AI Overviews are taking the clicks. Which pages still make you money?

For years, the deal was simple. Write something helpful, rank on Google and enjoy the visitors. Now Google often answers the question itself, right at the top of the page, and the visitor doesn't need to go anywhere.

If your traffic has dropped but you can't work out why, this may well be part of it. Let's look at what's happening, and what's worth doing about it.

What the evidence says

The figures vary with the method, but they point in the same direction.

• Ahrefs analysed about 300,000 keywords and found AI Overviews were associated with a 58% lower click-through rate for the top-ranking page. That's observational data, so it shows a strong link rather than proof of cause.
• Pew Research Center tracked the browsing of 900 US adults and found people clicked a traditional search result on 15% of visits without an AI summary, and on 8% with one. Only 1% clicked a link inside the summary itself.
• Ofcom reports that about 30% of UK searches now show AI overviews, and 53% of UK adults say they often see them.

We didn't find an authoritative study focused specifically on UK small business websites. What's clear is that the Ahrefs findings relate to informational searches, the "how do I" and "what is" kind. And that's where the rethink starts.

Clicks aren't what you're paying your staff with

Not every visit is worth the same. Compare two people.

Person A searches "what causes a boiler to lose pressure". They want an explanation. An AI summary might well satisfy them, and honestly, they probably weren't about to hire you anyway.

Person B searches "boiler engineer near me, no heating". They need somebody to turn up. An AI answer can't fix their boiler, so they'll be looking for a business to call.

The AI summary mostly takes away Person A. That's a real loss if advertising income or reach is your business model. For most small businesses, Person B pays the bills.

That's our reasoning, rather than a measured result, but there's some evidence pointing that way. Ahrefs found that 80% of its own AI search traffic went to its homepage, product pages and free tools. It's only one company, and a software company at that, but it's a useful hint.

Check your own numbers first

Before changing anything, open Google Search Console. It's free. Then:

1. Compare the last three months with the same period a year earlier, so that seasonal changes don't confuse things.
2. Look at which pages have lost clicks, not just your overall total.
3. Sort those pages into two piles: pages that explain things and pages that sell things.
4. Now check your enquiries and sales for the same period.

If your clicks are down on blog posts but your enquiries are steady, you might not have a problem at all. If your service pages have lost clicks and enquiries have fallen with them, that's when you need to act.

Where to put your effort

1. Make your money pages excellent. Service, pricing, location and contact pages deserve most of the attention. Say exactly what you do, where, for whom, what it costs if you can, and what happens next. Include real proof, like reviews, examples and results. For White House Dental Surgery, a UX-led redesign and rebuild delivered a 208% uplift in genuine enquiries in its first six months, helped by more location-specific copy, which is a good reminder that what happens on the page counts for as much as how people arrive there.

2. Publish what AI can't easily produce. Summaries are very good at repeating what's already out there. They're less good at your first-hand experience: your actual prices, your local knowledge, your case studies, your mistakes. Write about those.

3. Build a brand people search for. If someone searches for your name, you've already won half the battle. Brand work, social, email, PR and word of mouth all help, and they don't rely on a single search box.

4. Own your audience. An email list doesn't vanish when Google changes its results page.

5. Measure what counts. Enquiries and sales matter more than visitors. Set up proper tracking in GA4, and report on it in plain English.

6. Don't ditch useful content. Helpful articles still build trust, give you something to send to customers and feed the AI answers themselves. Just stop expecting every one to bring in thousands of visitors.

SEO, AEO and GEO: the plain-English version

You'll hear these terms a lot, usually from someone hoping to sell you something.

• SEO (search engine optimisation): helping your site rank in search engines.
• AEO (answer engine optimisation): helping your content be used in direct answers, such as AI Overviews.
• GEO (generative engine optimisation): helping AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity find, understand and recommend you.

In practice, they overlap heavily. Clear pages, accurate facts, real expertise, good reviews and mentions from reputable sites help with all three. AEO and GEO are an extension of good SEO rather than a replacement. And no, you don't need three separate agencies.

How to get into AI Overviews

There's no guaranteed method, and Google doesn't offer a form to fill in. But you'll give yourself the best chance if you:

• rank reasonably well for the search already
• put a clear, direct answer near the top of the page
• use headings that match the questions people actually ask
• back up what you say with real experience and sources
• keep the information up to date

Being mentioned is worthwhile, particularly for brand awareness. But with so few people clicking links inside summaries, treat it as a bonus and not the plan.

The upshot

Search is changing, not ending. Google is still used by 82% of UK adults. What's shifted is which visits you can count on. So stop chasing every click, look after the pages that bring in the people ready to buy, and give them a good reason to choose you when they get there.