Losing Traffic Thanks to AI Overviews? Here's What to Do
- Amanda Milligan
- May 15
- 9 min read
It's a tale as old as 2024. Since Google launched AI Overviews, countless websites have seen a significant drop in organic traffic.
Marketers have accepted that this is our new reality, but that doesn't provide a roadmap for driving revenue when search simply won't perform the same way it used to.
So, what now? And how are we supposed to message all of this to leadership?
When working with clients facing this particular issue, I ask myself these 6 questions. Identifying these answers is the only way to determine a path forward.
Are You Over-Invested In Top-of-the-Funnel Content?
AI Overviews are common with informational queries, which makes sense. If something has a simple answer, it's easier for an AI Overview to quickly provide it.
It also means that if most of your blog content consists of "what is" or "how to" content, it wouldn't be surprising to see a dramatic dip in Google SERP clickthrough rates even if rankings remain stable.
When I audit content, I pull a list of all blog content using Screaming Frog or a similar tool, and then I'll manually label each page with:
What customer stage it's serving
Which topic cluster it's a part of
Note: You don't have to be ridiculous like me and do things manually (I'm sure AI could get you much of the way there), but when I perform audits, I like to really dig into the data myself.
Doing this allows you to see what percentage of your content is Awareness-focused and which content clusters could use more Interest, Consideration, and Loyalty content. For example, here are three content cluster graphs from that audit:
Getting this insight on a topic-cluster level means understanding the type of traffic you're drawing in and where there are gaps. In this case, the middle topic needs to be explored further — how has the awareness content performed? If it's being taken over by AIO, investing in more Consideration content for that topic may make sense.
Want me to affordably audit your content? Shoot me an email.
Why this question + answer matters: Until you understand the nuances of how your content has performed and which content is losing the most traffic (by awareness stage and topic), you can't make any decisions on what content to create next. For example, if your lower-in-the-funnel content is driving really great, relevant traffic (even if it's not as much), creating more of that across all topic areas can be a way forward. However, if that content isn't performing well and/or the site has been leaning heavily on driving tangential traffic, that calls for a strategic shift that likely involves content and other marketing tactics.
Is There Opportunity to Pivot Toward Longtail, In-Depth, and/or Lower-Funnel Queries?
Following the insights from the first question, the natural next question is whether it makes sense for you to continue creating content at all. Search was already exceptionally competitive, and now we're all competing with AI Overviews, too.
It begs the question: What SERP fight is worth having?
The short answer is that you have amazing brand authority, get to fighting. But if you don't (like most companies), it's often not worth the effort, especially for highly-competitive, high-volume tangential content, since it's not targeted traffic, anyway.
But there's still the longtail approach. Niching down has been a marketing recommendation for years but one that's still underutilized because the analytics aren't as flashy. It's harder to get buy-in to target keywords with "zero" volume than it is keywords with 55,000. But the latter option is basically a non-starter at this point.
So your next step is to consider if content that meets any of the following criteria matches your brand goals:
Can you write content that's very specific and not addressed comprehensively by anyone else of your authority level?
Every month, about 70 people search for "strategy games for 7 year olds" (according to SEO Surfer). That's a pretty specific type of game for a very specific age.
Not only is there no AI Overview for this SERP, but MindWare manages to beat out Reddit, Amazon, and The New York Times because they have the most relevant answer. MindWare allows you to filter for games to the level of detail of being recommended for 7-year-olds, which no one else in the SERP does.
Can the content answer a complex question for which AI Overviews can't do full justice?
Let's stick to the board game example. A thousand people search "Wingspan strategy" every month, and once again, no AI Overview appears for this (or for many similar queries related to actually playing board games).
Right now, forums like Reddit are dominating, but that's because searchers want good advice from people who've really played the game well. An in-depth strategic guide from a fan would likely rank well here.
Are there more brand-centric or industry-centric topics that need more context from experts?
This is where true thought leadership comes in. Is there something your brand can say that truly no one else has said? Is there something you believe that no one else has talked about? Is there context you can provide that no one else can?
The game developer for Wingspan, Stonemaier Games, wrote an article about how tariffs are impacting the board game industry.
Is this post likely to drive a lot of traffic? No. And yet it has more than a thousand views and 80 comments.
This is the type of content that can build traffic over time because it's authoritative and great for other distribution channels outside of SEO (two things I'll talk about more later in this post).
Why this question + answer matters: The old way of developing content strategy doesn't work anymore. We have to think of which topics we can truly become a respected source in and which questions we can answer that haven't been answered yet. Without taking this approach, you'll be dead in the water (unless you're a Fortune 500). So, answering this question helps us answer the much bigger question: Is content development worth it for us, at least for SEO?
Did you know I teach an in-depth course about how to build a content strategy in the age of AI? Check it out.
Are You Aligned With Brand Differentiation and ICP?
This is one of the scarier questions, because you don't have full control over this one. Yet the answer determines whether you're set up for success.
It's no longer easy to build a brand on marketing alone. The offering has to be unique in some way (and also desired), and then the marketing team's task is to tell that story of differentiation to the right people.
This question prompts you and your team to go back to the drawing board and ask: What exactly is the story we're trying to tell here?
