We keep talking about traffic and organic click-through declining for everyone across any niche or business model.
That is not a new trend. Google’s click-through rate has been declining for at least a decade. Ever since Google started showing answer boxes, featured snippets, its own properties (hotels, travel destinations, weather, etc. etc.) on top of search results, many businesses have been seeing fewer and fewer clicks.
AI answers (Google’s AI Overviews) have surely made things even worse and much faster. Within a year, businesses lost 30%-50% of organic search traffic without ever losing rankings.
AI Mode is going to make things MUCH worse and we see very obvious signs that Google is going to force its adoption as much as it can. People are already reporting automatic switching to AI Mode’s tab when typing longer queries. I have personally seen an interstitial inviting me to switch to AI Mode:
And let’s not forget about the fast ChatGPT adoption. It is becoming a very strong part of buying journeys, and it is not designed for clicks. It is designed to give great answers.
Do you see where it is all going?
We might be approaching the future of very few clicks, and it is approaching fast.
I’ve already talked about buying decisions being made without a single click. A buying journey that could have taken weeks or months may very well take a minute now because AI (whether it’s AI Mode, ChatGPT, or Gemini) can actually visit lots of links, retrieve all the information you needed to make a decision, and give you the needed answer in a very easy-to-understand format:
I repeat: A buying decision can be made without a single click, even now
It is already happening.
And it looks like the trend will be going stronger.
Again, conversions and sales are still there. It is good news, right?
But are you going to be part of that future?
This is such a good question.
When talking about AI Optimization, I deliberately picked two acronyms to stick to:
GEO: Optimizing for being cited in AI answers
AIO: Being part of AI answers
Now, a question to you:
Which one is more important? AIO or GEO?
Let me give you some clues…
(Hint: It’s not about traffic)
Let me give you another hint: Which is more likely to drive sales? Being cited as a supporting reference, OR being included as part of a solution to the specific problem?
I am not trying to say that you need to start doing GEO (optimizing to be cited in AI Answers). Of course, we’ll take any visibility we can.
What I am saying is that you need to see the bigger picture and start working on becoming PART OF THE ANSWER by making sure your business is mentioned in as many relevant contexts as possible.
So, How To Become Part of AI Answers?
This is a long process. No easy shortcuts. But if you start now, you will be there, ahead of your competitors.
Identify your selling points, value proposition, target audience, and target audiences
Make a list of problems your business is solving (in various ways)
Create brand knowledge content that clearly reflects your selling points
Carefully plan out your on-site problem-solving content strategy (and start executing)
Get listed in as many listicles that mention your direct competitors
Invest in Digital PR that puts your brand in a tightly relevant context that emphasizes your value proposition
Keep doing 3-7 for as long as your business exists.
The customer journey just changed dramatically.