Every few weeks a client asks some version of the same question: if Google now answers everything itself with AI, is there any point having a website?
It is a fair question and it deserves a straight answer rather than either the panic you read in headlines or the "nothing has changed" line you get from people selling SEO. The honest answer is that something real has changed, it has not affected everyone equally, and for a local business the picture is considerably better than the headlines suggest.
What changed
Google now frequently answers a search directly on the results page with an AI-written summary, drawing on multiple sources and citing some of them. For a lot of questions, the searcher gets what they needed without visiting anyone's website.
That is a genuine shift. For twenty years the deal was that Google found the answer on your site and sent you the visitor. Increasingly, Google reads your site and keeps the visitor.
What the data actually shows
Worth using measured figures rather than vibes:
- Pew Research tracked 68,000 real searches and found people clicked a result 8 percent of the time when an AI summary was present, against 15 percent when it was not.
- Similarweb put the share of searches ending with no click at 69 percent by May 2025, up from 56 percent a year earlier.
- Ahrefs measured roughly a third lower click-through at the top position for informational keywords showing an AI summary.
So yes, the clicks are real and they are down. But those numbers are dominated by informational searches and by publishers, which is where the pain is concentrated. Read on before you write off your website.
The part the headlines leave out
The effect is deeply uneven, and the exceptions matter enormously if you run a local business.
Branded searches went up. Amsive found click-through on branded searches rose around 18 percent. When somebody searches for you by name, AI summaries are not taking that click. If anything they help.
Local intent behaves differently. Somebody searching for an emergency plumber in their town is not looking for an essay. They get a map, three businesses, phone numbers and reviews, and they call one. An AI summary cannot do that job for them, and Google knows it. The local pack is not where AI is eating clicks.
You were never earning much from the questions AI now answers. "How do I unblock a sink" was never going to make you money. If anything, losing that traffic while keeping "plumber near me" is a rebalancing towards the visitors who were actually going to hire you.
What this means for you
If your traffic came from generic how-to articles, you have a real problem. If it came from local searches, your own brand name and the map pack, you are in one of the more resilient positions in search right now.
The strategy that protects you is not new or exotic. It is the same set of unglamorous things that made you findable before, and they matter more now, because AI systems lean on exactly those signals when deciding which businesses to mention.
Five things worth doing
- Get the Google Business Profile right. It feeds the map pack and it is a primary source for local AI answers. Complete categories, accurate hours, service area, photos. The method is in getting found on Google.
- Collect reviews, continuously. Reviews are trust signals for customers and confidence signals for algorithms deciding which local business to name. Still the highest-value thing most local businesses ignore. See how to get more Google reviews.
- Answer real questions in plain language. Pages that state clearly what you do, where you work and what it costs are exactly what gets extracted and cited. Short, direct answers under honest headings beat marketing prose. A simple FAQ section on a service page does more than a clever tagline.
- Keep your details identical everywhere. Same business name, address and phone on your site, your Google profile and every directory. Inconsistency makes you a fuzzy entity, and fuzzy entities do not get recommended.
- Build brand recognition. Given branded search is the one category that improved, being the business people search for by name is now a defensive asset as well as a nice-to-have. Local reputation, repeat customers and word of mouth feed directly into it.
What not to do
- Do not buy an "AI SEO" package on a cold call. The people who understand this best are largely giving the advice away, as above. There is no secret mechanism for buying your way into an AI answer.
- Do not abandon your website. AI answers are assembled from sources. No source, no citation, no mention. A business with no site is not more protected from AI, it is invisible to it.
- Do not stuff pages with AI-sounding phrases. Clear, specific, genuinely useful writing is what gets used. It always was.
Measure it differently now
One practical consequence: your Search Console numbers may look strange. Impressions can hold steady or rise while clicks fall, because you are appearing inside an answer that nobody clicks through from. That is not necessarily a failure, and it is not something you can fix by panicking.
This is why judging your website on enquiries rather than visits matters more than ever. We covered how in how to tell if your website is actually working. If enquiries are steady while traffic dips, nothing is broken.
Frequently asked questions
Do I still need a website if Google answers everything?
Yes, and arguably more than before. AI answers are built from sources, so having no website means you cannot be one. Your site is also where someone decides whether to trust you after Google has pointed them at you.
Are AI Overviews hurting local businesses?
Far less than publishers and how-to sites. Local searches still return a map, phone numbers and reviews, because that is what someone looking for a nearby business actually wants. The measured collapse in clicks is concentrated in informational queries.
How do I get my business mentioned in AI answers?
There is no submission form and nobody can guarantee it. What helps is being a clear, consistent, well-reviewed entity with pages that answer real questions plainly. In other words, the same work that earns you the map pack.
Should I pay for AI SEO services?
Be sceptical, particularly of anyone who approached you first. Ask exactly what they will do. If the answer is a complete Google Business Profile, reviews, clear service pages and consistent details, that is legitimate, and it is ordinary local SEO with a new label.
My traffic dropped but enquiries are the same. What is going on?
Quite possibly nothing bad. You may be losing casual informational visitors who were never going to buy, while the people with real intent still arrive. Check enquiries over three months before making any decisions.
The businesses that will do well here are the ones that were already doing the boring things properly: a complete Google profile, real reviews, a fast site that says clearly what they do and where. If you would like a straight assessment of where yours stands, get in touch, or see how we build websites designed to be found and cited rather than just to look nice.