Author: Rebecca Caroe, Marketing Consultant
Date: July 2025
Authors Perspective
As a long-time B2B marketer and founder working with professional services and IT firms, I’ve lived through every major shift in search since Google launched – from the rise of keyword SEO to mobile-first indexing and now, AI-powered discovery. But nothing has disrupted visibility as fast or as quietly as zero-click search. In the old days traffic changed after algorithm updates – this year one client’s traffic vanished seemingly overnight, without a single algorithm update. That triggered my deeper investigations, and what we discovered changed the entire content strategy. In this article, I’ll walk you through what’s really driving traffic loss, why your top-funnel leads may be vanishing, and what to do before it starts to impact your revenue.
Key Takeaway
AI‑powered search experiences and zero‑click results are silently stripping away web traffic and marketing ROI – leaders who ignore the signal risk vanishing from their buyers’ shortlist.
Outline
- The sudden traffic dip – why it is not just seasonality
- How AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and other assistants change discovery
- “On Google” no longer means “seen”
- Early warning signs every marketer should track
- Practical next steps to check your own visibility
Introduction
We can all confidently call 2025 the year of uncertainty. Much is happening in business which attacks our business model, our ways of working and the likely future profitability of our operation.
You have consistently invested in content marketing and targeted SEO. Doing this by publishing authoritative content, aligned with your keywords, yet recently your analytics dashboard shows a troubling slide. Impressions are flat, organic clicks are down, and branded search is stalling. While it is tempting to blame algorithm tweaks or a sluggish quarter, deep down you know this isn’t the only reason.
Something deeper is at play.
AI‑driven search experiences – from Google’s AI Overviews to conversational answers in ChatGPT and Perplexity – are cutting the connection between search visibility and your website visits. This article unpacks why web traffic is melting away, what it signals about a profound shift in buyer behaviour, and how forward‑looking teams are making changes before their competitors get savvy.
1. What’s really causing the drop in traffic?
Two converging trends are cannibalising traditional natural search and SEO website visits: zero‑click search and AI summaries.
- Zero‑click search is now the norm. Independent studies show that almost 60 % of Google searches in the US and EU end without a click (Search Engine Land). Users are satisfied by instant answers, featured snippets, or knowledge panels – leaving your carefully optimised result unvisited.
- AI overviews further shrink organic clicks. Early data indicates that when Google’s AI Overview appears, organic click‑through rate (CTR) drops by up to 70 % (seerinteractive.com). Similar analyses put the decline in website referral traffic between 15 and 25 percent across major sectors (Bain).
- AI assistants redirect attention. ChatGPT, Copilot, Perplexity, and Gemini pull content into conversational answers hosted inside AI apps. If those large language models do not surface your brand for use in conversational answers, the user never knows you exist.
In short, discovery still happens – but it no longer translates into measurable website sessions.
2. How AI Overviews and ChatGPT are reshaping search
AI search is not just another algorithm update; it rearranges the sales funnel. Previously marketers managed to control the steps through the funnel and had analytics visibility at each stage. No more. This isn’t just skipping steps in the funnel – decisionmaking may be bypassing your website entirely.
| Traditional Journey | AI‑Driven Journey |
| Query ➜ Results list ➜ Click ➜ Read | Query ➜ Conversational answer ➜ Decision forming |
| Marketers measure clicks, time on page | Marketers must measure brand mentions, share of answers |
Because AI systems synthesise answers, they index entities (brands, people, concepts) and authority cues (citations, structured data) rather than isolated keywords. When a buyer asks, “Who provides secure cloud backups for mid‑size NZ healthcare providers?”, the model draws on forums, PDFs, video transcripts, and knowledge graphs. If your brand is not encoded in that content fabric, it is invisible at the exact moment a prospect is creating their shortlist.
3. Why being “on Google” does not mean being seen
Ranking reports can lull teams into a false sense of security.
- SERP real estate is collapsing. AI Overview blocks, images, YouTube carousels, Reddit discussions, and “People Also Ask” boxes can push the first organic link far below the fold. Advertising is not a solution.
- Zero‑click boxes hoard attention. Once a direct answer appears, users rarely scroll further. Studies show that even a top‑three ranking can attract less than 1 percent CTR when an AI block is present (Search Engine Land).
