Everyone keeps saying artificial intelligence is eating the clicks: Google answers at the top, the chatbot answers in another tab, and the organic result is left sitting there. It may well be true. But “it may be true” isn’t data, so we went to see what Search Console says about our own site, no frills.
What we measured, and how
We pulled Search Console data for graphemics.net from July 25 to October 23, 2026 (90 days). It’s Google’s official tool and the only primary source we have. Here’s what it returned:
- 195 pages on the site appeared at least once in a result.
- Together they racked up 18,605 impressions and 81 clicks.
- That’s an average click-through rate of 0.44%. Lots of views, few visits.
That average, on its own, proves nothing about AI: a site with plenty of appearances on pages three and four will have a low rate with or without automated answers. We need to drill into the detail.
Five searches at position 2 or 3 and not a single click
Here’s what stopped us in our tracks. We took the most frequent variants of “marketing consulting” and added them up:
- “consultoria de marketing digital”: 497 impressions, average position 2.3
- “consultoria de marketing”: 383, position 3.2
- “consultoria marketing”: 317, position 3.2
- “consultoria digital”: 315, position 3.2
- “consultoria marketing digital”: 142, position 3.2
Total: 1,654 impressions, 0 clicks, with our result sitting between second and third place. Historically, a position 2 or 3 captures a very significant share of a search’s clicks. Here it captured none.
What we can NOT claim
Let’s be upfront: Search Console doesn’t separate clicks lost to an AI answer. There’s no report that says “an automated summary took your click here.” What we see is a consequence, not the cause. Zero clicks at position 2 or 3 could be down to:
- An AI summary or answer block taking up the top of the page.
- A title or description that doesn’t persuade someone who has already seen three similar options.
- A query many people type with no real intent to hire (the curious, students, competitors).
- Results with sitelinks, maps or other blocks that pull attention away.
So we’re not going to sell you the story that “AI killed SEO.” What the data does support is something else, and more useful.
What we do see: pure information still gets clicked, commercial queries don’t
Over those same 90 days, searches about ChatGPT prompts for photos and images showed up at positions 6 to 10 and still drove clicks (several variants add up to 4 in just the rows Google returns to us). These were “how do I do this” searches, from someone who wants to open a page and copy something.
By contrast, commercial-intent searches at position 2 or 3 drove none. A caveat: it’s only a few rows and it isn’t a controlled experiment, so read it as a hint, not a law. But the hint points somewhere specific: the first click to go is from people who only wanted a definition or a quick list, while the click that holds up is from people who need to do something with the page.
What to do about it
- Stop measuring success in isolated clicks. Look at impressions, position and, above all, the leads that actually come in. A site can have fewer visits and more customers.
- Write what an automated answer can’t deliver: your own numbers, your process, your experience in a specific city, photos and real case studies. A summary can repeat a definition; it can’t show your work.
- Fix the title and description of pages that already appear. If you’re in position 2 and nobody clicks through, the snippet is the first thing to change, before writing anything new.
- Cover the full question. If your page only answers what the summary above already answered, there’s no reason to click. It has to answer what comes next.
- Be where sources get cited. AI answers pull from sources. Clear pages with dated data, a named author and the business name spelled correctly have a better chance of being one of them. There’s no guarantee, and no honest provider offers one.
- Measure at 60 and 90 days. Title changes show up within weeks; content changes take months. Any promise of results in a week is something else.
What changes for a local business
A business in Cancún or the Riviera Maya competes on different ground than a national publication. Their customer isn’t searching “what is SEO”: they’re looking for someone in town who can solve their problem. That search carries signals a generic summary doesn’t cover well: the map, the reviews, the phone number, the address, and proof that the business exists and is actually operating.
That’s why, for a local business, the Google Business Profile, recent reviews and a clear service page carry more weight than ten definition articles. Articles still matter, but in a different role: they show you know what you’re doing and give people something to cite. What no longer makes sense is expecting a generic text, identical to everyone else’s, to bring in visits on its own.
And there’s a practical takeaway for anyone paying for advertising or SEO: always ask for the leads report, not just the traffic report. If they show you a clicks chart climbing while the phone stays silent, the chart isn’t measuring what you bought.
What we’ll do about our five searches
We’re going to practice what we just preached. First, review the title and description of the page that appears for those five queries and test a version that promises something concrete instead of a category. Second, add to that page what a summary doesn’t have: case studies, figures from our own work and the step-by-step process. And third, check Search Console again at 60 days and report back here, whether it improves or not.
If you have a site with impressions and few visits, the first step is finding out whether the same thing is happening to you: pulling your own queries at positions 1 to 5 with zero clicks takes a few minutes and changes your priorities for the whole year. Get in touch and we’ll go through your Search Console together, using your site’s numbers and not your neighbor’s.
Data from Google Search Console for graphemics.net, July 25 to October 23, 2026, pulled on October 25. Query-level rows are the ones Google returns (it omits rarer queries for privacy), so per-query sums are partial. We don’t attribute the zero clicks to any specific cause: Search Console doesn’t allow it.
Versión en español: La IA responde arriba y ya nadie hace clic: qué se hace con eso
