Beyond the Click: Why SEO Metrics Must Evolve with the Introduction of AI Overviews

It’s Time to Rethink Your SEO Metrics

With AI Overviews here to stay, traditional SEO benchmarks like CTR and impressions no longer tell the whole story.

For years, SEO has relied on a core set of familiar metrics to gauge success: impressions, clicks, and click-through rate (CTR). But in 2025, these numbers have become less meaningful on their own.

Since the rollout of Gemini 2.0 and Google’s expanded use of AI Overviews (AIOs), we’ve seen an undeniable shift across nearly every client account we work with at New Media Advisors:

• Impressions are spiking—in some cases more than doubling
• Clicks are flat or slightly down
• CTR is mathematically declining, despite steady (or even improved) rankings

And yet, nothing about the content, targeting, or intent has materially changed. So what’s going on?

Visibility Without Engagement

Google’s AI Overviews are reshaping how users interact with the SERP. These multi-source, AI-generated summaries now appear above or within traditional listings—even for highly specific, transactional queries.

The result? Users are getting answers faster, and fewer users are clicking through.

Google now prioritizes answers over traffic; rewarding speed and convenience, not clicks. In many cases, your content may be powering the AI’s response, but the user never lands on your site. It’s a structural shift that makes CTR and impressions feel especially misleading when viewed through a traditional lens.

The rise in impressions across all industries reflects a change to how visibility is being defined, not a meaningful increase in user attention or demand.

This May Be a Bug, But It’s the New Baseline

While the increased impressions may be a temporary glitch, lower click behavior is the new reality. Google has redefined organic engagement:

• Zero-click is the new default
• Organic listings are visually deprioritized
• Impression inflation masks performance drops
• Referral data may disappear entirely in AIO click-throughs

In short: what looks like declining performance is actually a shift in measurement logic.

What SEOs Need to Do Now

It’s past time to evolve our approach in how we report success and where we focus strategic energy. That starts with replacing vanity metrics with value indicators.

Here’s where we’re guiding clients:

1. Measure Revenue per Visit (RPV): While overall click volumes may decrease, the intent behind those clicks is stronger than ever. Users who do click are typically more qualified, more motivated, and more likely to convert. By focusing on revenue per visit, you gain a clearer, more actionable view of how organic performance is truly impacting business results.
2. Re-Baseline Your Benchmarks: Your April 2025 data is the new baseline. Comparing today’s CTRs and impressions to last year’s will lead to confusion—and potentially false conclusions. Year-over-year click data may show a modest drop or remain steady, but either outcome reflects the broader shift. Planning for this in your messaging will help you tell the story that fewer clicks = more qualified traffic.
3. Invest in Mid-Funnel Content: AI Overviews thrive on helpful, unbranded details. Focus your SEO strategy around comparison, consideration, and “why us” content to feed both the bots and real buyers.
4. Track the Invisible Clicks: AI Overviews often don’t send referrer data. In GA4, those visits may look like “Direct” traffic. Understanding how and where these distortions occur helps protect attribution and clarity.
5. Develop Strategies to Track AI Bots: AI bot traffic is here to stay. Use referrer data, IP address identification, and logfiles to track when AI tools are accessing the site and what behavior indicates a bot vs. a human prompt.

From Tactical Optimization to Strategic Clarity

Marketers must now pivot from fighting for blue links to fighting for market share. A brand mentioned in an AIO may not get a click, but it may influence a future search or conversion.

Here’s how New Media Advisors is helping enterprise brands thrive amid this disruption:

• Normalizing post-AIO data: We reframe performance shifts in light of AI-influenced queries, providing accurate baselines and visibility into true performance.
• Attribution built for business outcomes: Clicks are a means to an end. We map SEO impact to revenue and share of market.
• Query segmentation testing: Identifying the queries most likely to trigger AIOs helps isolate which keywords still drive engagement.
• Narrative support for internal stakeholders: We arm marketing and analytics teams with the storylines needed to explain and justify SEO’s evolving value to the C-suite.

Less Traffic, More Value

What looks like SEO decline is just a shift in measurement logic. The same way social media metrics matured from likes to conversions, SEO must evolve from clicks to contribution.

The path forward? Fewer, better clicks. Higher RPV. Better storytelling. SEO isn’t dead—it’s just getting smarter.

Need help recalibrating your SEO strategy in a zero-click world?

New Media Advisors is here to align your organic search performance with actual business outcomes. Let’s turn visibility into value.

Contact us today to redefine your SEO success story.

Download the POV: Why SEO Metrics Must Evolve: Navigating the AI Overviews Disruption