The SEO community has been panicking about Google's AI Mode for months. The consensus: AI Overviews kill clicks, websites starve, and traffic disappears into zero-click black holes.

New research suggests everyone's been looking at the wrong searches.

A comprehensive UX study published by Search Engine Land reveals that for transactional queries—searches where people actually want to hire someone or buy something—69% of AI Mode sessions resulted in clicks to websites.

This fundamentally changes the conversation about AI's impact on organic traffic.

What They Actually Tested

Previous studies analyzing AI's traffic impact focused almost entirely on informational queries. Questions like "What does basal cell carcinoma look like?" or "How do I change a tire?"

For those searches, yes, AI kills clicks. Users get their answer in the AI summary and never visit a website.

But that's not where most business revenue comes from.

The Search Engine Land study, conducted by Frank Olivo and his team, took a different approach. They watched 52 participants across the US and Canada spend nearly 22 hours searching for high-involvement services using AI Mode.

Not informational queries. Transactional ones. Finding a dentist. Choosing a Botox provider. Selecting a dermatologist to check a suspicious mole.

The kind of searches that actually drive business revenue.

Users Still Want Websites for Decisions That Matter

Only 27% of users felt ready to make a decision based solely on the AI summary. The remaining participants needed more information before choosing a provider.

This makes intuitive sense. When you're trusting someone with your health, appearance, or significant money, an AI-generated summary doesn't provide enough confidence to commit.

Users want to see the actual website. Read more reviews. Check credentials. Look at before-and-after photos. Verify office locations and hours.

AI Mode creates the shortlist. Websites close the deal.

4% of users abandoned AI Mode entirely, returning to traditional Google Search or checking social media profiles before making decisions. Even Google's AI couldn't keep them in the ecosystem when stakes were high.

The Consideration Set Replaces Winner-Takes-All

For thirty years, SEO operated on simple math: rank first or lose. The top organic result captured the majority of clicks while positions two through ten fought for scraps.

AI Mode destroys that model entirely.

In the study, 89% of participants clicked on more than one business. Not one. Multiple businesses from the AI-generated list.

Users checked an average of 3.7 results per session. Only one in ten users looked at just a single business before deciding.

This represents a massive paradigm shift in how search traffic distributes. You no longer need to bleed resources chasing the number one ranking. You need to appear in the top three to five results—the consideration set.

If you're in that set, you get clicks. Your competitors also get clicks. The battle moves from ranking position to conversion optimization.

Users Actually Scroll in AI Mode

Traditional SEO wisdom says users don't scroll. Optimize for above-the-fold or die.

AI Mode users behave differently. 84% of study participants scrolled down to view the full consideration set presented by AI.

Only 16% made decisions based solely on above-the-fold content.

This happens because users treat AI results as curated lists rather than single answers. They're willing to explore options when AI has already done the filtering work.

The AI summary provides enough confidence that the listed options are legitimate that users invest time reviewing multiple choices rather than immediately clicking the top result.

Reviews Matter More Than Photos

Only 21% of users viewed photos attached to Google Business Profiles during their research. Even for Botox searches—where visual results matter significantly—only 24% checked photos.

What actually drove click decisions? Reviews.

74% of users read reviews on Google Business Profiles before making decisions.

In AI Mode's text-heavy interface, social proof carries more weight than visual appeal. Your gallery of office photos and smiling staff matters less than what previous customers say about their experience.

This creates clear action items: prioritize review generation and management over photo optimization. The AI interface surfaces review content more prominently than images.

What This Means for Local Businesses

Local service providers can stop panicking about AI Mode. The traffic you actually care about—people ready to hire you or buy from you—still clicks through at high rates.

AI Mode won't steal your most valuable visitors. It might steal your "how-to" traffic if your business model depends on informational content monetized through ads. But businesses that rely on local SEO and transactional searches should see minimal impact.

The new SEO goal isn't ranking first. It's appearing in the top five consideration set and winning clicks through superior social proof.

The Strategic Shift Required

Old SEO strategy optimized everything for position one. Link building, content optimization, technical SEO—all focused on claiming the top spot and defending it.

New SEO strategy requires different thinking:

Optimize to reach the consideration set (top three to five results) rather than exclusively targeting position one. The traffic distribution is more democratic now.

Invest heavily in review generation and management. Reviews drive click decisions in AI Mode more than any other factor.

Optimize your website for comparison shoppers. Users are checking multiple businesses, so your site needs to clearly communicate why you're the best choice.

Focus on conversion rate optimization. Getting clicks is easier when you're in the consideration set. Converting those clicks becomes the primary competitive battleground.

Informational Content Still Suffers

This research doesn't contradict previous studies showing AI kills informational query traffic. It confirms them while adding crucial nuance.

If your business model depends on ranking for "how to fix a leaky faucet" and monetizing that traffic through ads, you're in trouble. AI answers that question without sending clicks.

If your business depends on ranking for "plumber near me" when someone needs their leak fixed, you're fine. AI Mode creates a shortlist and 69% of users click through to make decisions.

Know which type of traffic drives your revenue and plan accordingly.

The Zero-Click Myth for Transactional Queries

The "zero-click search" panic assumed all queries would follow informational patterns. Get your answer from AI, never click anything.

For transactional searches, this simply isn't happening at scale. Users want to click. They need more information than an AI summary provides for high-stakes decisions.

The real concern isn't whether users will click. It's whether you'll appear in the consideration set that AI presents.

That requires different optimization than traditional SEO but isn't fundamentally more difficult. You need strong local signals, solid reviews, clear service descriptions, and enough authority to make AI's initial filter.

What Changes This Week

Audit your review generation process. Are you systematically asking satisfied customers for Google reviews? That's now your most important ranking factor for AI consideration sets.

Check your Google Business Profile completeness. AI pulls heavily from structured data. Incomplete profiles hurt consideration set inclusion.

Optimize your website for comparison shoppers. Assume visitors are checking three to five competitors. Make your differentiation immediately clear.

Stop obsessing over ranking position one for every keyword. Ranking three to five is now sufficient for most transactional queries.

Test your site's conversion rate for users who check multiple competitors. That's your new traffic pattern.

The Bigger Picture

AI isn't killing transactional search traffic. It's redistributing it more evenly among the top results while making reviews and social proof more important than ever.

This is actually good news for smaller local businesses. You no longer need to beat giant competitors for the number one spot. You just need to make the consideration set and win on reputation.

The businesses panicking loudest about AI Mode are probably depending on informational traffic that was never that valuable anyway. The businesses quietly adapting to consideration set optimization will capture the high-intent traffic that always mattered most.

Want to master the search strategies that actually work in 2025? Explore ACE's SEO and data-driven marketing courses that teach you to optimize for AI consideration sets, build systematic review generation, and convert comparison shoppers while your competitors keep chasing obsolete ranking metrics.

Research credit: Frank Olivo, Search Engine Land. Study: "69% of Transactional Searches in AI Mode Drive Traffic"