AI Search is Eating Your Traffic - Here's How to Win It Back
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Have you noticed your Google traffic declining whilst your impressions stay steady—or even increase? You're not alone, and you're not doing anything wrong. The game has fundamentally changed.
In this episode of Spotlight on B2B Marketing, host Karen Lloyd welcomes Kyle Byers, Director of Growth Marketing at Semrush, to explore how AI search is revolutionising customer discovery and what it means for your marketing strategy. Kyle reveals why traditional attribution models are breaking down, how customers are making purchasing decisions before ever visiting your website, and most importantly—how to show up in AI search where your buyers are actually looking.
From understanding the "great decoupling" between visibility and clicks to optimising for ChatGPT and AI overviews, Kyle shares the tactical shifts marketing leaders need to make right now.
LISTEN TO KAREN & KYLE
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
✔️ Why your traffic is declining even when your SEO rankings improve (the "great decoupling")
✔️ How customers conduct entire research journeys in AI search before reaching your site
✔️ Why conversion rates from AI search are 4.4x higher than traditional SEO traffic
✔️ The attribution crisis: why your best marketing might show up as "direct" or "unknown"
✔️ How to optimise your content strategy for AI search platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity
✔️ Why ChatGPT could become the most powerful paid acquisition channel ever created
EPISODE OUTLINE AND HIGHLIGHTS
[01:32] How AI is transforming consumer research and behaviour
[03:49] The "great decoupling" – visibility up, traffic down
[07:10] Why ChatGPT visitors convert at 4.4x higher rates
[11:21] Study: ChatGPT secretly relies on Google results
[12:59] From data-driven to customer-understanding marketing
[15:33] Why cutting content is catastrophic (and what to create instead)
[18:14] Understanding LLMs and how AI search actually works
[20:46] ChatGPT: the most powerful paid acquisition channel ever
[23:37] Semrush tools for tracking AI search visibility
[25:11] Key advice: make ChatGPT your best salesperson
[28:06] How marketing teams need to restructure for AI
THE GREAT DECOUPLING: WHEN VISIBILITY NO LONGER EQUALS TRAFFIC
Kyle introduces a critical concept that's confusing marketing leaders everywhere: the decoupling of visibility from traffic. In traditional SEO, when your rankings improved, your traffic followed. Not anymore.
With AI overviews dominating Google results and platforms like ChatGPT providing direct answers, users are getting the information they need without clicking through to websites. Kyle explains how brands can see impressions and visibility skyrocket whilst tracked traffic actually declines—creating what appears to be a performance paradox.
The implications are profound. That blog post getting zero clicks might be cited hundreds of times in AI search responses. Your white paper that shows declining traffic in analytics could be influencing thousands of purchase decisions you'll never see tracked.
This creates a massive attribution challenge. As Kyle notes, conversion rates from AI search visitors are 4.4 times higher than traditional SEO traffic because these customers have already done extensive research. They're arriving at your website pre-qualified and ready to convert. But that journey—the conversations with ChatGPT, the comparisons with competitors, the pricing research—all happens in a space completely invisible to your analytics.
The key insight? Your marketing might be working better than ever, but you need entirely new ways to measure and understand its impact. The old metrics aren't just incomplete—they're actively misleading.
CHATGPT: THE FUTURE OF PAID ACQUISITION?
Kyle presents a provocative prediction: ChatGPT will become the most powerful paid acquisition channel that has ever existed. The reasoning is compelling.
Unlike Google, which knows what you search for, ChatGPT knows your deepest concerns. People use it as a therapist, discussing their marriages, finances, career anxieties, and philosophical beliefs. This creates an unprecedented level of user understanding and trust.
When ChatGPT eventually rolls out its advertising platform, it will offer targeting capabilities that make current options look primitive. The combination of conversational context, personal information, and built-up trust creates an environment where recommendations feel like they're coming from a knowledgeable friend rather than an algorithm.
For B2B marketers, this represents both a massive opportunity and an urgent call to action. Companies need to be visible in AI search now, before paid options launch, to establish organic authority. When advertising becomes available, those with existing presence and credibility will have compound advantages.
The companies preparing now—optimising content for AI search platforms, building presence across Reddit and Quora, creating proprietary research that LLMs cite—will be positioned to dominate when this new channel opens up.
KEY ADVICE FOR MARKETING LEADERS
If you are a marketing leader feeling the pinch, here are Kyle’s key takeaways:
1. Don't panic about declining traffic—focus on AI search visibility
Your impressions and brand mentions in AI platforms may be skyrocketing even as clicks decline. The traffic you're "losing" isn't lost—it's converting at 4.4x higher rates when it does arrive. Shift your measurement strategy to track visibility in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI overviews, not just traditional clicks.
2. Protect your content budget at all costs
LLMs are hungry for high-quality content to train on and cite. Your white papers, proprietary research, and thought leadership are now discovery mechanisms, not just conversion tools. The companies cutting content now will be invisible in AI search within 12 months. If anything, this is the time to invest more.
3. Get cross-functional immediately
Break down the silos between SEO, content, social, and brand teams. Your messaging needs to be consistent across your website, Reddit, Quora, YouTube, and LinkedIn because AI platforms pull from all of them. Work closely with product and customer success to deeply understand your customers—you can't rely on keyword data anymore.
RESOURCES MENTIONED
SEMrush: Digital marketing platform for SEO and competitive analysis
SEMrush AI SEO Toolkit: Standalone product for AI search optimization
SEMrush Enterprise AIO: Premium flagship solution for enterprise AI optimization
Backlinko: SEO training and research (SEMrush property)
ChatGPT: AI conversation platform by OpenAI
Perplexity: AI-powered search engine
Claude: AI assistant by Anthropic
Google AI Mode: Google's integrated AI search experience
TODAY’S GUEST
Kyle Byers is Director of Growth Marketing in Semrush’s Owned Media department, where he oversees the company’s acquired assets, organic content, conversion-rate optimization, YouTube, SEO and “AI SEO” (also called generative engine optimization).
Kyle’s experience spans over 15 years running marketing programs for B2B and B2C brands, both in-house and agency-side, as well as founding two successful businesses. He is a leading voice when it comes to winning in the age of AI with integrated marketing strategies.
OUR HOST
Karen Lloyd is a passionate marketing head-hunter and recruitment expert specialising in marketing and C-suite in the technology sector. With over 25 years of experience in the recruitment industry, Karen brings a unique depth of expertise that sets her apart from most recruiters.
Over her career, Karen has accumulated a wealth of experience that includes serving as a Board Director and being actively involved in growing a business for 13 years. Karen has been a part of five start-ups, giving her first-hand knowledge of the critical importance of hiring the right people.
Currently, Karen is the founder and Director of Armstrong Lloyd. She leads a very special team that partners with businesses and empowers them to build industry-leading marketing teams for some of the most exciting B2B technology brands - from small agile and disruptive start-ups to global giants providing a wealth of product and service offerings.
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