AI now answers a big chunk of searches before anyone clicks. Up to 60% of searches end with zero clicks, and some sites have seen organic traffic drop by 50 to 60%. Informational content gets hit hardest, because the AI just gives the answer.
So traffic, clicks and rankings stop telling you much. Which makes proving ROI a lot messier.
In this conversation, Dan and I get into what that means in practice.
For e-commerce, the shift is already happening. Shopify and Google are trialling UCP in the US, a way for AI tools to serve products directly. Whether your products show up comes down to boring stuff: clean data structures and accurate inventory feeds. If yours are a mess, fix them now.
For lead generation sites, it's schema, content quality, and E-E-A-T. Dan's view is you don't abandon Google. You keep a strong presence there and build up your brand and the experience signals AI tools look for.
And one point he kept coming back to: keep humans in the loop. Automation alone won't get you there. You need a full-funnel plan.
