Some publishers are reporting an increase in traffic thanks to the links within AIO citations, but those are the exception to the rule. Instead, the real value of AIO citations lies in the brand visibility and credibility boost brands receive by being mentioned in this prime real estate.
Think of AI Overview citations as “free” brand ads; if Google thinks you’re an expert to be referenced, then searchers will too.
Social search further eats into Google traffic
It’s not just the search landscape that’s changing; user behavior is also changing. People are turning to platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, and Instagram for early information-gathering instead of Google. In fact, 67% of social media users engage with social search in their purchase journey.
This means that more and more, when people finally do turn their journey to Google, it’s already with a brand in mind: 44% of all 2024 Google searches came from branded searches.
When you pair the fragmenting of search with a decline in organic traffic driven by AI Overviews, it becomes apparent that successful SEO in 2025 means optimizing for search wherever it’s happening, including social platforms. Marketers need to be thinking about SEO beyond just Google—or risk being left behind.
Has AI killed organic traffic?
No. Of course organic traffic isn’t dead. Just like with the featured snippets, this is simply the next evolution of search in response to changing user behavior.
People are still searching. They’re still asking questions your brand can answer—they just might be searching on TikTok now instead of Google, or getting an AI-generated answer conglomerated from the best the internet has to offer (at least we hope). Tried-and-true optimization practices are still marketers’ best bet to be found by users wherever they’re seeking information about your brand.
But in terms of the bigger picture: What if AI Overviews do end up killing the click? So what? Clicks don’t keep the lights on—conversions do that. There’s a world where AIOs do us all a favor and help us more clearly see conversion barriers and really home in on a better experience for the people who do end up on your website.