The AI Search and SEO Paradox: Declining Clicks But Higher Conversion Rates

The effect of AI's impact on click-through rates seems to depend on who you ask and what industry you are in. There seem to be four camps of opinion on what is going on. I'm in the last one — and this article is my explanation why.

The Four Camps of Opinion on AI Search

1. There are those who are saying things really have changed little.
2. Those who are saying it's over; SEO is dead.
3. People who say we need a unique approach using AEO (Answer Engine Optimization).
4. Those saying there are some big changes going on, so we need to tweak our current strategy to keep up.

I'm firmly in camp #4. The fundamentals of SEO — quality content, authoritative backlinks, technical health, and genuine expertise — are not going away. What is changing is how that content gets consumed before a user ever clicks your link.

How AI Overviews Are Changing User Behavior

In my opinion, things look different on paper right now, but I think the same thing is still happening. Before AI Overviews (AIOs), potential customers would educate themselves about your business on your website. That's why you wrote informational content. Then, after researching other businesses, they would come back to your website (hopefully!) and become a customer.

Now they're reading the informational content on the AI platforms, and when they're ready to buy, they click through to their eventual choice. The thing is that the informational content still needs to come from somewhere. Wouldn't you like it to be your brand they see in the AI? Of course you do.

I thought AI search answers almost always drew from the first SERP results page. In an extensive study on where AI search answers come from, conducted by Louise Linehan and Xibeijia Guan, they found something that should give us all some optimism. The study found that 76.10% of AI citations came from the top 10 results, 9.50% came from positions 11–100, and that 14.40% of the citations didn't even rank in the top 100. That means almost 25% of the citations weren't in the top 10 results. Should we continue doing SEO? I definitely am.

Quality vs. Quantity: The New Metrics of Success

When AI systems provide immediate answers to basic queries, they effectively filter out casual browsers and information seekers, leaving behind users with specific commercial or research intent.

This filtering effect creates a more efficient marketplace for both businesses and consumers. Users who click through after viewing AI-generated summaries typically clearly understand what they're looking for and are closer to making a decision. For businesses, this means higher engagement rates, longer session durations, and significantly improved conversion metrics.

So far, almost all the studies are about how AI traffic has a higher conversion rate than traffic directly from Google. But I suspect that the traffic from Google has gone up in conversion value as well for the same reason — the research was already done in the AI overviews.

Emphasizing Impression Over Clicks

Impression-based metrics are gaining importance as businesses recognize the brand-building value of appearing in AI Overviews. Even when users don't click through to websites, seeing a brand associated with authoritative information creates valuable mental associations that influence future decision-making.

This concept extends traditional impression metrics to include AI-generated content appearances. When AI systems cite or reference content from a particular source, it creates an impression that carries credibility and authority. These impressions often translate to increased direct traffic, brand searches, and eventual conversions through other channels.

The Strategic Response: What to Do Now

The answer isn't to abandon SEO — it's to double down on the things that have always mattered most: genuine expertise, comprehensive coverage of your topic, and content that actually helps people. Here is what that looks like in practice:

• Write for humans first, AI second. AI systems cite content that is clear, well-structured, and genuinely authoritative. The same qualities that make content good for readers make it good for AI citations.
• Use structured data. Schema markup helps both search engines and AI systems understand what your content is about and who it comes from.
• Build brand authority. The more your brand name appears in authoritative contexts across the web, the more likely AI systems are to cite your content.
• Track impressions alongside clicks. Don't panic if clicks dip. If impressions are growing and conversion rates are holding or improving, your SEO is working.