Been watching a few of my affiliate sites this week and noticed something odd. Rankings didn’t really move much, but CTR got hit hard on a couple pages that were sitting in the top 3 for months.

One site in the home niche is still ranking #2 for a money keyword, but clicks dropped around 18-20% almost overnight. Another site in the software space actually held position but got a small traffic bump, which makes it even more confusing.

I’m wondering if this is just more SERP layout nonsense, or if Google is testing something that’s changing how people click. I’ve seen more AI-style answers and more ads above the fold lately, so maybe that’s part of it.

What I’m testing right now:
– rewriting titles to be more benefit-driven
– moving the main keyword closer to the front
– adding year modifiers where it makes sense
– tightening meta descriptions so they don’t read like junk
– checking whether the page is getting pushed down by extra SERP features

Also playing with a few AI tools to speed up title variations, but honestly most of them spit out the same boring stuff unless you guide them pretty hard.

Curious if anyone else is seeing this. Are you blaming the update, titles/meta, or just the SERP getting more crowded?