Google’s AI Overviews Are Killing SEO Traffic—Here’s Your Survival Guide

TL;DR

Google’s AI-powered Search Generative Experience (SGE)—now called AI Overviews—is causing organic traffic drops of 25-40% across informational content sites. Meanwhile, competitors like Perplexity AI (growing 40% monthly) and OpenAI’s SearchGPT are fragmenting search traffic even further. The good news? Sites that get cited in AI Overviews are seeing 2x more clicks than traditional #1 rankings. The SEO playbook isn’t dead—it’s evolving toward citation optimization, original research, and high-intent content that AI can’t summarize away.

What the Sources Say

The Consensus: Traffic Is Dropping (But Not Everywhere)

The data’s pretty clear: informational queries are getting hammered. A Reddit case study tracking 50 websites found a 30% decline in organic clicks after SGE rolled out, with “how-to” and “what is” content taking the biggest hit. One 15-year SEO veteran put it bluntly: “SGE is the biggest disruption since Panda. Our informational content lost 35% traffic. Only transactional pages survived.”

But here’s where it gets interesting—conversion rates are actually going up for the traffic that remains. An agency growth lead on Reddit noted: “Yes traffic drops, but conversion rates are UP because remaining clicks are higher intent. Adapt or die.” This tracks with what we’re seeing across the industry: AI Overviews are filtering out tire-kickers, leaving behind people who actually want to take action.

The Counterintuitive Win: Citations Are the New Page 1

According to a Hacker News discussion, websites cited in Google AI Overviews get 2x more clicks than traditional #1 rankings without a citation. Think about that for a second—getting referenced by Google’s AI is now more valuable than ranking first organically. This isn’t just theory; publishers who’ve optimized for citations are reporting traffic recovery within 4-6 months.

A content strategist from the EU shared their turnaround story: “We pivoted to original research and first-party data. SGE can’t summarize what doesn’t exist yet. Traffic recovered in 4 months.” The key insight? AI can only remix existing information—it can’t create net-new data. If you’re the source of original research, you become citation-worthy by default.

Where the Sources Conflict: Is Perplexity the Bigger Threat?

There’s a fascinating debate about whether Google SGE is even the main villain here. One Reddit thread argues that Perplexity AI is the real threat, citing its 40% month-over-month growth and 100M+ monthly searches. Unlike Google, Perplexity’s entire interface is citation-based—it doesn’t just answer questions, it shows you where answers come from.

But others counter that Google still owns 90%+ of search market share, making SGE’s impact far more destructive in absolute terms. Bing Chat (now Copilot) has only reached 3.8% market share despite Microsoft’s AI push, though it’s gaining traction in B2B research queries.

The truth? Both are threats, but they require different strategies. Google SGE favors structured data and E-E-A-T signals, while Perplexity rewards clear, citation-friendly formatting (think bullet points and data tables).

The Long-Tail Paradox

Here’s one area where the sources agree: long-tail keywords are less affected than broad head terms. A 6-month SEO adaptation case study on Reddit found that hyper-specific queries like “how to fix WordPress 404 errors after migration” still drive decent traffic, while generic “WordPress errors” queries got absorbed by AI Overviews.

The implication? Niche down or move up-funnel. Either target super-specific long-tail queries that AI can’t confidently answer, or create high-level thought leadership that establishes expertise AI tools will want to cite.

The AI Search Landscape: Who’s Who in February 2026

PlatformWhat It DoesPricingMarket Impact
Google AI Overviews (SGE)AI-generated summaries at top of Google Search results. Reduces organic clicks 25-40% on informational queries.Free for users; publishers lose traffic but can gain citationsDominant force—affects 90%+ of search traffic
Perplexity AIConversational search with sources + follow-ups. 100M+ searches/month, growing 40% monthly.Free: 5 Pro searches/day
Pro: $20/mo (unlimited GPT-5/Claude 4.6)		Fastest-growing threat, especially for research queries
SearchGPT (OpenAI)Real-time web search integrated into ChatGPT. Publisher partnerships with NYT, AP, etc.Free tier with limits
ChatGPT Plus: $20/mo		Growing but gated behind ChatGPT paywall
Bing CopilotMicrosoft’s GPT-5-powered search. 3.8% market share but strong in enterprise/B2B.Free basic
Copilot Pro: $20/mo		Niche player, matters for B2B SaaS marketers
You.comMulti-mode AI search (Smart/Genius/Research/Create). Strong for technical + academic queries.Free basic
YouPro: $15/mo (GPT-5, unlimited Research)		Dark horse—growing in developer/student segments

