Search for almost any question now and Google answers it at the top of the page before showing a single link. Those AI Overviews, and the fuller AI Mode behind them, change the math for any business that depends on search traffic.
The short version: clicks on general questions are down, searches from people ready to hire or buy are holding up better, and the websites cited in the summaries are the ones written to be quoted.
What's actually happening
When a summary answers the question, fewer people click through. A 2025 Pew Research Center study found people clicked a result about half as often when an AI summary appeared. That hits websites built on general how-to content hardest. A post explaining how often to change an air filter used to earn the click. Now the answer sits on Google's page.
Searches with intent to hire or buy behave differently. Someone looking for an emergency plumber or a realtor in a specific town still needs a business, and the map results, reviews, and websites still decide who gets the call.
How to tell if it's hurting you
Open Google Search Console and compare impressions with clicks over the last year. If impressions held steady or rose while clicks fell, AI summaries are probably answering the question for you. Note which pages show that pattern. They're usually general explainers, not service pages.
Search Console doesn't report AI Overview traffic separately, so this takes some detective work. The pattern is usually obvious anyway.
What still works
Pages that can't be summarized. A summary can explain what a kitchen remodel involves. It can't show your finished kitchens, your reviews, your service area, or how to book you. Service pages, case studies, and pages about the specific places you work earn clicks because the searcher needs something only you have.
Answers worth citing. AI Overviews link to their sources, and those links do get clicked. Pages that answer a question in the first two sentences, then back it up with specifics, get cited more often than pages that build slowly toward the point. Short paragraphs, clear headings, and real numbers all help.
A complete business profile. Local summaries lean heavily on business profiles and reviews. A fully filled-out Google Business Profile with recent reviews matters more now, not less.
Structured data. Schema markup tells Google exactly what your business is, where it is, and what it offers, which makes it easier for a summary to name you correctly.
What to stop doing
Stop publishing thin posts aimed at broad questions you have no special knowledge of. "What is a gutter" was never going to bring a customer, and now it won't even bring a visitor. Put that effort into pages that show your work and answer the questions people ask right before they hire someone.
The bigger picture
Search is splitting into two jobs: answering questions and choosing businesses. Google is taking over the first. The second still runs on websites, reviews, and reputation. A website built for that second job, and written so machines can read it as easily as people, holds up no matter how the results page changes next. Our guide to getting your business into AI answers covers the technical side.