Ranking #4 but getting ZERO clicks thanks to Google AI. Anyone else dealing with this?

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Mark_Veteran

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Hey guys,

Need some advice from the people here because I’m honestly losing my mind with my main site right now.

My rankings are actually great—sitting at spot #4 for some of my best keywords. But my traffic? Absolutely tanking. GSC shows my CTR has dropped by like 40-50% in the last couple of months.

It’s all because of those damn AI Overviews. Google is literally answering the whole damn question right at the top of the page, so no one bothers to click anymore. Even worse, sometimes the AI uses my content to write the answer, but links out to some random competitor site. It’s wild.

Standard SEO and building good links don't seem to fix this because the problem isn't the rank, it's just user behavior changing.

For the guys running big sites or client sites right now—how are you dealing with this?

  • Are you changing how you write content so the AI is forced to credit you?
  • Or are you just abandoning these keywords and moving to something else entirely?
Would love to hear how you guys are adapting to this mess.
 
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Same issue here. Rankings are stable but CTR keeps dropping because users get answers directly from AI Overviews. Feels like informational keywords are becoming much harder to monetize now.
 
Time to move and start ranking in LLMs too
 
Many site owners are facing this now. AI Overviews are reducing clicks even when rankings stay high, especially for informational content. People are adapting by focusing more on buyer intent keywords, unique insights, real experience, and building stronger brands instead of relying only on Google traffic.
 
You need to optimize for AI Overviews by adding concise, direct answer boxes at the top of your content to win the citation links. Target long-tail informational keywords that require deep, multi-step analysis or personal experience that AI can't easily summarize. Diversifying into transactional keywords or building a direct email list will protect your business from changing search layouts. :cool:
 
You're experiencing the joys of getting your content scraped and your traffic annihilated by Google's AI? Welcome to the club, where your hard work benefits the tech giant instead of your site, and SEO is now just a suggestion, not a strategy
 
For AI search optimization, content needs to be easier to extract and quote directly.
Start with a short, direct answer at the very top — even in the first 100 characters if possible. That helps AI systems pick up the page as a source faster.
Then add structure: FAQ blocks, simple tables, and images with relevant alt text.
It won’t fully fix visibility issues, but it definitely improves the chances of getting cited in AI answers instead of just being ranked.
 
GeeLark AI said:
Time to move and start ranking in
Yeah this is probably the next phase honestly. Ranking in Google alone doesn’t seem enough anymore if AI is consuming the content before users even click.

Have you guys actually seen traffic coming from ChatGPT/Perplexity yet or still too early?
LLMs too
Click to expand...
 
Crazy Monkey said:
Many site owners are facing this now. AI Overviews are reducing clicks even when rankings stay high, especially for informational content. People are adapting by focusing more on buyer intent keywords, unique insights, real experience, and building stronger brands instead of relying only on Google traffic.
Click to expand...
I’m noticing the same thing. Informational stuff is getting hit hardest while pages targeting actual buying intent are holding up much better.
Feels like Google is forcing everyone to build a brand instead of relying on pure SEO now.
 
Mark_Veteran said:
Feels like Google is forcing everyone to build a brand instead of relying on pure SEO now.
Click to expand...
bingo!

It's one of the steps that not many people are aware of (and even fewer are discussing) that are meant to contribute to the building of digital prisons around us, insidiously and quietly, of course. That's why there's this push by the big tech for humans to brand themselves.

I can't discuss this topic as it would break the forum rules, but your point is correct: if you want to be part of the financial system you gotta dance to what you're being sung to. And online branding is the song at the moment, kudos for spotting it :)
 
Honestly, I’ve stop chasing rankings alone and focus more on making people need to click. A lot of informational keywords are getting destroyed by AI summaries now, so content that gives opinions, case studies, tools, comparisons, or real experience tends to hold clicks better.
 
Lot of sites are seeing the same thing right now. Rankings still matter, but AI Overviews are stealing clicks from informational keywords. Most people I know are shifting toward content that creates curiosity, strong opinions, tools, case studies, comparisons or fresh data that AI can't fully summarize. Pure "answer" content just doesn't pull the same CTR anymore.
 
Many SEOs are facing this challenge, and the strategies involve either adapting content to be AI-friendly or shifting focus to keywords less impacted by these AI-generated summaries
 
For me, depending only on Google has become risky. I’ve started focusing on other traffic channels like newsletters, social media, and communities where people actually engage with content. CTR might drop from search, but overall traffic stays healthy.
 
tazarbm said:
bingo!

It's one of the steps that not many people are aware of (and even fewer are discussing) that are meant to contribute to the building of digital prisons around us, insidiously and quietly, of course. That's why there's this push by the big tech for humans to brand themselves.

I can't discuss this topic as it would break the forum rules, but your point is correct: if you want to be part of the financial system you gotta dance to what you're being sung to. And online branding is the song at the moment, kudos for spotting it :)
Click to expand...
It really feels like they’re trapping us into a completely controlled ecosystem.If you don't build a massive brand footprint that Google's knowledge graph recognizes, you're just invisible now. It’s definitely not just about SEO anymore, it's about playing by their weird corporate rules just to survive. Guess we gotta dance to their tune for now."
 
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