Search Engine Journal's latest Ask An SEO column tackles the question many publishers are now asking their consultants directly: how do you know whether Google's AI Overviews are actually taking clicks from your site — and what can you do about it if they are?

The column, published in Search Engine Journal's reader-question format, responds to a site owner who suspects the AI-generated answer boxes that appear above traditional organic results are cutting into their traffic. It's a reasonable suspicion: AI Overviews now appear prominently for a wide range of informational queries, and the feature expands steadily across query categories. But the columnist's core message is that suspicion is not evidence, and diagnosing the problem requires method rather than guesswork.

Start with segmenting, not panicking

The recommended first step is segmentation. A site-level drop in clicks from Google Search tells you almost nothing on its own, because rankings, seasonality, algorithm updates and SERP feature changes all move traffic at the same time. The column advises isolating queries and pages where AI Overviews could plausibly be the variable: informational queries with clear question intent, where Google tends to surface AI-generated summaries.

Once you have that segment, compare it against the rest of the site. If clicks are falling on question-style queries while transactional or navigational pages hold steady, that pattern is consistent with AI Overview pressure. If everything is down proportionally, the cause is more likely something else — a ranking shift, a technical issue, or a broader core update rolling through the same period.

The column stresses checking whether the affected queries actually trigger AI Overviews. A declining query with no AI Overview in its SERP points to a different problem entirely. Manual SERP checks and rank-tracking tools that log AI Overview presence for tracked keywords are the practical way to confirm this, and the piece treats tool data as signal rather than proof — tool panels sample SERPs at intervals and by location, so what a tracker shows may not match what every user sees.

Read Search Console with the right dimensions

On the measurement side, the guidance centers on Google Search Console. Comparing periods before and after a suspected AI Overview rollout for the affected query segment gives you the cleanest available read on click-through rate changes. Position data matters here too: if your average position holds while clicks fall, the SERP itself changed around you — which is the signature of a new feature absorbing clicks above your listing. If position dropped as well, you likely have a ranking problem, not an AI Overview problem.

This distinction between "same position, fewer clicks" and "lower position, fewer clicks" is the analytical heart of the column's advice, because the two scenarios call for completely different responses.

What to do if AI Overviews are confirmed as the cause

If the evidence does point to AI Overviews, the column's response framework is pragmatic rather than defeatist. It does not frame the situation as unrecoverable. Instead, it points site owners toward the levers they still control.

One direction is content strategy. Pages that answer a single narrow question in a way an AI system can summarize are the most exposed. Broadening content — covering adjacent subtopics, adding original data, first-hand expertise and structured depth that an overview cannot replicate — reduces the overlap between what you publish and what Google's summary already provides.

Another lever is diversifying the queries you target. Shifting effort toward queries where AI Overviews are less likely to appear, or where your content serves intent the summaries don't satisfy, reallocates exposure away from the contested part of the SERP.

The column also acknowledges the reality that you cannot opt a site out of AI Overviews appearing for queries you rank on. The feature is Google's SERP design decision, not a setting controlled by publishers. What publishers control is how distinctive and how visible their content remains.

What to monitor going forward

The piece closes on the practical note that this is an evolving situation. Google continues to expand where and how AI Overviews appear, and the click-through impact varies by query type and industry. Site owners who build the segmentation habit now — tracking which of their queries trigger AI Overviews and how CTR moves on those queries over time — will be positioned to see the next shift before it shows up as an unexplained dip in aggregate traffic.

For ongoing monitoring, the column implies a simple cadence: re-check the affected query segment in Search Console after each confirmed Google update or reported AI Overview expansion, and separate confirmed SERP changes from speculative causes before acting on them.