Digital Horizons

Is Google Stealing Your Traffic?

• James Walker & Brian Hastings

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In this episode of Digital Horizons, James Walker (Managing Director at WHD) and Brian Hastings (Managing Director at Nous) break down how AI-generated summaries in search results are changing SEO, what it means for your business, and how you can still win in the new landscape.

We cover:

 - What AI Overviews are and how they appear in search results

 - Why click-through rates are plummeting

 - What types of keywords are affected (and which aren’t)

 - How to optimise your content for answer-driven queries

 - Whether SEO is still worth the investment

 - The role of local SEO and authority signals

 - Real examples from clients seeing both drops and recoveries

60% of searches now result in zero clicks
47% of all Google searches are showing AI overviews

If SEO is part of your marketing strategy, this episode is essential.

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Hosted by:
James Walker – Managing Director at WHD
Brian Hastings – Managing Director at Nous

The Digital Horizons Podcast is hosted by:

James Walker - Managing Director WHD
Brian Hastings - Managing Director Nous

Speaker 1:

In some examples we've been running with our clients, queensland-based Builder, for instance.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you might be featured in this overview, but if, then, the click-through rate from the overview and being found there is so little, is it maybe an area that maybe you need to be investing in other places? Will Google's AI overviews kill your traffic or is it going to boost it? That's what we're talking about today. In Digital Horizons, I'm joined by Brian Hastings and I'm James Walker. We both run digital marketing agencies and work with all kinds of businesses across Australia, and we are finding that AI is obviously becoming more of, I guess, an opportunity for our business, but also a threat in many different areas.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. We both have SEO clients and this is an area that has got our clients worried. We're also seeing traffic fluctuations and I see why I'm really enjoying the convenience of the AI summaries in search results and it is stopping me in a lot of cases going through to get the rest of the answer from the final website, when it's all delivered neatly in a summary at the top of the search engine results.

Speaker 2:

That's it, and so, if anyone hasn't seen these before, what we're saying is that you might type your search in and, instead of seeing your normal what we're used to seeing over the years if it's a commercial intent or if it's any kind of search typically you'd see your Google ads, your search ads, sitting at the top, and normally there's four of them. Then you might get into some local ads and then you might get into organic listings if it's not a local search.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, typically 10 organic listings are on page one, 10 on page two, followed by some more ads.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, Yep, and so what is now happening and there was, I mean, prior to this, there was the snippets, so there was for some queries you would get a bit of text at the top which was a small snippet but which then linked through to the website source. So, but which then linked through to the website source, so you could actually see all right, cool, I want to read more about this and click through, Because it wasn't providing as comprehensive as an overview of what we're seeing now. So in the search results now, what we're seeing is a very detailed provides you basically with the entire answer to your query all at the top of the page, which is then meaning you don't need to go anything further. You basically have got what you come for and then you can leave, and so what that's going to then do is drop click-through rates and then just stop, I guess, people clicking through to the website.

Speaker 1:

The thing I really like about it not from a client perspective but from a user perspective is it will reference multiple websites in its summary as well in its overview, so you can see little icons of where it's gotten this information, and then it's combined it to give you a more well-rounded answer. So I don't have to go and click through into these different sites. So I'm trusting it more and more as well.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and whilst I believe that Google's put out some information saying that we are referencing the site, it's still going to get clicked through, because people are going to want to click through and get some more information. But I don't think as a user, that's the case. I think that if I see some sources that look pretty trustworthy, I'm just going to be like all right, cool, I'm satisfied with that answer. I don't need to click through and then further dive deeper into that topic.

Speaker 1:

