The signs: impressions flat, click-through down, losses concentrated in informational queries
Three signs together point to AI Overviews and away from lost rankings:
- Impressions are flat or up. Your pages are still being shown. David M. described this pattern on LinkedIn: impressions flat, clicks falling.
- Click-through rate is down on the same queries and positions.
- The loss sits in informational queries. Jenna Stenderup described the decline as concentrated in informational searches. Commercial and branded queries often hold up.
If positions also fell, you have a ranking problem as well, and the method below will show it. Search Console counts traffic from AI features inside the "Web" search type, so it does not separate AI Overview traffic for you. That is why the split below is needed.
The control-group method: split queries with and without an AI Overview
- Export your queries from Search Console for two equal periods: before the drop and after it.
- Label each query by whether Google shows an AI Overview for it. You need a SERP tool that records AI Overview presence for each query; Search Console does not.
- Compare clicks, impressions and click-through rate for the two groups across the two periods.
- Read the result. If clicks fell far more on queries that show an AI Overview than on those that do not, while positions are similar, that is the evidence for your client or boss. This is the approach discussed in an r/SEO thread on explaining traffic loss (October 2026).
Be careful with the claim. The split shows a correlation on your own site, not proof of cause. Seasonality, a change in search demand and a site change can also move clicks, so check those first and say what you checked.
Original element, to be supplied: a worked example from Search Console (Adviora's own, or a consenting client, anonymized): two query groups, clicks before and after.
Check enquiries, not just visits
A drop in visits is not automatically a drop in business. Compare enquiries, sign-ups and conversions for the same two periods. If visits fell and enquiries held, the lost clicks were mostly informational readers who were never going to convert, and the story for the client is different from "the site is broken". If enquiries fell too, the next step is to find which queries drove them. Read your lead events in GA4 alongside Search Console; see track AI referrals in GA4.
What to put in the report
A short paragraph you can adapt, with your own numbers in place of the blanks:
Between [period A] and [period B], impressions for informational queries were [flat or up X%] while clicks fell [Y%]. For queries where Google shows an AI Overview, clicks fell [Z%]; for queries without one, [W%]. Average position was [unchanged]. Enquiries over the same period were [up, flat or down V%]. We checked seasonality and site changes and found [nothing / the following]. We recommend [next step].
Do not state a cause stronger than the data supports. "Consistent with AI Overviews answering informational searches" is accurate; "AI Overviews caused this" is not something you can show from your own account.
What to do next: commercial queries, and getting cited inside the AI Overview
- Shift weight toward commercial queries, where a click still leads to a visit that can convert.
- Aim to be cited inside the AI Overview. Pages that support AI Overviews and AI Mode need to be indexed and eligible to show as a snippet; there is no special file or schema. Answer first, one topic per URL, and be named on the third-party pages that engines already cite. See zero-click searches and query fan-out and what to fix first for AI search visibility.
- Measure it. Track mention, citation, recommendation and click separately; see how to measure AI visibility. Adviora's free trial and paid plans include Google AI Overviews among the surfaces checked, per product and per market; see AI visibility tracking.
A note on ChatGPT referrals: the 8 to 15 October 2026 tagging gap
If your report also covers AI referral traffic, annotate 8 to 15 October 2026. Allen G. described on LinkedIn that ChatGPT links were arriving without a UTM tag or referrer in that window and were counted as Direct, and that tagging was back by 16 October. A dip in AI Assistant sessions in those days may be a tracking gap, not lost interest. See track AI referrals in GA4. To see what to fix on your own site, run the free AI visibility checker.
What practitioners say: sources
- Reddit: an r/SEO thread on explaining traffic loss, which suggested splitting queries with and without an AI Overview (October 2026).
- LinkedIn: David M. (impressions flat, clicks falling); Jenna Stenderup (decline concentrated in informational searches); Allen G. (ChatGPT UTM and referrer gap, 8 to 15 October, back by 16 October).