AI Impact on SEO

 “Google AIO has transformed Google from a “search engine” into an “answer engine…”

Chegg on AI Impact on Search Traffic (2024)

Large Language Model (LLM) is programming in AI that allows it to use deep learning to generate text, and it’s now being used for AI overviews (AIO) — which usually appear high on search results. This has people asking, will AI overviews decrease websites traffic? Before worrying about AI impacting your SEO, there’s something you should remember:

A decrease in CTR (Click-through-rate) due to AI Overviews do not necessarily mean a loss of future value. It only signals a shift in user behavior from a “click-first” mentality to a “get the answer and move on” mentality.

The bottom line is that if someone needs the product or service you offer, they can’t exactly move on with just an answer. When was the last time an answer booked your hair appointment?

There are more than 8 billion Google searches for products or services alone. Google will always be a search engine because people are not always looking for answers, sometimes, they want solutions.

In this article, we’ve got both.

• How does AI impact SEO?
• Will AI overviews decrease my website traffic?
• Can LLM affect my company’s ability to earn revenue online?

Keep reading to find out.

Should I Worry About AI in Search Hurting My Revenue?

You should not worry about AI overviews hurting your revenue if you take steps to increase your online visibility and optimize for SERP Answer Features. While AI Overviews provide quick answers to user questions, they rarely deliver complete solutions for products or services—and that’s where the real opportunity lies.

Most search queries are educational rather than commercial, which means AI Overviews can actually increase both clicks and revenue for businesses that secure visibility within them. This happens in two ways:

1. Direct Citation Traffic: Users click on the citations within the overviews and land directly on your website, often with higher intent since they’ve already been pre-qualified by the AI summary.
2. Brand Awareness Amplification: Even when users don’t click immediately, they become familiar with your business name, creating future branded search opportunities and direct navigation to your site.

AI Overviews Increase Brand Awareness Even If they Decrease Clicks

The brand awareness effect is particularly powerful. There have been documented cases where websites experienced decreased clicks to individual pages but saw significant increases in homepage traffic. This pattern reveals that while AI Overviews may reduce immediate click-through rates, they simultaneously boost brand recognition, leading to more branded searches and homepage visits over time.

This shift can actually improve revenue outcomes because AI tools work like word-of-mouth recommendations. When people see a brand mentioned by AI, some remember it and search for that company later when they’re actually ready to buy. These visitors already know the business is a credible option and come to the site with buying intent, not just browsing. This focused traffic converts better than people who stumble across random blog posts while doing general research

AI overviews have single-handedly boosted our brand awareness and exposure for searches we might have otherwise gone unnoticed for.

InspiringClicks appears in service-related AI overviews for SEO. If someone looking for SEO packages asks Google a question like “Are there companies in Calgary that offer SEM and SEO packages”, they are likely to find us on AIO. While that does not necessarily mean they are going to click on the citation leading to our page, it’s a win whether they do or not, because they will remember our name, InspiringClicks.