I think there'll be instances where the quick answer is all you needed, but then those ones where deeper research is required, say for researching a laptop or a piece of tech. I get a bit of an idea from the summary. But then there have been instances where I click the reference link to get more detail. Say I'm looking at policies for my business fair work policies, for instance. I get a summary and then I click through for the additional detail. But I do think it's going to reduce a lot of those small and quick answers that people used to click through for because you sort it you've gotten everything you need straight away.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I think that the biggest challenge that this is going to face businesses is when people have invested, especially over a long time, into their SEO and they've built out some really good resources that are top of funnel answering questions. So it's the kind of stuff where people are like how do I do this? How do I do this? A really good strategy for SEO is to be able to target that long tail keywords and so that way you can drive people through to your website. You're able to then remarket them on social media. You're able to remarket them on Google display and all the other channels, youtube and then bring them back further down your funnel with more, I guess, offer based or other types of campaigns. So really, this is going to wipe out a lot of that top of funnel traffic which people would be really reliant on for bringing volume to the website.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely so. We've covered what it looks like. You can see in the example that we'll put up on screen how far down those traditional organic listings now are on the page when you have an AI overview at the top. In some cases, if there are rich snippets under that or any other details in between, it can be a couple of scrolls down the page before you get to what traditionally has been the target, the number one organic listing. It's now less and less of value. So is it going to spell the end for the value and investing in SEO, or is there an opportunity there for businesses who play into this AI overviews approach and serve great content? Let's dive into that.

Speaker 2:

So I think that the first thing businesses need to be doing is thinking about well, how can they provide information on their website that is going to answer the questions, Because that's going to be the only way you're going to get featured in these overviews. So if you want to stand a chance at all, you need to make sure that you are providing information that is going to be very clearly answering questions and also doing it in a cluster, so you don't want to just have like one answer for one thing. You want to make sure that all right. If someone's talking about, oh, how do I start a podcast, you don't want to just answer that one question. You want to then be like how do I then upload my podcast to Spotify? How do I do all the different things? That is going to, I guess, take people through that journey of being able to answer that question, so that you're being consistent across your messaging and also then Google isn't going to see you as an authority within the space to be able to then provide the information.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, let's say that's the first tip or approach for winning when it comes to AI overviews. It's optimizing your content for answers to questions rather than just general content. I really like that point about clustering similar content together to show Google that you've got variances of answers to similar questions, so that it can pull different concepts into its summary if needed, and you can use bullet points, faqs or semantic structure to help it in its job of pulling together its AI overview. The second part of that, which was that clustering, I think is really important. If you've got a series of blog topics about the same general question, try to group those together to indicate to Google that these are on the same subject.

Speaker 1:

The second thing you can do is double down on expertise-driven content. So AI pulls from trusted sources. You've got to become one of those, yes. So what does that mean? Use the author bios. This is where traditional SEO really starts to sing. Is the link equity to your site better than your competitors that are offering the same content? How do you make sure your site is seen as as authoritative as your competitors who are trying to serve the same content? So you've got to be a reputable source and all of the previous SEO factors bundle in together to determine whether you're a reputable source. So that's where I think continuing SEO is still really important to help win in the AI overview space.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, but I guess also the payoff for the SEO investment into this.

Speaker 2:

Is it going to be worth what you're going to get out of it?

Speaker 2:

Because, as we're saying, yeah, you might be featured in this overview, but if then the click-through rate from the overview and being found there is so little, is it maybe an area that maybe you need to be investing in other places Because the payoff may just not be there. Like, I know that SEO is not a when done well, is not a very cheap investment, but it can pay back very well if you are getting that organic traffic through to your website, especially for commercial intent searches. But if you'll find on the track that it's all right, cool, you spent all this money to get actually featured or listed, but then you're like well, no one's clicking anyway, people are seeing my brand there a little bit. So it's going to be a little bit hard to measure what that outcome is, but it may potentially lead to well, this is going to be too expensive or too hard to rank for the outcome that's going to be provided from Google and they're just going to be focusing on the ad side of things.

Speaker 1:

Yeah that is a factor you'd have to continue to monitor. Is the investment at the same level worth it, considering the lower potential of people going down to click your listing? In some examples we've been running with our clients a Queensland-based builder, for instance we saw with the introduction of AI overviews initial drop in traffic, but with the addition of some question-based answers to the content that they have implementing some of these tactics, we saw in two months it fluctuate and come back again and a higher organic search traffic than before. Now there's so many variables there it's in the building industry. Demand can really impact whether it's gone up. By implementing some of these tactics, we saw a return to what it was previously and more. Also, I think Google's still testing and learning how much it relies on these and where it uses them. You've got some information there on when it is not being used and when it is.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so it's not being used on commercial intent searches because obviously that's going to mess with the ad revenue. So commercial intent and local search is not being done. That currently is not areas where it's showing up. So if you're searching for, say, buy a I don't know a microphone near me, an AI summary is not going to come up because Google obviously wants to show it shopping ads, it wants to show it search ads and it wants you to be clicking on those because that's where it's generating its revenue from, but it's more on the info-seeking.