- Brand equity is decoupled from clicks. Your thought‑leadership post may power an LLM answer without sending a single visitor back to your site. That invisible influence is hard to capture in legacy dashboards, making performance look worse than it is – or masking opportunities your competitors are already exploiting.
4. Red flags leaders should be watching for
To diagnose whether AI search dynamics are hurting your pipeline, watch for these early indicators:
- Organic traffic slipping faster than impressions. Visibility (impressions) may hold steady while sessions decline – a hallmark of zero‑click cannibalisation.
- Sudden spikes in “direct” traffic. AI referrals are often mis‑categorised as direct visits, obscuring attribution.
- Falling branded search volume. If prospects get answers elsewhere, they stop searching your brand name.
- Reduced mid‑funnel engagement. Content downloads and webinar sign‑ups drop because buyers conduct research inside AI tools.
- Competitor mentions in AI answers. Ask ChatGPT or Perplexity the questions your prospects ask. If rival firms appear and you do not, you have an authority gap.
Proactive teams layer traditional analytics with impression share, answer share, social listening, and manual AI audits. These new metrics capture influence in zero‑click environments long before revenue impact shows up in the CRM.
5. What the shift means for marketing strategy
The implications reach far beyond SEO fixes:
- Content must be “chunkable and quotable”. AI systems favour concise, well‑structured answers. Think Q&A blocks, definition callouts, and schema markup – not sprawling PDF whitepapers.
- Authority beats keyword density. Entity‑led optimisation (strengthening your brand’s presence across Wikipedia, GitHub, industry forums, and relevant media) sends stronger trust signals than another round of keyword tweaks.
- Multi‑modal presence is mandatory. AI engines pull heavily from YouTube, Reddit, and SlideShare. A single blog format is insufficient and leaves visibility opportunities on the table.
- Conversion paths need re‑engineering. If the click never happens, lead capture must migrate to in‑SERP actions, embedded CTAs in media, and conversational follow‑ups.
For B2B services with complex buying cycles, ignoring these shifts can leave entire segments of high‑intent demand untapped while paid acquisition costs keep climbing.
Next Steps
- Run an instant visibility check. Open ChatGPT, Perplexity, or enable Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) preview. Ask the top five questions prospects would type before shortlisting vendors in your category. Note whether your organisation is mentioned, how it is described, and which sources are cited.
- Compare impressions to clicks. In Google Search Console, chart the past 12 months of impressions versus clicks. A widening gap signals zero‑click erosion.
- Audit brand entity strength. Search your company name in Google’s Knowledge Graph Explorer or check if you have a structured Wikipedia page. Weak or absent entities often correlate with AI invisibility.
- Map authority touchpoints. Inventory where your experts publish – podcasts, conference decks, community forums. Each feed point increases the odds that an LLM will cite you.
- Share findings with leadership. Translate the data into business risk: pipeline exposure, competitive gap, and ROI leakage.
Your challenge this week: Choose one core buying‑stage question and test it in three separate AI engines. Screenshot the results and discuss with your team – are you the answer, or is someone else?
Keeping an eye on these signals turns a creeping traffic decline into an early‑warning system – and positions your brand to capitalise on AI‑driven discovery rather than suffer from it.
For more information, contact us
About the Author
Rebecca Caroe is a seasoned B2B marketer, founder, and digital strategist with over 20 years of experience helping professional services and technology firms grow through content, SEO, and partner-led strategies. She has advised clients across Australasia, the UK, and the US on adapting to disruptive changes in digital marketing, including the rise of AI search and zero-click discovery. As the founder of Creative Agency Secrets and a sought-after marketing mentor, Rebecca brings deep insight into how brands can stay visible, relevant, and revenue-generating in a rapidly evolving search landscape.
Connect with Rebecca on LinkedIn
FAQs – AI Search Optimisation:
- Why Your Website Traffic Is Disappearing – And Implications for Your Sales Funnel
- The Invisible Brand - How Zero Click Search Is Disrupting B2B Marketing
- Choosing a Partner for AI Search Visibility - What to Look For (And What to Avoid)
- Optimising for the Clickless Future - What Modern Visibility Really Looks Like
- From Search to Shortlist – How Zero‑Click Content Converts Without a Visit