Ahrefs reran the data in December 2025 using 300,000 keywords and concluded that when an “AI Overview” appears in search results, the number of clicks on the top-ranked page drops by 58%. The number of clicks on the second-ranked page drops by 51%, and on the third-ranked page by 46%. Clicks are declining across all positions on the page.
This isn't some theoretical exercise. These are actual results based on Search Console data.
If your website’s traffic has been steadily declining since the second half of 2024 and you haven’t been able to pinpoint the cause, it’s most likely related to this. Google’s search results pages no longer look the way they did a decade ago—or even two years ago. The “AI Overview” now occupies a large portion of the first screen of search results, and for some queries, users don’t even need to click through to any website at all. There’s also something called “AI Mode,” which is even more radical—it directly provides you with a long answer similar to ChatGPT.
For webmasters and content managers who rely on SEO for their livelihood, this is essentially a complete overhaul of the rules of the game.
Information websites have been hit the hardest
Ahrefs tracked a group of well-known informational blogs and found that their current organic traffic is only about 28% of what it was at its peak. In other words, it has dropped by 72%. Affiliate marketing sites fared even worse: the average traffic for a group of 11 affiliate sites fell by 66%.
Why informational content? Because this type of content is the easiest for AI to answer directly. If you search for ”What is a CDN?”, Google used to show you ten blue links to articles. Now, AI Overview provides a definition and a few key points right on the search results page, so users read it and leave without clicking on your link.
This is related to Google’s several major algorithm updates in 2024. Many sites that were purely informational saw their traffic cut in half during that wave of updates. Google’s stance is very clear: if your website merely reposts and organizes information without offering any unique value, AI can do it faster and more comprehensively than you can.
Which content types are still around?
It’s not that SEO is no longer viable. It’s just that certain types of content are becoming obsolete, while others are becoming even more important.
Transaction-related and navigation-related queries are still safe.When users search for terms like ”buy,” ”price,” or ”promo code,” AI Overview is hard to replace—because what users need are specific product pages and purchase links, not just a text description. Brand name searches are even more of a given: when users search for your brand name, no matter how much Google promotes AI, it still has to rank your website at the top.
The tools pages are also getting better.Calculators, converters, generators, and comparison tools—these types of pages address ”practical” needs, which AI Overview cannot provide. I’ve seen several sites where traffic actually increased after they transformed their article pages into interactive tools.
Content based on in-depth, hands-on experience remains competitive.Articles that include specific data, screenshots of real-world examples, and firsthand experiences are far more valuable than AI-generated, generic content. Google explicitly stated in late 2024 that content needs to demonstrate ”experience”—the first “E” in E-E-A-T. There’s a growing gap in search rankings between content based on actual hands-on experience with a product and content that’s merely compiled from online sources.
Brand signals have become a new ranking factor
This could be the biggest shift in SEO in 2026.
Ahrefs analyzed 75,000 brands and found that the correlation between a brand’s online mentions and its visibility in AI search ranged from 0.66 to 0.71. The correlation is even higher for mentions on YouTube, at approximately 0.74. In other words, the more your brand is discussed online, the more likely it is to appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode.
Brand search volume is also likely a signal that Google uses. If someone specifically searches for your brand name, that in itself is proof of your website’s ”authenticity.” A site that no one searches for can be easily demoted in Google’s eyes.
This logic is actually not hard to understand. In the past, Google relied on the number of links to assess a website’s quality, but links could be manipulated. Brand search volume is hard to manipulate, and brand mentions are hard to fake. Google has found a signal that is much harder to manipulate.
How exactly should we adjust our SEO strategy?
Let's talk about a few practical things we can do.
First, review your existing content and either upgrade or consolidate articles with low information density. If your blog has 100 posts that are all along the lines of ”What is XX” or ”Definition of XX,” address this immediately. Either add unique practical insights and data, or simply merge them into a single, more in-depth long-form article. A 2,000-character article backed by real-world case studies and data is far more useful than ten 500-character AI-generated pieces.
Second, convert some of the content from articles into tools. If you have an article titled ”How to Calculate Tax Rates,” create an online tax rate calculator. In the age of AI Overview, tool pages are far more valuable than plain text content because they address users’ practical needs.
Third, start building your brand—don’t just focus on SEO. The return on investment for brand building takes longer than SEO, but in the era of AI search, it’s the only moat that can drive long-term growth. Brands that are naturally mentioned in industry forums, on Reddit, YouTube, and podcasts will see their visibility in AI search continue to rise.
Fourth, keep an eye on your brand search volume. Track search trends for your brand terms in Google Trends. If brand search volume is rising, it indicates that your site is becoming more ”legitimate.” If brand search volume is zero or continues to decline, Google has reason to believe your site isn’t worth directing traffic to.
Should We Optimize the AI Overview?
“Search volume for the term ”AI Overview Optimization” has increased by 6,251 TP3T over the past year. This indicates that many SEO professionals have begun to focus specifically on how to get cited in AI Overviews.
But to be honest, there is currently no universally accepted methodology for ”AI Overview optimization.” Based on existing data, pages ranked in the top ten are most likely to be cited by AI Overview, so traditional SEO rankings remain the foundation. Pages with a clear content structure, a well-defined list of key points, and the use of structured data are slightly more likely to be cited, but none of these are decisive factors.
My assessment is that, in the short term, there’s no need to optimize specifically for AI Overview. You should stick to the traditional SEO approach—providing valuable content, earning organic backlinks, and building brand signals. AI Overview is built on top of traditional ranking factors; your page must rank well to have a chance of being cited by AI Overview. Putting the cart before the horse by chasing AI Overview optimization isn’t worth the effort.
Changes to Watch for in the Coming Year
Google's AI Mode is expanding its coverage, gradually extending from English search to more languages. There is no clear timeline yet for when AI Overview will be rolled out on a large scale for Chinese search, but the direction is clear.
There’s still a window of opportunity for Chinese SEO. However, if your website’s content strategy relies entirely on informational articles to drive traffic, it’s best to start planning a transition now. How-to pages, community management, and brand building will become increasingly valuable in the era of AI search.
One metric worth paying attention to is the ratio of informational queries to transactional queries in the traffic your website receives from Google Search. If informational queries account for more than 70%, the risk is relatively high. While there’s still time, adjust your content structure.
SEO isn’t dead, but SEO for purely informational content is certainly facing tough times. The sites that will survive are those that offer unique value that AI can’t provide. Your experience, your data, your tools, and your brand—these are things AI can’t replace.
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