Google Just Killed Small Business Websites
Ever try to solve a Rubik's Cube by peeling off the stickers?
Ever try to solve a Rubik's Cube by peeling off the stickers?
That's what most small business owners are doing right now with their website traffic. They see the numbers dropping and think the solution is more blog posts, better SEO, or a shinier homepage.
Turns out, the problem runs much deeper.
A new Pew Research study just confirmed what I've been watching happen to small businesses for months. Google's AI Overviews are systematically erasing small business websites from the customer journey.
The numbers are brutal.
The Invisible Crisis
When Google shows an AI summary at the top of search results, only 8% of users click through to any website. When there's no AI summary? That number jumps to 15%.
We're talking about a 50% drop in click-through rates.
But here's the part that should make every small business owner's stomach drop. Only 1% of users actually click on the source links within those AI summaries. The citations that are supposedly designed to send traffic back to the original creators?
They're basically useless.
Some small business owners are reporting traffic declines of 70% or more. We're not talking about a gentle slide here. We're talking about businesses watching their online presence evaporate faster than a mixtape left on a car dashboard in July.
Who Gets the Visibility
So if small business websites are getting buried, who's getting all the AI citations?
The platforms you'd expect. Reddit grabs 21% of AI citations, YouTube takes 18.8%, and Quora holds 14.3%. Over half of all AI references come from user-generated content platforms.
Think about that for a second.
Google's AI would rather quote a random Reddit thread than your carefully crafted business website. It's like showing up to a networking event only to watch everyone gather around the guy telling stories at the bar while your booth sits empty.
The platforms designed for casual conversation are dominating AI search results. Meanwhile, the businesses actually providing products and services are becoming invisible.
The Real Problem
Most business owners I talk to think this is a temporary glitch. Something Google will fix once they work out the kinks.
They're wrong.
This is the new reality. AI Overviews now appear in about 20% of all searches, and that percentage is growing. Google isn't going to dial this back because it keeps users on their platform longer.
The old rules of SEO were built for a world where Google wanted to send you to other websites. Those days are over. Google wants to be the destination, not the starting point.
At SingleStack, we've been tracking this shift for months. The businesses that are still getting visibility aren't the ones doubling down on traditional SEO tactics. They're the ones who understand that the gatekeepers have changed the game entirely.
What Actually Works Now
Here's what we've learned from working with small businesses trying to survive this transition.
The old approach of stuffing keywords into blog posts and hoping Google notices? That's like trying to record your favorite song off the radio while the DJ talks over the ending. You might capture something, but it won't be what you wanted.
The businesses maintaining visibility are focusing on what we call the Three C's: Content, Connection, and Compliance. But not the way you think.
Content means creating material that AI systems want to reference and quote. Connection means building relationships on the platforms where AI actually looks for information. Compliance means structuring your web presence so it speaks the language these new systems understand.
You can't solve this puzzle by peeling off the stickers and rearranging them. You need a completely different approach.
The Choice
Every small business owner has a decision to make right now.
You can keep doing what you've always done and watch your visibility continue to evaporate. Or you can acknowledge that the game has fundamentally changed and start playing by the new rules.
At SingleStack, we help small businesses build what we call a Brand Visibility Engine. It's designed specifically for this new reality where AI systems control who gets seen and who gets ignored.
The businesses that adapt to this shift will thrive. The ones that don't will become as obsolete as a Walkman in a streaming world.
Your website traffic isn't disappearing because you're doing something wrong. It's disappearing because the entire system changed while you weren't looking.
The question is: what are we all going to do about it?