Why Is My Website Traffic Dropping? The Role of Google AI in 2025 and What You Can Do About It

Key Takeaways

• Google AI Overviews are changing search behavior. These summaries appear at the top of search results and may reduce the need for users to click through to your site.
• Traffic loss doesn’t always mean fewer conversions. AI Overviews primarily impact top-of-funnel queries. Bottom-funnel, conversion-ready searches are still likely to drive traffic and leads.
• AI-generated summaries shift visibility away from traditional organic links. They may cite and link competitors, which can negatively impact your position, even if your content is relevant.
• Businesses must adapt their SEO strategies to achieve AI-driven results. You need content that is AI-friendly, authoritative, and structured to be considered for AI Overviews.
• Technical SEO is more important than ever. Schema markup, crawlability, site speed, and clarity help ensure your site performs in an AI-influenced SERP landscape.
• Multi-channel strategies reduce dependence on Google. Email, paid ads, and social media help maintain steady traffic and diversify lead sources.

Strategic content formatting increases AI visibility. Use bullet points, FAQs, concise answers, and schema-enhanced content to improve AI-readiness.

Assuming that you’ve conducted Google searches over the past few months, you’ve undoubtedly noticed the company’s new AI Overview feature. If not, try a Google search that asks a distinct question, and you should see an AI Overview at the top of your search engine results page (SERP).

Pretty cool, right? Google’s artificial intelligence delivers a concise summary response to your query. In some cases, an AI Overview response might be all a user needs for that particular internet search.

However, have you considered whether Google AI might be causing your company’s website traffic to drop? It’s worth looking into, as tech researchers and affected companies are sounding the alarm that Google AI is disrupting search engine optimization (SEO) and causing significant declines in click-through rates (CTRs) for organic and paid search. Just Google “Is Google AI impacting my website traffic?” and you’ll get dozens of results highlighting traffic declines ranging from 15-70%.

While such articles are disheartening to anyone responsible for their company’s digital marketing success, Google AI may not affect your website’s conversions and may provide some websites with higher CTRs. Much like Google algorithm adjustments require changing your SEO strategy, you can adapt your SEO to take advantage of the Google AI Overview.       

Why Is My Website Traffic Dropping?

If your website traffic is dropping, Google AI could be a factor. This game-changing SERP feature is causing users to adjust how they conduct their Internet searches, while the AI-generated summaries push organic results lower on the page. In some cases, Google AI provides users the answers they seek, eliminating their need to find additional information. In other cases, the AI Overview may cite and link competitors, lessening the likelihood of the user seeing your company on the SERP. 

Google AI’s impact on SERP and CTRs is not industry- or sector-specific, meaning all businesses must be aware of its disruptive potential. However, due to how Google AI works, its most significant impact is on CTRs for top-of-funnel queries.        

How Google AI Works in Search

Powered by Google’s AI Gemini language model, AI Overviews appear at the top of search results when the model determines that a generative AI response will be particularly helpful in addressing the user’s search query. Google AI generates these responses by synthesizing information from various Internet sources and includes related links to allow users to dive deeper into the material.   

For example, if you type “What are AI Overviews?” in a Google Search, an AI Overview prefaces the search results, providing a summary description and more detailed bullet points covering topics like “purpose,” “how they work,” “availability,” and “potential impact.” If that’s sufficient information for the user’s needs, they do not need to click on the provided links or examine other search results. 

Conversely, if the user needs more information, they can also query again to see what Google AI comes up with. For example, follow up by asking, “Will Google AI Overviews impact my website’s SERP?” Google AI’s response when we asked was, “Yes, [they] are likely to impact your website’s SERP visibility and potentially traffic,” followed by detailed bullet points on the causes behind the likely impacts.

The Good News: Conversions Aren’t Necessarily Dropping

Google AI Overviews primarily respond to research-oriented searches, which means they have a limited impact on conversion-ready traffic. First off, Google’s SERP is designed to protect its revenue streams, making AI Overviews less likely to appear with commercial queries. Second, when search results generate an AI Overview for a conversion-ready query like “Medical spa near me,” the surface-level summary often lacks depth, personalization, and organic motivating factors to encourage click-throughs. However, commercial AI overviews can include links to relevant sites, which Google claims can have higher click-through rates than organic results.

As it currently stands, top-of-funnel queries will most likely be impacted by an AI Overview as it may provide users with the answers they seek, reducing their need to visit external sites. Mid-to-bottom-funnel queries are currently less likely to generate a Google AI Overview response or may create a response that will not inhibit other search results and further click-throughs. Additionally, mid- to bottom-funnel users usually seek detailed information like product information, pricing, customer reviews, and other data that an AI overview may not provide. Many users also want to understand the company’s culture, style, trustworthiness, and other business attributes that an AI Overview may not adequately convey.      

