TL;DR:
New research shows a 50% drop in click-through rates when AI Overviews appear in Google search. If you’re still running a 2018 SEO playbook, you’re invisible to your customers and it’s costing you revenue. In 2025, ecommerce brands need to rethink how they show up in search, or risk getting buried beneath Google’s generative content layer.
The Ground Just Shifted – Quietly, But Significantly
In July 2025, the Pew Research Center published findings that confirmed what many in the digital marketing space have been warning about for months: AI-generated answers in Google search are cannibalizing clicks from traditional organic listings. According to the report, when Google displays an AI Overview at the top of the search results page, the likelihood of a user clicking on any organic link drops by nearly 50%. That’s not a minor shift, that’s a tectonic change in how people interact with search results.
What’s even more startling is how few users engage with the content cited within these AI summaries. Pew’s study showed that only 1% of users click on a source cited within an AI Overview, and over 26% of users leave Google entirely after reading the AI-generated response, up from 16% in traditional search results. This suggests that not only are these summaries satisfying queries instantly, they’re also deterring further exploration of third-party content.
The implications are clear: ranking #1 on Google is no longer a reliable path to traffic if your listing is buried under a generative summary. And if your content isn’t built to be referenced or included in that summary, you’re effectively invisible to a growing segment of your potential customers.
Why the Old SEO Playbook No Longer Works
Traditional ecommerce SEO tactics were designed for a world where the blue links reigned supreme. You did your keyword research, wrote optimized blog posts or category page copy, built backlinks, and climbed the rankings. But the introduction of AI Overviews has introduced a disruptive new layer between the user and the traditional results.
These generative summaries now serve as a kind of “zero-click” answer box, compressing the most relevant information into a snapshot that often eliminates the need to scroll or click at all. They prioritize high-authority sources like Wikipedia, Reddit threads, government websites, and large media publishers. Even when ecommerce brands publish high-quality content, they’re often excluded from these summaries simply due to lack of perceived authority, schema structure, or semantic relevance.
And here’s the brutal truth: many ecommerce brands are still chasing keywords without addressing how Google’s AI systems are reshaping the SERP. If your SEO strategy hasn’t evolved to take this shift into account, you’re playing by a rulebook that no longer governs the game.
What Ecommerce Brands Need to Do Now
If you want to future-proof your organic strategy, it’s time to reframe how you think about SEO. Here’s what we recommend for brands that want to adapt and win:
1. Reevaluate Your Content Strategy
Focus on content that adds value beyond what AI can summarize. That includes:
- In-depth product comparisons and field tests
- Real customer stories or UGC
- Owner insights and brand POVs
AI can summarize Wikipedia, but it can’t replicate your brand’s unique perspective.
2. Target Prompts, Not Just Keywords
Ask: “What would my ideal customer type into Google or ChatGPT?”
Build content around those natural-language questions using:
- FAQ sections
- Long-tail queries
- Semantically related terms
Tools like AlsoAsked or SERPAPI can help you uncover real question patterns.
3. Optimize for AI Overviews and SERP Features
Give Google’s AI models reasons to include you. That means:
- Adding FAQ schema and well-structured Q&A content
- Building entity associations with trusted sources
- Internally linking to content clusters that signal depth and authority
4. Refresh and Reposition Legacy Content
Go back to your top-performing content and ask:
- Is this still the best answer available?
- Would Google’s AI model find this trustworthy?
- Does it speak to 2025 buyer concerns and language?
If not, it’s time for a refresh.
AI Overviews are not a passing experiment; they are now a core part of Google’s evolving search experience. Brands that fail to respond will gradually see their organic performance erode, even if rankings appear stable in traditional tracking tools. The cost of inaction isn’t theoretical. It’s measurable in lost traffic, diminished visibility, and fewer qualified visitors reaching your product pages.
But here’s the good news: for brands willing to adapt, there’s still tremendous opportunity. Google’s AI systems still rely on high-quality, structured, brand-authored content to generate summaries. If you reframe your SEO strategy around trust, specificity, depth, and semantic clarity, you can position your brand to earn visibility not just in traditional listings, but in the new AI-powered layer of search itself.
- Reevaluate your SEO strategy.
- Modernize your content approach.
- Adapt to how your customers are actually searching in 2025.
Need a second opinion on how your current content stacks up? We help ecommerce brands navigate this exact shift and build a strategy to continue to dominate their industries.
Greg is the founder and CEO of Stryde and a seasoned digital marketer who has worked with thousands of businesses, large and small, to generate more revenue via online marketing strategy and execution. Greg has written hundreds of blog posts as well as spoken at many events about online marketing strategy. You can follow Greg on Twitter and connect with him on LinkedIn.
