AI overviews might be taking your traffic, but they aren’t taking your sales

Traffic doesn’t equal revenue. Not now, not ever! So yes, AI Overviews might be siphoning your clicks, but brands that are doubling down on trust, clarity, and owned channels (your website) continue to bring in the money. And so can you. 

What’s all the fuss about AI Overviews, and why should businesses care?

This is an AI Overview. 

It’s essentially a bot-generated summary that sits at the top of your Google search engine results page (SERP).

It’s usually followed by a link which veeeeery softly encourages you to dig a little deeper. 

But because the bot often answers questions well enough to satisfy the searcher, a whopping 60% people are ending their search at the AI Overview.

They’re moving on to a new search query, without ever clicking onto the website from where the bot stole/pulled the info from. 

AI overviews are reshaping how people on the internet are discovering you and interacting with your site.

According to research, click-through rates have fallen by around 30% since AI Overviews arrived. 

What AI Overviews don’t change 

Now, don’t listen to the ever-present social media doom and gloomers. Things are changing, that’s true. But instead of panic - progress. Adapt. We humans are notoriously good at that after all.

The quality of your visitors are now more thank likely, top-notch!

Instead of hundreds, or thousands of meaningless website visits, the people who are landing on your site, are probably your people. Your ideal buyers.

Buyers who still need connection, proof, clarity, and clear next steps to make that purchase.

Now is the time to make sure your costs are clear, your objections are handled, your structure and flow is solid and your website copy is grabbing those precious, motivated visitors by the eyeballs and hitting them right in the feels.

Your messaging needs to work hard to keep them on your site and guide them confidently to a sale. 

You don’t have full control over anything on the internet other than the words on your website.

So put the effort in where you can to make those words count. 

How do I get my website to show up in AI Overviews

You can’t ‘SEO-hack’ AI Overviews (soz) but you can earn inclusion and trust by being the clearest authority on your topic and brand:

1. Be unmistakably you 

Develop a brand voice that’s unique to you. A point of view thats unique to you. And keep that tone of voice and key messages consistent and specific.

2. Answer real questions that people ask Google

   
   

   Include FAQ sections on your site

   and make sure the answers are crisp, clear and conversational. Google’s guidance says that helpful, people-first content is always prioritised.

   
   

3. Show authentic reviews and case studies with outcomes.

   
   

   Write named, specific review or testimonial snippets into your web pages (with permission, obvs)

   
   

4. Avoid generic AI-generated content 

Google is looking for expertise, experience, authority, and trustworthiness (EEAT). Bland, bot-written copy does none of the above. Don't be fooled by the LinkedIn AI Gurus that you can short cut this one.

5. Add structured data to your website pages 

   
   

Google says: Adding structured data can enable search results that are more engaging to users and might encourage them to interact more with your website. Get a website developer involved. It’ll be worth it, trust me.

Make your site do more of the selling so that the traffic you do get, converts

I’ve said it before and I’ll say again:

Your website is still the only place you truly control.

So stop worrying about AI overviews taking your traffic and instead focus on: 

• Value proposition: Your value proposition should pass my TADA test: Transformation, Audience, Differentiator, Action. When they land on your website visitors should instantly know they’re in the right place and what to do next.

• Proof blocks everywhere: For every major claim your make, pair a proof point with it. People respond very well to descriptive and real proof.

  
  

• Objection handling: Pricing, timing, guarantees, process - leave nothing to the imagination of your reader. Lay it all out and make it crystal clear for them. 

• CTA button clarity: Buttons should say the action and the outcome (Get a pricing breakdown, See a 3-minute demo), not vague stuff like Submit.

  
  

• Email capture with value: Offer stuff that AI can’t. (Like my free mini homepage audit).

  
  

Don’t focus on what you’ve lost, focus on what you still have. The people still clicking to your website are the only people you need to care about right now. Build your website copy and brand messaging for them and them only. 

If you’re feeling the traffic-dip wobble, don’t resort to chasing gimmicks or adding hype with AI generated drivel. Double-down on the one asset you fully control: your website messaging.

Want to learn how to craft a website that prioritises clarity, proof, and conversion opportunities (not just keywords)?

Book a website audit and I’ll review your core pages, rewrite your top bits and show you what to do next. AND I'll even help you implement the changes so your site quietly sells even in an increasingly AI-dominated world.