Businesses that rely on Google for customers see dramatic drop in traffic (www.abc.net.au)

Google’s shift to AI-generated answers in search is dramatically reducing referral traffic to websites that depend on content marketing. Over the course of 2025 Google rolled out AI Overviews (by H2 over a third of Australian searches showed summaries) and an “AI Mode” chatbot, and many informational queries now return answers users read without clicking sources. Publishers and businesses report steep drops—individual consultancies saw traffic fall ~80%, agencies measured click-through reductions of 15–70% on pages with Overviews, SEO experts report ~50% declines for some clients, and large publishers have seen Google-driven traffic fall from roughly 90% to the high 20s. At the same time, Google Ads data shows the open web’s share of display ad buys fell from 40% in 2019 to 11% by early 2025, signaling a broader shift in the web economy. Technically and commercially, this is a seismic change: AI Overviews disproportionately affect “informational” queries, so traditional content marketing and SEO are less effective, prompting the rise of “answer engine” or LLM optimisation. The net effect threatens the economics of the open web—fewer clicks, less ad revenue, and publishers pulling back free content or pivoting to events, workshops and direct outreach. Google maintains it still drives billions of clicks, and some hope AI/chatbot referrals will compensate, but the extent and value of those referrals remain uncertain. Businesses must diversify acquisition channels and experiment with new optimisation strategies to adapt.