Google AI Mode and website traffic: what it changes for a small business

You type an ordinary question into Google, and above the results an answer written by AI appears, sometimes with a few links to websites. For a small business owner a simple question arises: will customers still click on my website?

I won’t scare you, and I won’t reassure you beyond what is warranted. I’ll show what we know as of 17 October 2026, where to look for changes in your data and what to do within 30 days. You will also get a simple calculation that lets you assess how much traffic is really at risk.

What we know about Google AI Mode

AI Mode is a conversation with the search engine: you ask a longer question, and Google assembles an answer from many sources and gives links. In Polish it has been available since 8 October 2025, as the “AI Mode” tab on the results page and in the Google app. At the I/O 2026 conference (19 May), Google announced a new, “intelligent” search box that is gradually reaching all countries and languages with AI Mode. From an AI Overviews summary you can now also ask a follow-up question and move on to a conversation in AI Mode.

Remember one thing: Google has not announced that AI Mode replaces regular results as the default view (as of mid-October 2026), although some industry sites wrote so after I/O. So assume that some people use it and some still browse regular results, often with an AI Overviews summary above them.

The second important thing: in its documentation for website owners, Google describes that traffic from AI Overviews and AI Mode is counted in the regular Performance report in Search Console (search type “Web”). Clicks from AI don’t have a separate entry there. Since June 2026, Search Console has also had a report for generative AI, available to all websites since 31 August 2026. It shows how many times your addresses appeared in AI Overviews and AI Mode, but only as impressions, without clicks and queries. So the effect on clicks still has to be read from the data indirectly.

Which queries are at risk and which are not

Not every query looks the same. A user who asks “what is the difference between silicone and acrylic plaster” will often get an answer in AI and may not click. A user searching for “facade plastering Giżycko quote” wants to find a contractor, and that requires contacting a business.

You can divide your website’s queries into three groups:

• Informational (“how”, “what is”, “what is the difference”): this is where AI most often answers on its own.
• Comparative (“which is better”, “reviews”, “ranking”): AI summarizes, but customers often check the sources.
• Local and buying (“price”, “installation”, “near me”, a city name): the customer is looking for a specific business, a phone number and an address.

For most small service businesses, the queries in the third group are the most valuable. That is good news, but only if your business appears in them, in your Google Business Profile and on your website.

Step 1: record the baseline in Search Console

Without “before” numbers you can’t assess a change. Do it today, it takes 15 minutes:

1. Go to Google Search Console and open the Performance report.
2. Set the date range to the last 3 months, then compare it with the previous 3 months (the Compare option).
3. In the Queries tab, write down clicks, impressions and average position for the 10 most important phrases.
4. In the Pages tab, do the same for the 5 pages that bring in the most queries.

Pay attention to two signals at once. If impressions grow and clicks don’t, users see your website but don’t visit it. That may mean an AI answer above the results, but also simply a weak title. That is why you shouldn’t draw conclusions from a single number.

Step 2: calculate how much traffic is really at risk

Here is an example with made-up numbers that shows the scheme. A business has 600 organic visits a month:

Let’s cautiously assume that visits from the informational group fall by half, that is by 120. That puts 20% of all traffic at risk. Now the most important thing: how many of those 240 informational visits end in a phone call or a form? If almost none do, the loss in queries practically doesn’t change the number of customers.

This is only a scheme to fill in with your own data. I don’t give any percentages of decline from studies, because different sources show different results and they depend on the industry. If you want to cite them, look for studies with a described method and date.

Step 3: check which visits end in contact

Traffic without contact doesn’t pay the bills. In GA4, check which pages bring in users who then call or send a form:

1. Open Reports, then Acquisition and Traffic acquisition, and choose the Organic Search channel.
2. Mark phone taps and form submissions as key events (what GA4 now calls conversions).
3. Check which landing pages have contacts and which have only visits.

If you don’t have such events, that is the first thing to implement. I do this as part of the Analytics and tags service: GA4, Tag Manager and tracking of phone calls and forms.

Step 4: improve what AI uses most readily

Google doesn’t require special markup for AI features. The same basics apply as always, they just have to be done properly. Here is a 30-day checklist:

• [ ] Service pages are indexed (check the Indexing → Pages report in Search Console).
• [ ] Every service has its own subpage with specifics: scope, “from” prices, lead time, service area.
• [ ] The website shows the business name, address, phone and hours, the same as in your Google Business Profile.
• [ ] Titles and descriptions start with the service and the city, not the company name.
• [ ] Answers to the 5 questions customers ask by phone are on the website (short, 2–3 sentences).
• [ ] The business and FAQ structured data are correct and match the content visible on the page.
• [ ] The website loads fast on a phone.
• [ ] The Business Profile has up-to-date photos, categories and replies to reviews.

You can check some of these points in a minute with the free Check your website tool: it shows speed, SEO, technical data and AI visibility.

Step 5: add content that AI can’t replace

An AI answer will summarize general knowledge. It won’t replace what is yours alone:

• your own projects with photos, the town and the scope of work,
• specific prices and ranges, since the customer will ask about them anyway,
• customer reviews with a first name and a town,
• a calculator or a quote form that gives the customer a result, not just text.

A small-business example: instead of a “how to choose a door” article, which will say the same as a hundred other websites, make a subpage “Interior doors in Giżycko: prices from, installation in 2 days, 3 projects with photos”. Such a page answers a local query and is hard to summarize in a way that spares the customer a phone call.

Step 6: take care of visibility in AI answers

Besides Google, other tools also use AI answers, for example ChatGPT and Perplexity. It is worth making sure they describe your business correctly. You make that easier with a clear description of your services, consistent data across the web and an llms.txt file. Google says that no additional files are needed for AI Mode, and its representatives have said that the search engine doesn’t use llms.txt, so treat the file as an add-on for other AI tools, not a guarantee. I described the details in the guide on llms.txt and visibility in ChatGPT. If you would rather put it in the hands of a specialist, I handle it in the AI visibility service.

What not to do

• Don’t panic after a week of data. Traffic has seasonality and fluctuations; look at no less than 3 months.
• Don’t copy AI content unchanged. General texts that thousands of other websites have won’t give you an advantage.
• Don’t buy a “guaranteed place in AI Mode”. Google doesn’t sell such a guarantee, and offers of this kind are a warning sign.
• Don’t stop tracking phone calls. Without them you can’t assess whether a change in traffic matters for the business.

Summary

AI Mode changes the way some people search for information, but local customers still need a specific business, a phone number and a price. Write down today’s numbers from Search Console, calculate the share of informational queries and improve your service pages and your business listing.

If you want me to go through your data and draw up a plan, write to me or see how I run SEO and search rankings. I reply within 24 hours, and new customers get 20% off their first project.