If you don't know the answer, then this concern needs to be raised up the chain of command. State very specifically that you can't get results unless a clear and validated differentiation is established.
If you do have the answer, then your questions become: Who am I trying to tell it to, and how can I tell it better?
Let's look at GameStop as an example. They seem to have been hit hard by the introduction of AI Overviews, particularly for Positions 1-3. (But they're climbing back up in Rankings 4-20, so kudos to them.)
They don't produce a ton of content but rather rely on more Navigational and Commercial queries. Many queries were easy for AI Overviews to take over.
I'm clearly on the outside looking in (they're not nor have been a client of mine), but when that dip first happened, I'd be asking myself: What is it that people go to GameStop for? What's different about us vs. Target, eBay, Amazon, Best Buy, etc. for buying games?
Something I noticed is GameStop ranks fairly well for terms related to retro video games, because they have particular stores that sell them and also have pages dedicated to retro consoles and games.
This seems to be working for them, and if the have an ICP that really appreciates this aspect of their brand, I'd ask myself:
How can we continue to lean into this? What other pages are people searching for related to retro gaming?
Can we create content that helps people assess which new games they would like based on which retro games they like and vice versa?
Can we create retro video game reviews that bring a level of authority and demonstrated enthusiasm to the community?
And finally, what other channels would be relevant for this retro messaging? Which leads us to our next question...
(But first) Why this question + answer matters: It's really easy to get caught up in the day to day of hitting target numbers, fulfilling requests, and keeping things moving. But reaching an impasse like AIO has forced us into is a good opportunity to reflect on if we have all the information we need to tell the right story to the right people. Understanding the ICP and brand differentiation is essential to pivoting successfully.
Are There Untapped Channels That Reach Your Audience?
If you're reading this, you probably rely on Search as a primary channel. The first two questions address if you should continue investing at the same level based on opportunity. But there are likely other channels to explore, and engagement across channels helps build your brand's reputation and can assist in improving search rankings as a result.
GameStop has 2.2 million followers on Instagram, for example, making it a significant channel for them. But we're talking about untapped channels for this exercise, and this one is clearly already working.
I don't have access to how their email or paid campaigns are going, so I'll stick with what I can see. And my question would be: Could they get more out of YouTube?
They have 137,000 YouTube subscribers, which is good, but they can certainly get more. When looking at their recent videos, they're mostly game and console previews and news, which makes sense — this is the type of content that does well on their Instagram, too.
But when you look at their most popular videos, two of the Top 5 are interviews and one is a DND actual play; people seem to enjoy the GameStop content that features real people who love and are involved with games.
Then I looked at retro gaming on YouTube, since that's a topic already working fairly well on search. And there are indeed a lot of videos about retro gaming, mainly dominated by DKOldies.com.
These seem like two potential opportunities for GameStop to make a bigger showing and reach their audience via YouTube search and Google search with topics they have some proof already perform well.
Why this question + answer matters: Search will likely continue to be a big channel for you, but we can't pretend AIO is going to go away and our results will return to our previous levels. We need to find other ways to reach our target audiences where they are and where there isn't a ton of competition. When you know your differentiation, you can start researching where you can make that differentiation very clear and engage with your target audience.
Have You Built Brand Authority?
Alas, we're at my favorite question of all. Everything in search is pointing to brand awareness and authority. If you don't believe me, check out these resources:
It makes intuitive sense. AI is trying to serve you up the best answers (just like Google), and so it'll trust authoritative sources and brands more than anyone else.
So what makes a brand authoritative? A lot of things, but here are three of the most important.
Organic Mentions
Anytime a person or site references and links to your brand, it's essentially acting as a citation, saying, "I trust what this site has to say." It's the same concept as backlinking and why Google has relied so much on links throughout the history of the algorithm to determine which sites and brands are working ranking highly.
How much as your brand invested in PR? How engaging is your social content? Have you created anything that's shared by your audience organically?
Topical/Content Authority
Content is one of the most effective ways to show a brand's expertise and specialization. It helps people, search engines, and AI alike understand not only what the brand does but what it's best at (and thus most qualified to "speak" on).
Has your brand demonstrated a proficiency in relevant topics? Does your content show a depth of knowledge other brands don't have?
Site Structure/Copy/Navigation
Your site is a primary location for explaining your brand's value. Ensure that it's easy to navigate and that its organization clearly shows the brand's areas of expertise without having to click too many times.
Does your top- or secondary-level navigation illustrate the brand's main offerings and areas of expertise? Does the site's copy tell the story of what makes this brand different from its competitors? Are there authority signals across the site like reviews, testimonials, client logos, etc.?
Why this question + answer matters: Not only is brand authority now critical for search, AIO, and appearing in any AI/LLM tools, but it's also the failsafe for dealing with these challenges. If people know and trust your brand, they will seek it out directly, bypassing search altogether. This is what we all need to aspire to.
What to Do Next
Once you've answered all these questions, you should have a clear idea of where the biggest gaps and opportunities lie. Develop a plan based on addressing those gaps and develop KPIs not entirely based on organic traffic. Perhaps you want to pivot more to referral or direct traffic or visibility in search, social, etc.
And if you want help, I'm here. This is what I do! Reach out and let me know what you're up against, and I'd be happy to work with you.
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