Ghosted by Google’s AI Overview? When AI Takes the Clicks: What We’re Doing About It

How We’re Reclaiming Traffic from Google’s AI Overview Box

When Clicks Go Quiet

This January, a client’s traffic suddenly dipped—and not just a little. Search impressions were up… but click-throughs dropped by nearly half. Same keywords. Same content.

“Everything looks fine in Search Console, but the clicks are just… gone.”

The culprit? Google’s new AI Overview snapshot. It was giving searchers everything they needed—right there on the page—without ever showing them a link to click.

I can’t share the brand or industry, but the playbook we’re using to respond? That’s what I want to share with you today—because if this hasn’t hit your site yet, it probably will.

The Clue in the Query

When I searched one of their top keywords, Google’s new AI Overview gave a friendly, detailed answer… citing three other sites. Not my client (ouch). And yet, the data showed we were still getting the impressions—we just weren’t earning the clicks anymore.

This wasn’t a technical error. It was a visibility problem. We weren’t showing up where people’s eyes actually go now.

So instead of scrambling or panicking, we mapped out a clean, focused strategy: no late nights, no chaotic audits—just smart, surgical changes based on what the AI snapshot actually uses.

The 4-Step Framework We’re Rolling Out

We’re not overhauling everything. We’re focusing on high-impact changes that help both humans and Google’s AI understand what each page is about — fast. Here’s what we’re doing:

1. Write “Answer-Ready” Intros

Instead of flowery openings, we’re now starting each city or category page with a 60–75 word summary that includes:

• The average price range

• Session dates and age ranges

• A few top examples (think programs, or services)

This gives Google’s AI exactly what it needs to form a complete, factual sentence — and gives human readers clarity right away.

2. Revise FAQs for Humans and Bots

We rewrote every FAQ to be:

• Plain and concise (about 100 words or less)

• Easy to scan and understand

• Front-loaded with the direct answer in the first sentence

We also cleaned up the schema markup by:

• Removing stray HTML tags from the "name" field in the JSON-LD

• Making sure every FAQ is visible in the HTML, not just injected with JavaScript. (they were but it never hurts to re-review or re-test)

This combination makes our answers more eligible for both rich results and AI Overview citations.

3. Add Schema That Speaks AI

We're considering additional structured data that’s designed to be machine-readable and useful:

• ItemList for pages that feature “best of” lists (with position, url, description)

• Event for time-specific sessions or offerings (with startDate, location, offers, and more)

This helps search engines clearly understand what the page contains and increases the odds that Google and other LLMs like ChatGPT can pull from it directly.

4. Strengthen Trust and Authority Signals

We’re not obsessing over backlinks, but we are strengthening trust indicators:

• Making sure our timestamps are updated on editorial content

• Linking to accreditation sources where applicable

• Seeking a handful of quality backlinks from trusted sources (like industry orgs, local blogs, or parent groups)

These E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust) signals help Google decide which sources to cite — especially in AI-generated summaries.

How I Used AI to Analyze the Click Drop (and Map a Way Forward)

Before diving into SEO tools or rewriting pages, I opened a fresh chat with AI.

Here’s how it helped me think more clearly:

• Clarified the core problem: I described what I was seeing in Search Console—higher impressions, lower CTR. AI helped me map out the most likely causes (including Google's AI Overviews) and guided me toward the right questions to ask.

• Surface-checked possible causes: We walked through schema validation, FAQ structure, content hierarchy, and the client's use of location-targeted pages. It helped confirm my suspicions and highlight gaps I hadn’t fully considered.

• Reviewed real URLs side by side: I dropped in example URLs from our site and competitor pages that were appearing in AI Overviews. AI helped me compare what they were doing differently—from schema and headings to visible summaries and FAQ style.

• Synthesized best practices: Instead of me Googling piecemeal advice, AI distilled Google documentation, SEO case studies, and structured data guidelines into an organized starting point.

• Helped me build a custom plan: I used the conversation to shape what eventually became our working framework: clean schema, answer-first intros, and scannable FAQ content designed for both people and AI models.

This is exactly what I mean when I talk about creating smarter with AI. It’s not just for writing content—it’s a collaborator in solving messy, multi-layered problems. (did I mention? this was fun.)

Want to Reclaim Visibility in the AI Overview Era?

This isn’t just a ranking issue—it’s a relevance shift.

Google’s AI snapshots are answering user queries right on the search page, and if your content isn’t structured and surfaced clearly, you get skipped—no matter how good your content is.

Here’s how to make sure your site stays in the conversation:

The Checklist You Can Steal

• Check Google Search Console for “AI Overview” impressions → Use the Search Appearance filter to see which pages are being shown but not clicked.

• Add a clear, scannable intro under each H1 → Answer the user’s question directly. Include relevant facts like cost, timing, who it’s for—in your industry, this could mean: • Pricing ranges • How long something takes • Who it’s best suited for • Seasonal or availability info • A shortlist of quick recommendations

• Rewrite your FAQs for real humans → Keep answers under 100 words. Use a conversational tone. Put the most important fact in the first sentence.

• Make sure your FAQ schema is clean → Strip out HTML tags from the fields in your JSON-LD, and double-check for formatting issues in Rich Results Test.

• Keep your FAQs visible on the page → Don’t rely on JavaScript-injected content alone. If users can’t see it, Google may not trust it.

• Use the “Send Feedback” button on AI Overviews where your site should appear → Yes, people have seen results from this. It’s worth submitting your page when it’s relevant.

You don’t need to overhaul your site or chase hacks—just make it clearer, faster, and easier to understand. For searchers, for crawlers, and now… for the AI summarizing it all.

Where We Are Now

We're still in the middle of tweaks and fixes. The fixes are in motion, but it's early days. That said, everything we’re implementing is based on what Google's AI looks for: structured answers, clean markup, helpful content, and trust.

The goal isn’t just to recover—it’s to make the site better, smarter, and future-ready. If Google’s going to answer on the SERP, we want to be the source they cite.

Until next week, keep Creating Smarter with AI,

Lisa

P.S. I made a one-page “AI Overview Rescue” checklist for this project. If you want a copy, reply with “Rescue” and I’ll send it your way.