Picture the same sentence said four ways. Proud: we are number one on Google. Relieved: we are number one on Google. Confused, staring at analytics: we are number one on Google? Horrified: we are number one on Google and traffic is down forty percent.
That is the whole year. The ranking did not change. The AI answer moved on top of it and ate the click.
How bad is it?
When an AI Overview sits above the results, organic click-through on the top spot drops by around 61%. So the position you fought years to win now loses two thirds of its clicks to a box that did not exist eighteen months ago.
Ranking still matters, but only as the entry fee. It gets you into the race the AI runs before the human ever scrolls. The win is no longer the click. It is being the source the answer is built from.
The move
Audit it honestly. Of your top-ranking pages, how many now sit under an AI answer that intercepts the click? That number is your real exposure, and almost nobody is tracking it.
How much of your "winning" SEO is quietly being skimmed before it reaches you?
Alex Mureșan does go-to-market distribution for founders who'd rather be right early than safe and late. Get in touch →