Google's AI Answers Are Stealing Your Website Traffic — Here's What To Do About It

Hey there, Dan here from Slateweave.

If you've noticed your website getting fewer visitors lately — fewer enquiries, fewer online orders, less footfall from Google — you're not imagining it. Something significant has shifted in how Google works, and it's quietly hitting small businesses across the North West and the rest of the UK.

The culprit? Google's AI Overviews. And if you haven't heard of them yet, you've almost certainly seen them.

What Are AI Overviews?

You know when you type a question into Google and, before any website links appear, there's a big AI-generated answer box at the very top of the page? That's an AI Overview. Google's system reads the web, stitches together an answer, and serves it to the user — without them ever needing to click on anything.

It sounds handy. For users, it often is. But for businesses that rely on Google to send people to their website? It's a problem.

Zero-click searches — where someone Googles something and leaves without clicking a single link — now make up 69% of all searches. That's up from 56% just a year ago. Research from Pew found that users clicked through to websites only 8% of the time when an AI summary appeared, compared to 15% when it didn't. That's nearly half the traffic, gone.

"But I'm a Local Business — Does This Affect Me?" 🤔

This is the question I get asked most when I bring this up with clients. And the honest answer is: yes and no.

The good news is that purely local searches — "plumber in Widnes", "hair salon near me", "best Indian restaurant in Chorlton" — are somewhat more protected. Google still shows the local map pack for these, and AI Overviews appear less frequently for them than for general informational queries.

The bad news is that the moment someone searches something slightly broader — "how to fix a leaky tap", "what to look for in a wedding photographer", "is [your industry] regulated in the UK" — Google's AI is now answering that. And if your website used to rank for those informational queries and send warm, educated customers your way, that traffic may have quietly dried up.

What You Can Actually Do About It

This is where I want to be genuinely useful rather than just painting a grim picture. Here's what I'd recommend building into the foundations of your online presence right now:

1. Keep your Google Business Profile active and detailed — Google uses your profile to feed AI answers for local searches. Businesses that post updates, add fresh photos, and collect detailed reviews are significantly more visible. Aim for at least one post a week and make sure your services, hours, and contact details are completely up to date.

2. Ask customers for specific reviews 🌟 — Generic five-star reviews help. But reviews that mention specific services ("they fixed our boiler in Warrington on the same day") are pure gold — Google's AI reads them and uses them to answer local queries directly. Guide your customers on what to mention.

3. Create content that answers real questions — If you write a proper, useful blog post answering a question your customers actually ask you — not keyword-stuffed nonsense, but a real, helpful answer — there's a decent chance Google's AI will pull from it and credit your site as a source. That's visibility even in a zero-click world.

4. Make sure your website has structured data — This is the technical bit, and it's where a good web developer earns their keep. Schema markup (structured data) helps Google understand exactly what your business does, where you are, and what questions you can answer. An FAQ page with proper schema is particularly effective right now.

5. Don't put all your eggs in the Google basket — I know that sounds rich coming from someone who's just spent four paragraphs talking about Google — but this shift is a good reminder that your email list, your social presence, and your word-of-mouth reputation are assets Google can't touch. Invest in those too.

The Bottom Line

Google isn't going away. But the old model of "rank for keywords, get traffic" is changing faster than most businesses have noticed. The businesses that adapt — keeping their profiles fresh, collecting meaningful reviews, and building genuine authority online — will hold their ground. The ones that don't will keep watching their traffic slide and wondering why.

If your website feels like it's working against you rather than for you, that's usually a sign the foundations need looking at. Drop us a message and we'll take a look — no jargon, no hard sell, just an honest conversation about where you stand.

— Dan, Slateweave