AI Overviews Cut Clicks 23%: What UK Businesses Must Do

AI Overviews cut organic click-through rates by 23.1% on average, according to an Ahrefs study of French search results. For estate agents and other UK businesses, this means ranking first on Google no longer guarantees the same enquiry volume it did two years ago, because AI assistants and AI Overviews increasingly answer the buyer's question before they ever click through to a website. The fix is generative engine optimisation: structuring your content so AI systems cite and recommend your business directly instead of skipping it.

What does the Ahrefs study actually show about AI Overviews and click-through rates?

Ahrefs analysed French search results and found that pages ranking in position one saw click-through rates fall by 23.1% on average once an AI Overview appeared above them. This is the clearest published answer yet to how do AI Overviews affect website traffic: the traffic funnel that used to run search query, ranking, click, enquiry now has a new step, where the AI system answers the query itself and the click never happens. For an estate agency in Hampshire, that means the same ranking position can now deliver noticeably fewer website visits and phone enquiries than it did before AI Overviews rolled out widely.

Why doesn't ranking position one still deliver the same clicks it used to?

Position one still gets shown, but it competes with an AI-generated answer sitting above it that already tells the searcher what they wanted to know. Someone searching for a lettings agent, a boiler repair, or an IT support provider often gets a summary answer, a shortlist of names, or a direct recommendation before they scroll down to organic results at all. Traditional SEO was built on the assumption that a top ranking equals a click. That assumption breaks down when the AI Overview satisfies the query on the results page itself, which is why generative engine optimisation UK business owners are now investing in is a different discipline from classic SEO, not an extension of it.

What is generative engine optimisation and how does it differ from traditional SEO?

Generative engine optimisation, or GEO, is the practice of structuring content, data and site signals so that AI systems such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Copilot and Gemini can extract, quote and attribute information to a specific business. Traditional SEO optimises for ranking position in a list of blue links. GEO optimises for being the source an AI model chooses to cite or recommend when it answers a question on your behalf. The practical differences matter for anyone deciding where to spend budget:

• Traditional SEO targets keywords and backlinks to climb rankings. GEO targets clear, quotable answers and structured data so an AI model can lift a fact and attribute it correctly.
• Traditional SEO measures success in ranking position and organic sessions. GEO measures success in citations, brand mentions inside AI answers, and enquiries that arrive already knowing who you are.
• Traditional SEO rewards long pages built around a keyword. GEO rewards short, self-contained sections that answer one specific buyer question each.

Antek Automation runs generative engine optimisation services for property, trades, MSP and professional services clients across Hampshire, built specifically around this shift from ranking for clicks to being cited for answers.

Which Hampshire and UK searches are AI Overviews now answering directly?

Hampshire businesses, including estate agents in Andover, Winchester, Basingstoke, Southampton and Salisbury, are seeing organic clicks fall even at top rankings because AI Overviews now answer many local search queries directly. A search for best estate agent in Winchester or emergency plumber Basingstoke increasingly returns a generated summary naming two or three local businesses before any organic listing appears. If your business isn't named in that summary, the searcher may never scroll far enough to find your website, regardless of where you rank. This is exactly why a GEO audit before a rebrand of search visibility strategy has become essential rather than optional. A branch manager or letting agency owner who assumes their existing SEO position is protecting their enquiry volume is often working from data that's already two years out of date.

What happens in Antek Automation's 3-step GEO audit?

Antek Automation's GEO audit is a named three-step process built to show a business exactly where it stands with AI answer engines. Step one is a visibility scan, where we run a set of real buyer queries relevant to your market, such as local agent recommendations or trade callouts, through ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Copilot and Gemini to see whether your business is mentioned, ignored, or misrepresented. Step two is a content and schema gap analysis, checking whether your site currently gives AI models the clear, structured, quotable answers they need to cite you. Step three is a prioritised action plan, ranking the fixes by how much citation and enquiry volume they're likely to recover. This same process underpins our wider AI SEO for local businesses work, and it's how Hampshire firms get cited in Google AI Overviews instead of being skipped in favour of a competitor down the road.

How can a business find out if it's being cited or skipped by AI Overviews?

The only reliable way to know is to test it directly, rather than guess from ranking reports that don't capture AI citations at all. Antek Automation offers a free GEO audit, called the AI Visibility Check, which runs your business through the same query testing used in the paid audit and reports back whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Copilot and Gemini currently name your business, name a competitor instead, or skip local recommendations altogether. For estate and letting agencies across GEO Hampshire markets, this single check usually reveals more about future enquiry risk than another month of watching organic rankings stay flat while click volume quietly drops.

Frequently asked questions

Does losing organic clicks to AI Overviews mean SEO is no longer worth doing?

No. Ranking well still matters because AI Overviews often pull their information from top-ranking, well-structured pages, so strong SEO remains a foundation. What's changed is that ranking alone no longer guarantees the click, which is why GEO now sits alongside SEO rather than replacing it.

How quickly can a business see whether AI Overviews are affecting its enquiries?

An AI Visibility Check can show within a few days whether your business is being cited or skipped for the search queries that matter to it. Comparing that against recent organic traffic and enquiry trends usually makes the impact clear almost immediately.

Is GEO only relevant to businesses with a strong existing SEO position?

No. Businesses starting from a weaker SEO position can sometimes gain ground faster in AI answers than in traditional rankings, because AI models weight clarity and structured, quotable content heavily. A business with thin but well-structured content can outperform a larger competitor with a stronger domain but poorly structured pages.