AI answers killing my traffic?

[adrian_knox]

Personally, Realistically, i’m seeing more of my pages get ignored while some random AI summary gets the click. Maybe I’m overreacting, but it feels like the whole thing is getting harder to fight every week. Anyone else seeing this or am I just having a bad run?

[hankroot]

Usually, yeah, we’re seeing it too. Not every page, but enough to make it annoying. The worst part is it’s not even always the best answer getting surfaced, it’s just the fastest one. Google’s been shoving those summaries into places where the click used to be, and if your page isn’t the obvious “must click” result, it gets skipped. We’ve had a few client pages hold rankings but still lose traffic, which is a fun little joke. So no, you’re most likely not just having a bad run. It’s been creeping for a while and some verticals are getting hit harder than others. I wouldn’t panic on one week of data, but if you’re seeing a pattern across a bunch of pages, that’s real. That’s been my experience anyway.

[orion_kade]

Personally, yeah, I’m seeing it too, but I don’t think it’s just “AI bad, traffic gone” in a simple way. Feels more like a bunch of pages that used to get the easy click are now getting filtered out unless they’re really the obvious source. If the query can be answered in 2 lines, Google’s happy to keep it there and move on. Annoying as hell, but that’s what it looks like. What’s been more obvious on my end is impressions holding up while clicks just quietly bleed. That’s the part that makes it feel worse, because rankings don’t always tell the full story anymore.

[axelrowan]

Yeah, I’m seeing it too, but I’m not ready to blame “AI” for every dip. A lot of it looks like Google just taking the laziest possible route and keeping the click for itself. If the query’s basically answerable in one paragraph, they’ll happily squeeze the result page and call it a day. That’s not some grand shift in quality, it’s just them being Google. What’s been more obvious for me is the pages still ranking but the CTR getting wrecked. So the ranking report looks fine, then Search Console tells the real story and it’s ugly. 🙄 I’d be careful about reading too much into one bad week though. If it’s across a bunch of pages and not just one cluster, then yeah, that’s typically the new normal in some niches.

[axelrowan]

Yeah, that’s been my experience too. Not every query, but enough that you can’t really shrug it off anymore. The annoying part is exactly what you said — page still “exists” in the rankings, but the click never happens because the answer gets parked right in the SERP. Google’s been doing that lazy middleman thing for a while now. Hard to tell if it’s a real quality shift or just them hoarding the traffic, honestly. That’s how I look at it.

[orion_kade]

From what I see, Yeah, I’m seeing it on a few clusters too. The weird part is the pages aren’t even “gone,” they just get shoved under the AI junk and the click never happens. Could be a bad run, but if it’s across multiple topics then nah, it’s typically not just you In most cases,. In my opinion,

[pixelwitch]

Honestly, honestly, Yeah, I’m seeing it too, and it’s not just “bad luck” at this point. The annoying part is the page can still be sitting there in GSC like everything’s fine, but the click’s just gone cause Google shoved some AI blob in front of it. Real fun.

[Pike]

Yeah, same here. It’s not every keyword, but enough of them that it’s hard to pretend it’s nothing. What pisses me off is the page can still be ranking fine-ish and the click just gets vacuumed up by that AI box. So much for “best result.”

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