What actually changed
Informational queries with a simple factual answer increasingly get answered on the results page or inside an assistant. If your traffic was built on “what is X” articles that existed to catch a click, that traffic is genuinely at risk, and no amount of optimisation brings it back.
What did not change
- People still click through when they are close to a decision — comparisons, pricing, “near me”, “best for”.
- Assistants still need sources, and they cite pages that state things clearly and can be verified.
- Brand still decides the outcome once someone is choosing between two options.
- Technical health still determines whether any of your content is available to be used at all.
Where to move your effort
Away from volume and towards depth on the queries that sit near a purchase. Away from restating what everyone knows and towards original material — your own data, your own process, named examples. Assistants summarise consensus well and have nothing to say about your specific experience, which is exactly why that content earns citations.
If an assistant can answer the query fully without your page, that page was never a business asset. If it cannot, you have something worth investing in.
Measure differently
Sessions alone will flatter or frighten you for the wrong reasons. Track branded search volume, assisted conversions, and the share of your revenue-relevant queries where you appear at all — including inside AI answers. That set tells a truer story than a traffic line.
