Short answer: Google's AI Overviews now answer many searches before anyone clicks, and the top result gets about 58% fewer clicks when one appears. Being named inside the AI answer now matters, and a #1 ranking doesn't guarantee it. When we checked Fort Worth plumbers, Google's top result wasn't mentioned by ChatGPT at all.
For twenty years the deal was simple. Get your website to the top of Google, and people clicked through to you. Most small businesses built their marketing around that deal. It no longer holds the way it used to.
Google's AI Overviews now answer the question themselves
Search for almost anything on Google today and you'll often see an "AI Overview" above the usual links: a written answer, put together by Google's AI, that settles the question before anyone scrolls.
That answer costs websites clicks. Ahrefs, an SEO software company, compared the same kinds of searches before and after AI Overviews arrived. In December 2025, the page in the number one spot got about 58% fewer clicks when an AI Overview appeared above it (Ahrefs, February 2026). Pages in second and third place lost roughly half.
So you can do everything right, reach the top of Google, and still see fewer people arrive at your site. Searches that end without a click at all, often called zero-click searches, are becoming the norm for simple questions.
The businesses named in the answer do better
Seer Interactive, a US marketing agency, tracks this across more than 50 brands and millions of searches. Its 2026 update looks at question-style searches and breaks them down per million times a result was shown:
- When there was no AI Overview, websites got about 33,500 clicks.
- When there was an AI Overview and the brand was named in it, about 20,700.
- When there was an AI Overview and the brand wasn't named, about 9,400.
AI answers take clicks from everyone. But a business named in the answer gets roughly twice the clicks of one that isn't.
The same applies beyond Google. When someone asks ChatGPT "who's the best roofer in Tampa?", they don't get ten links. They get a short answer naming a few businesses. If you're not one of them, you weren't in the running.
Does ranking #1 on Google get you into the AI answer?
Not on its own. Ranking well on Google and being named by AI are separate things. Plenty of business owners assume one brings the other. It doesn't.
On 28 September 2026 we searched "best plumber Fort Worth" on Google, set to Fort Worth, and asked ChatGPT "Who's the best plumber in Fort Worth, Texas?"
Google's top result was a plumbing company in the map listings, with a 4.8-star rating from about 2,400 reviews. ChatGPT didn't mention it. ChatGPT named four plumbers, and its first pick didn't appear anywhere on Google's first page.
Where did ChatGPT get its answer? It cited one source: a directory website that lists Fort Worth plumbers. ChatGPT went with what that one site said, not with who ranks on Google.
We're not naming the plumbers, and you may see different results if you search from somewhere else or on another day. That's part of the point. Being at the top of Google didn't get that company into the AI's answer.
How to show up in AI Overviews and ChatGPT
No one can promise you a spot in an AI answer, and you should be wary of anyone who does. But the businesses that do get named tend to have a few things in common:
- Clear facts on their own website. What you do, where you do it, your prices or price range, and who you do it for, written in plain sentences AI can quote.
- Mentions on other websites. AI checks what others say about you: reviews, local directories, trade associations and local news. The more those agree with your own site, the more confidently AI can name you. The Fort Worth answer above came from a single directory page.
- Answers to real questions. The questions your customers ask you on the phone are the ones they now ask ChatGPT. A page that answers them well is a page AI can use.
Try it yourself
Open ChatGPT and type: "Who's the best [your service] in [your city]?" Then do the same on Google and see whether an AI Overview appears.
Are you named? Who is?
See who AI recommends in your area
Our free AI visibility check does this for you. It checks whether AI tools can read your website, then asks ChatGPT and Google the questions your customers ask and shows you who gets named. The website check takes seconds, and the full report usually arrives by email within a few minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Is SEO dead now that AI answers searches?
No. People still search on Google, and the results below an AI Overview still get clicks. What's changed is that ranking is no longer the whole job. You also want to be one of the businesses named in the AI answer above those results.
Do Google's AI Overviews reduce clicks to websites?
Yes. Ahrefs found that in December 2025 the top result got about 58% fewer clicks when an AI Overview appeared. Seer Interactive saw click rates partly recover in early 2026, but businesses named in the answer still got roughly twice the clicks of those that weren't.
If I rank #1 on Google, will ChatGPT recommend my business?
Not necessarily. When we searched "best plumber Fort Worth" on 28 September 2026, Google's top plumber wasn't mentioned by ChatGPT at all, and ChatGPT's first pick wasn't on Google's first page.
How do I get my business into AI Overviews and ChatGPT answers?
No one can guarantee it. The businesses that get named tend to have clear facts on their own website, consistent mentions on other sites such as reviews and local directories, and pages that answer the questions customers actually ask.
What is a zero-click search?
A search that ends without the person clicking any result, because the answer was already on the results page. AI Overviews make this more common.
How can I check whether AI recommends my business?
Ask ChatGPT "Who's the best [your service] in [your city]?" and look for an AI Overview on the same Google search. For a fuller picture, our free AI visibility check asks ChatGPT and Google several customer-style questions and shows who gets named.