If you thought AI overviews were bad, wait till you hear this.
Google’s new AI Mode changes everything. Instead of 10 links, you get a direct answer. Obliterating website traffic. 17 years in SEO, and I’ve never seen anything like this. Here are the three key impacts.
One. Reduced traffic. AI answers, user queries directly, massively reducing clicks to your site. This means a significant organic traffic loss. Example: someone searches ‘best rhinoplasty surgeon near me’. The AI provides pricing before and afters and procedures. They never click through to your website.
Two. What do we do about this? Diversify your presence and hope the AI eats you up. Or at least your content. If you want to be included in AI models, your business content must be in diverse locations. YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, industry specific directories like RealSelf and Healthgrades. Relying solely on Google search is now very risky.
And Three. Local SEO impacts. Local SEO is now more critical than ever. For that search of ‘best rhinoplasty surgeon near me’, a robust Google business profile is essential, but you also need citations across the web to ensure AI inclusion. Now more than ever, you need those citations.
Times are a changin’ people. Stay ahead of the curve and follow me for updates on AI and SEO.