Speaker 2:

that, really top of final content, is where we're seeing the AI overviews popping up at the moment.

Speaker 1:

That's right and in this Queensland-based builder example that's very similar to what we're seeing. There is queries about builders builders in my area they're all still cruising along. We're still working on the organic listings in that space to outdo the competitors. But where we've seen that challenge is in the top of funnel research how to plan a house, build facade options, things like that where AI summaries are starting to pop in. But what we're starting to see is where our content is starting to be served in those summaries. But you're right, there is a lesser need for the user to click through from that content. But we are getting that brand recognition of our content being referenced in the AI summary.

Speaker 2:

How valuable that is, I don't know it's going to be hard to measure at this point.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm trying to think of if I remembered the last reference point from an AI summary. I don't know at this stage.

Speaker 2:

Maybe that's it. Maybe it is that consistency as we're talking about with the clusters, and making sure that, all right, well, someone's searching for information around building a house and every time they pop up they're searching. In that summary, your brand is popping up. Then that's got to have some value in when they're making the decision as to who to go to. Yeah, but very hard to measure.

Speaker 1:

So too, but very hard to measure. So we've talked about doubling down on expertise-driven content, so be authoritative. The first thing we actually spoke about was optimising for questions and answers in your content bullet points, faqs and so on. We've not covered the local SEO side of things, so this is an area where it's really not serving summaries as much and it's favouring local results. So if your strategy has ignored your local SEO and I would highly suggest you don't, but this is an area where there is still that main opportunity for you to appear to local relevant searches looking for your business or services nearby.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so this is where we're talking about someone searching for, say, best electrician in Brisbane. That search they're currently not being impacted by AI overviews. If we're then going into how to unclog a drain, then that search 100% is going to have an AI overview showing you, you know, providing the answer there. So I guess that's where you're going to be differentiating the types of keywords and the types of search terms and phrases that you want to be targeting that there's that more commercial intent there in local search intent there in local search?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely. I think another thing you can be doing, another tip for winning in this world of AI overviews is to monitor the performance of your search terms using Search Console, with the view of trying to find how AI overviews are impacting your search. So it may not be an issue in your industry, it may not be an issue for your business yet, but it is important to be able to identify if there is a drop in organic traffic. Is it due to your prospects getting the answers from AI overviews? And then you can do something about it. If you see that you can start to introduce answer-driven content and leverage this local SEO side of things. So how big of a deal are AI overviews? We talked about some approaches to win in this space, but the reason we're talking about this is it's big news. This is reshaping the way Google search works. In fact, the rollout globally is impacting a huge amount of searches.

Speaker 2:

We've got some stats on that, so pretty surprising numbers here. So we've got 47% of all searches are now being served. An AI overview.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, we'd seen some conflicting information about how much it's been rolled out in different countries and specifically Australia, but it's well and truly here. The really scary stat is 60% of all searches in Google are now resulting in a zero-click search. So they're either getting the information they want from the search engine results page or seeing an AI overview and getting the information they want. So for every 100 searches in Google, 60% of them aren't going any further. They're getting what they need.

Speaker 2:

And so this is going to be leading to some extremely big changes in the way that the organic search results are going to be generating traffic.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely and I definitely think this is an opportunity, but it's wrapped up in a big threat of the loss of traffic and it's changing the way businesses need to think about how they're engaging with prospects, potential customers, through search. Having your answer delivered will be the most important, as well as trying to get those highly likely to convert clicks through at a mid and bottom of funnel.

Speaker 2:

Yep. So I guess, as everything with AI, this is going to be an ever-changing situation. Some of these stats we're looking at are actually from December 2024. So I imagine that that would have changed and shifted since then, but that's the most recent information we have there. Thank you for watching Digital Horizons today. I hope everyone's taken a lot out of this and thinking about what their organic strategy is going to look like and how things will change going forward.

Speaker 1:

Thank you.