If Google is sending us fewer clicks these days, what are we actually trying to win?
- Thread starter KoD-
- Start date
- Oct 18, 2008
- 2,332
- 1,055
Both are important, I believe. Ranking and traffic continue to be the backbone, but now citations through AI and visibility of the brand have also become important.
The most effective approach is one that focuses on organic visibility as well as brand visibility through search and AI.
TiKa Agency
BANNED
- Apr 1, 2026
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Rankings and traffic remain crucial objectives that significantly impact a website's effectiveness; focusing solely on search results means missing out on substantial traffic. The best approach is to leverage both by building credibility and establishing a strong search presence.
- Sep 7, 2017
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Trying to win the bragging right to say we're on first page of Google.
For a lot of sites it's almost useless.
- Feb 7, 2009
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Curious, how would you split that 60/40 between traditional SEO and AI/brand visibility?
Yeah I got it AI Overview influence more now days
SERP ranking & Traffic base for the SEO sametime have to focus on GEO
- Feb 7, 2009
- 6,352
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Traffic may be dropped over night but brand orinted people recognize
FAQ and people reviews make his site shows on chatgpt
website must have leads & sales conversions without that what is purpose of ranking ?
- Sep 8, 2015
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Yes 60 organic search 40 all others combined.
- Oct 20, 2013
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Rankings are still useful, but the real goal should be leads, sales, and brand recognition. You can check the organic clicks and conversions alongside AI citations, referral traffic, and branded searches. Even if clicks decline, visibility can still create demand, but we need to measure whether that visibility actually brings business.
- Jun 9, 2020
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Now, its both of them. You need both to sustain your business.
- Feb 7, 2009
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Ranking in report is not useful until business generated in site
I think nowdays everybody ask AI 1st then check authentication on SERP
yeah I too recommend
Rank_Lift
Junior Member
- Jun 30, 2026
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Yeah ai is becoming a common starting point but people still use google to find more details
- Feb 7, 2009
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SERP results are inevitable and LLM results are modern era of serach
- May 30, 2019
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I think ranking should always be the main goal
As long as you stay in the 1st page, you can work your way up
As long as you stay in the 1st page, you can work your way up
gomami
Junior Member
- Jun 29, 2026
- 106
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to me, it would have to be reaching the correct audience instead of trying to get the high rankings in google. even if there is no immediate click, the brand name can increase recognition of the company.i will continue to monitor traffic since vissibility does not equate money in the bank.have u seen branded searches going up while clicks go down?
SugarBitterTruth
Newbie
- Jul 11, 2023
- 36
- 20
still rankings, because the ai box pulls from what ranks. every page of mine that got cited was already top 5 for the query, the ones on page 2 never got picked no matter how well structured. so brand visibility is a result, not a target. the only thing i actually changed is i stopped counting clicks on info pages and started counting what they feed
