AI Overviews Are Cutting Website Clicks: What US Small Businesses Can Do.
You rank on the first page of Google. Search Console says people still see you. But the phone rings less than it did two years ago.
If that sounds familiar, the cause is probably not your business. Google changed what a search result looks like. For a growing share of searches it now writes the answer itself, at the top of the page, and far fewer people scroll down to click a website.
This guide covers what changed, what it costs a small business in the US, and what to do about it. The short version: the websites that still win customers are fast, clear, and built so that both people and Google can read them.
The problem: Google answers the question itself
Two changes caused this, and both reached US searchers first:
- AI Overviews (May 2024): a written summary that sits above the normal results.
- AI Mode (opened to everyone in the US in May 2025): a chat-style search that answers the question and any follow-ups, with a few links alongside.
We know what this does to clicks because it has been measured.
Pew Research Center tracked the real browsing of 900 US adults in March 2025:
- About 18% of their Google searches produced an AI summary.
- When a summary appeared, people clicked a normal search result on 8% of visits. Without one, it was 15%.
- They clicked a link inside the summary on just 1% of visits.
- 26% ended their browsing session right after a page with a summary, compared with 16% after a page without one.
It has grown since. Ahrefs compared December 2023 with December 2025 across 300,000 informational keywords. The page in first place now gets 58% fewer clicks when an AI Overview is present. In April 2025 the same study measured 34.5%. Second place loses about half its clicks, and even tenth place loses close to 20%.
Which searches are hit hardest
Pew found that the longer and more question-like the search, the more likely Google is to answer it:
| Type of search | Share that got an AI summary |
|---|---|
| One or two words | 8% |
| Starts with who, what, when or why | 60% |
| Ten words or more | 53% |
So the “how do I”, “what does it cost” and “why is my” searches are where the clicks went. Those are the searches that guides and blog posts used to win.
What this does to a small business
Your rankings look fine, your traffic does not
Your position has not changed. What changed is how many people click. In Search Console it looks like this: impressions hold steady or rise, and clicks go flat or fall.
To put the Ahrefs figure in plain numbers: a guide that brought in 1,000 visitors a month from first place would bring in about 420 today if its search now shows an AI Overview, with no drop in ranking and no warning.
Every visit now counts for more
There is a useful side to this. Google’s own guidance for site owners says that when people do click from a results page with an AI Overview, those clicks are higher quality, meaning people are more likely to spend more time on the site.
That makes sense. Someone who reads a summary and still clicks wants something a summary cannot give: your price, your photos, your reviews, a way to reach you. If the page is slow or confusing, you lose a person who was close to calling.
Older websites lose twice
A site Google reads poorly is less likely to be linked as a source in the AI answer. The same site is also worse at winning the visitor who does arrive. The usual causes:
- Text locked inside images or PDFs
- One “Services” page that tries to cover everything
- Slow pages on a phone
- No structured data
- No clear way to call or send a message
You end up paying for what used to be free
The common reaction is to spend more on ads. Ads work while you pay and stop the day you stop. They also send people to the same website, so a weak site wastes that money too.
The solution: a website built for how search works now
There is no trick, and Google says so. Its guidance states that a page needs nothing extra to appear as a link in AI Overviews or AI Mode. It has to be indexed and eligible to show in Search with a snippet. After that, the same basics apply: let Google crawl the site, link your pages to each other, give people a good page experience, keep important content as text, make structured data match what is on the page, and keep your Business Profile up to date.
Here is what that means as actual work on a website.
1. Make sure Google can read every page
Check that your pages are indexed, that nothing important is blocked, and that every service is described in real text on its own URL. Add a sitemap and connect Search Console. It is the first job in any website development project, because nothing else matters if Google cannot read the page.
2. Make it fast on a phone
Test your homepage with Google’s free PageSpeed Insights. Slow sites usually share the same problems: oversized images, a heavy page builder, too many plugins, and cheap hosting. Sometimes a cleanup fixes it. Sometimes the build itself is the problem, which is the trade-off we explain in WordPress vs a custom-coded website. Speed also slips over time if nobody maintains the site, so keep a maintenance routine.
3. Give every service and every area its own page
Google says AI Overviews and AI Mode can run several related searches to build one answer. A site with one page that lists everything has one chance to match. A site with a page for each service and each city you cover has many.
For GA Healthcare Training in Lilburn, Georgia, we built a site that sets out every class they teach, from BLS to PALS, and lets students book a seat online. You can read the case study. For the full method, see our guide to local SEO for service businesses.