Key Takeaway: The $20/mo price point is now the standard for “pro” AI search across platforms (OpenAI, Perplexity, Microsoft). Free tiers exist but with meaningful limits—expect this to drive a two-tier search ecosystem where power users pay for better answers.

What Actually Works: The New SEO Playbook

Based on the collective experience of marketers who’ve navigated SGE over the past 6-12 months, here’s what’s actually moving the needle:

1. Structured Data Is Non-Negotiable

Google’s AI needs clean data to generate Overviews. If your content isn’t marked up with schema.org structured data (FAQ schema, HowTo schema, Article schema), you’re invisible to the AI crawler. One Reddit SEO reported a 60% increase in SGE citations after implementing comprehensive schema markup.

2. E-E-A-T on Steroids

Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness aren’t just ranking factors anymore—they’re citation factors. AI Overviews heavily favor content from recognized authorities. If your author bios are thin, your About pages are vague, or you lack external credibility signals (backlinks from .edu/.gov sites, mentions in industry publications), you’re at a disadvantage.

3. First-Party Data & Original Research

This came up repeatedly: AI can’t summarize what doesn’t exist yet. If you’re creating original surveys, proprietary data sets, or net-new research, you become the source AI tools must cite. A marketing agency reported that their original “State of B2B SEO 2026” report got cited in 40+ AI Overviews and drove 12,000+ referral clicks over 3 months.

4. Transactional Content Over Informational

“Best [product] for [use case]” and “how to buy [thing]” queries are surviving better than pure informational content. Why? Because Google knows these have commercial intent and doesn’t want to kill its own ad revenue. If your content can be framed as helping users make a purchase decision, it’s safer.

5. Citation-Friendly Formatting

Perplexity and SearchGPT favor content that’s easy to excerpt: bullet points, data tables, clear subheadings, concise paragraphs. One marketer A/B tested two versions of the same article—one traditional long-form, one reformatted with tables and bullets. The latter got cited 3x more often in Perplexity results.

The Bottom Line: Who Should Care?

If you run an informational content site (blogs, how-to guides, educational resources), you’re in the blast radius. Expect 20-40% traffic drops if you haven’t adapted. But this isn’t a death sentence—it’s a forcing function to level up your content quality.

If you’re in e-commerce or lead gen, the impact is less severe (transactional queries are safer), but you still need to optimize for citations. Getting featured in AI Overviews for “best [product category]” queries can actually increase visibility.

If you’re a B2B SaaS marketer, pay attention to Bing Copilot and Perplexity—your audience is already using them for vendor research. Citation optimization here means showing up when prospects ask “What’s the best [tool] for [specific use case]?”

If you’re a content creator or indie publisher, this is tough. The old “churn out SEO blog posts” model is dying. You need to either go hyper-niche (own a specific long-tail vertical) or move up-market (become a cited authority through original research).

The Uncomfortable Truth

SEO isn’t dying—it’s bifurcating. There will be winners (sites that master citation optimization, create original data, and build real authority) and losers (content farms, thin affiliate sites, and generic how-to blogs). The middle is disappearing.

If you’re still optimizing for “rank #1 in Google” as your primary KPI, you’re already behind. The new game is “get cited by AI”—and that requires fundamentally different content, structure, and authority signals.

The good news? Early movers are seeing results. Traffic might be down industry-wide, but conversion rates and citation-driven referrals are up for those who’ve adapted. The question isn’t whether to change—it’s whether you’ll be early or late.

Sources