sells extra strong organic 20mg melatonin gummies with magnesium glycinate on Sunset Boulevard?”

… and your local SEO product description on GMB includes the details – extra-strong, organic, 20mg, and magnesium glycinate – your store might be referenced by AIO and rank high in the search list.

Conclusion

AI search tools account for only 1% of the global search market. It doesn’t seem much considering that Google and the other traditional search engines control 99% of search activity.

Small as AI’s slice of the global search market pie is, its impact on website traffic is immediate and indelible.

Websites are losing 50% traffic as more users gravitate to the ease and convenience of reading AI-generated search summaries over traditional search results.

The silver lining is that AI search operates like a Quality Control officer cleaning the Internet of malicious bots and creating a market of highly engaged users who are ready to transact with websites cited in the summary.

If your digital marketing strategy relies heavily on SEO to enhance your website’s online presence, it won’t capitalize on the new traffic opportunities created by AI

• Revise your approach to website analytics and include AI search KPIs.
• Incorporate GEO tactics and have your content found and cited by AI search engines.
• If you have a brick-and-mortar business, don’t overlook local SEO.

In three to five years, AI’s market share is projected to increase to 14%.

AI will continue to expand and improve. If you haven’t updated your online business development plan and incorporated AI, it’s not too late.

Contact us, and we’ll get you started.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Should I consider AI search in web design?

Yes. Including AI search as a component in web design can help your online business get found and cited by AI algorithms.

Because AI technologies analyze human behavior, incorporating AI features in web design can enhance user experience.

2. Is the number one position in the SERP affected by AI search?

Yes. According to a 2025 study by Ahrefs, the number one position in the SERP lost 34% of its clicks within the year Google rolled out AIO.

3. Can I use ChatGPT to improve SEO?

Yes. You can use ChatGPT to perform tasks that can help improve your SEO strategy. These tasks include keyword research, topic research, and the creation of top-performing title tags and meta descriptions.