4. Add structured data that matches the page
Structured data is a short block of code that tells Google plainly who you are, what you offer, where you work and what a product costs. Google’s rule is that it must match what visitors can see on the page. We add it to every website we build.
5. Keep your Google Business Profile current
Google names the Business Profile (and Merchant Center, if you sell products) in its guidance. Check your hours, services, service areas and photos, and reply to reviews. If you run an online store, a clean product feed matters as much as the store itself, which is part of our e-commerce development work.
6. Publish what a summary cannot copy
An AI summary can explain what a heat pump is. It cannot show the one you fitted last week, what it cost, or what the customer said afterwards. Put your own material on the site:
- Real prices or price ranges
- Photos of your own work
- The questions your customers actually ask, with your answers
- Your process, your guarantees and how fast you reply
- Short case studies with results
7. Turn the visit into a call
Every page needs one obvious next step. That means a phone number that works as a button, a short form, a WhatsApp or text option, and your reply time written down. Fewer visitors is survivable when more of them get in touch.
8. Measure visibility, not only clicks
In June 2026 Google began rolling out generative AI performance reports in Search Console. They show how often your pages appear inside AI Overviews and AI Mode. The rollout is gradual, so you may not have them yet. Either way, count what pays the bills: calls, form inquiries and bookings that started with a search.
Fix what you have, or rebuild?
Most small business sites do not need to be thrown away.
| Fix the current site if | Rebuild if |
|---|---|
| It is on WordPress, Shopify or another platform you can edit | You cannot edit it yourself, or the builder is no longer supported |
| It works well on a phone | It was never designed for phones |
| Pages are slow because of images and plugins | Pages stay slow after a cleanup |
| The structure is sound and only the content is thin | Everything sits on one or two pages |
Questions to ask any web development company
Whether you hire a US agency, a freelancer or a team abroad, ask these before you sign:
- Will every service and location get its own page and URL?
- Do you add structured data and connect Search Console at launch?
- How fast will the site load on a phone, and will you show me the test?
- Will I own the domain, the website, the content and the logins?
- Who updates the site after launch, and what does it cost?
Clear answers are a good sign. Vague ones usually mean those jobs will not get done.
What it costs
We are a small team in Islamabad, Pakistan, and we build websites for US businesses remotely. Our costs are lower, so our prices are too:
- Business website (5 pages): from $200
- Online store (up to 25 products): from $500
- Local SEO: from $120 a month
- Website care: from $19 a month
Every website includes the basics this article describes: fast loading, structured data, a sitemap, and Search Console connected. See the full list on our pricing page, or get a figure for your own project with the website cost calculator.
A 15-minute check you can do today
- Search Google for your main service plus your city. Is there an AI answer at the top? Are you linked in it, or in the map results?
- Search
site:yourdomain.com. Are your service pages in the list? - Run your homepage through PageSpeed Insights on mobile.
- Open your site on your phone. Can you call or message the business in one tap?
- Open your Google Business Profile. Are the hours, services and photos current?
- In Search Console, compare the last three months with the same months last year. Look at impressions and clicks separately.
If two or more of these turn up problems, the site is costing you customers.
Where we come in
We build and fix websites for small businesses in the US, with clients so far in Georgia, Missouri and Maryland. See how we work on our page for web design and development in the US, or read about our SEO optimization service.
Want a second pair of eyes first? Send us your website and we will tell you what we would fix, in plain English, at no cost.
Sources
- Pew Research Center, Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results, July 2025
- Ahrefs, Update: AI Overviews reduce clicks by 58%, February 2026
- Google Search Central, AI features and your website
- Google Search Central, Search generative AI performance reports in Search Console, June 2026
FAQs
1. Do AI Overviews appear on every Google search?
No. Pew Research Center found that about 18% of Google searches by US adults in March 2025 produced an AI summary. Questions and long searches trigger them most; one- or two-word searches rarely do.
2. Do I need a new website to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode?
Not always. Google says there are no extra technical requirements: a page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet. A rebuild only makes sense if your current site is slow, hard to edit or built in a way Google reads poorly.
3. Can I stop Google from using my pages in AI answers?
Yes, with Google's snippet controls such as nosnippet or max-snippet. They also limit how your page appears in normal results, so for most small businesses blocking does more harm than good.
4. Is SEO still worth paying for in 2026?
Yes, but the goal has changed. The same basics decide which pages Google links to in AI answers, and the visitors who do click are closer to buying. Measure calls and inquiries, not just clicks.
