Search Google for almost any question this summer and the first thing you’ll see isn’t a website — it’s Google’s own AI-written answer, assembled from other people’s websites, with your potential visit quietly absorbed into it.

AI Overviews have been rolling out for over a year now, and every expansion covers more query types and more countries. The pattern we see across client sites is consistent: pages that answer general informational questions (“how often should I repaint my house”) are losing clicks, because the searcher gets the answer without leaving Google. Meanwhile, pages that match doing intent — “house painter near me,” “get a painting quote” — are holding steady or growing.

That gap is the playbook.

1. Shift weight toward transactional and local intent

If a query can be answered in two sentences, an AI will answer it and keep the click. If a query requires you — your prices, your availability, your service area, your portfolio — no AI Overview can substitute. Audit your pages and be honest about which are which. Service pages, location pages, pricing pages, and case studies deserve more investment than ever. Generic “what is X” content deserves less.

2. Become the source the AI cites

AI Overviews cite sources, and those citations do get clicks — fewer than the old blue links, but they go to a much shorter list of winners. What gets cited: pages with clear structure, direct answers high on the page, real expertise, and structured data that machines can parse. Schema markup went from “nice to have” to table stakes.

3. Build searches that skip the fight entirely

Nobody’s AI summary intercepts a search for your business name. Brand searches — earned through consistent service, reviews, community presence, and being memorable — arrive with intent already formed. The businesses least worried about AI Overviews are the ones people search for by name.

4. Own your audience

Traffic you rent from Google can be repriced at any time; this year is the proof. An email list, even a small one, is traffic you own. A monthly note to past customers routinely outperforms a month of organic traffic for service businesses. If you have no mechanism for capturing contacts, that’s the first fix.

5. Make the clicks you do get count

When fewer people click through, each visit is worth more. A site that loads in under a second, works flawlessly on phones, and funnels visitors toward one clear action converts the traffic you have instead of mourning the traffic you lost. That’s conversion-focused design, and it’s the multiplier on everything above.

The honest summary

The ten-blue-links era is ending, and pretending otherwise wastes a year you could spend adapting. The businesses that win the next era will answer buying-intent searches brilliantly, get cited when machines summarize, and build direct relationships that no algorithm sits between.

Want to know where your site stands? Ask us for a straight answer — it’s kind of our thing.