Note that Google’s generative AI is “experimental,” quickly evolving, and—like Google algorithms—subject to change, with or without notice. Thus, companies must ensure that Google AI is factored in when updating their marketing strategy.  

What You Can Do: Adapt Your SEO Strategy for Google AI

As with the attention needed to take advantage of Google algorithms, a company’s digital marketing strategy must adapt its SEO tools to conform to the quirks of Google AI to help maintain SERP relevance and ensure continued conversions. You can take a dual-path track that strives to keep conversion-ready traffic strong and takes advantage of AI Overviews by considering the following: 

• Enhance site usability, trust signals, authoritative content, and clear calls to action to optimize existing traffic conversions. 
• Invest in Google Ads’ high-conversion keywords to capture traffic apart from Google AI and organic results.
• Diversify your reliance on Google by targeting conversion-ready traffic with email and social media marketing. 
• Enhance content for inclusion in AI Overviews by making it easily digestible and authoritative. 
• Optimize your website with technical SEO.

Optimize Your Website with Technical SEO

By optimizing your website with technical SEO, you can enhance the likelihood that Google AI Overviews will work in your favor rather than against you. Primary technical SEO strategies that can help your digital marketing efforts work with Google AI include:  

• Ensure that all website content is indexed correctly and crawlable. 
• Fully incorporate structured data (schema markup) in your website to help Google AI analyze your content for inclusion in AI Overviews. This is especially important with FAQs, product info, and how-to content. 
• Ensure your content is clear, concise, authoritative, and mobile device-compatible.
• Boost website speed, performance, and security.
• Use featured snippets and AI-friendly formats, like bullet points, FAQs, tables, and step-by-step lists.  
• Use analytical tools to track whether AI Overviews appear for your primary commercial keywords and, if so, ensure your pages are conversion-focused to capture clicks.

Final Thoughts

Google AI is a digital marketing game changer that may be taking a hit on your website traffic or otherwise be poised to disrupt your company’s digital marketing efforts. As noted above, despite declines in web traffic, you can preserve meaningful leads and conversions. You can adjust your marketing approach to respond to Google AI’s disruptive force on SERP to help make it work with you instead of against you. 

To future-proof your website and adapt your marketing approach to respond to the fast-evolving changes brought by AI, contact Lasso Up for a free website audit to assess your position in the new Internet search landscape. This audit may also answer your question about “why is my website traffic dropping?” 

FAQ: Why Is My Website Traffic Dropping?

Q: Why is my website traffic dropping in 2025?
A: One of the most significant new causes of traffic drops is the rollout of Google’s AI Overview feature. This AI-generated summary appears above organic search results and may satisfy the user’s query without requiring them to click through to a website. In some cases, Google AI also links to competitors instead of your content. Additionally, algorithm updates, technical SEO issues, content decay, or reduced ad visibility may be contributing factors.

Q: How does Google AI affect search engine rankings and visibility?
A: Google AI synthesizes content from across the web to provide instant summaries. These summaries appear prominently at the top of search results, pushing organic results further down the page. While this doesn’t directly change your site’s ranking, it does decrease visibility and click-through rates, especially for top-of-funnel informational queries.

Q: Does lower website traffic mean fewer conversions?
A: Not always. Google AI primarily impacts research-focused search queries, which often don’t convert anyway. Commercial and bottom-funnel queries, like “dermatologist near me” or “get a quote”, are less likely to trigger AI Overviews or still lead users to click on links. You may see a drop in traffic, but not a meaningful decline in qualified leads or conversions.

Q: Can I optimize my content to appear in AI Overviews?
A: Yes. Content that is concise, well-structured, and rich in authoritative insights is more likely to be used by Google AI. Using schema markup, bullet points, FAQs, how-to formats, and clear headings all help AI understand and select your content. It’s also essential to ensure your site is technically optimized for crawling and indexing. See our SEO Services for content strategy support.

Q: What is schema markup, and why is it important?
A: Schema markup is a type of structured data that helps search engines better understand your website’s content. It improves your chances of appearing in AI Overviews, featured snippets, and other enhanced search formats. FAQ schema, how-to schema, and product schema are especially useful for service-based businesses and e-commerce sites.

Q: What should I do if my website traffic is dropping because of Google AI?
A: Start by auditing your site with tools like Google Search Console and analytics platforms. Update and optimize your content with AI-friendly formatting. Invest in high-conversion paid search ads and diversify your strategy through email marketing and social media. You should also review technical SEO performance and ensure schema markup is implemented correctly. Request a Free Website Audit from Lasso Up to get started.

Q: Will Google AI eventually replace traditional SEO?
A: No, but it will evolve how SEO works. Traditional SEO practices like content quality, backlinks, and technical performance are still critical. However, marketers must now consider AI-generated search behavior, adapting formats and strategies accordingly. SEO isn’t being replaced, it’s being redefined. Agencies that stay ahead of the curve will continue to thrive.