My Google Traffic Dropped 30% This Year. Here Is What Actually Happened.

A restaurant owner in Hosur called us in November 2025. He had ranked on the first page of Google for "best biryani in Hosur" for three years straight. His SEO agency told him everything looked fine. His rankings had not dropped. His website had no technical errors. But his phone was ringing 30% less than the same month last year.

He was not imagining it. His Google Search Console showed something strange. His impressions stayed almost the same. But his clicks fell off a cliff. People were still searching for his restaurant. They just stopped clicking through to his website.

The reason was a two-sentence box sitting above all the search results on Google. And most business owners in India have no idea it exists.

What This Article Covers

This article explains why thousands of Indian businesses saw their Google traffic drop in 2025 even though their rankings did not change. The cause is a specific Google feature called AI Overviews. Most articles explaining this problem target American businesses. This one is written for Indian business owners who spent years building their Google presence and now watch their numbers fall without understanding why.

By the end, you will know exactly what AI Overviews are, which types of pages lose the most traffic, which types stay safe, and what you can do to adapt.

What Are Google AI Overviews?

Google AI Overviews are AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of Google search results. When someone searches for something like "how to file GST returns online", Google now shows a box with a complete answer pulled from multiple websites. The user reads the answer right there on Google. They never click through to any website.

Google started testing AI Overviews in the US in May 2023. They expanded globally in stages throughout 2024. By late 2024, they started appearing on Indian search queries in English. By early 2025, they showed up on Hindi and other regional language queries too.

The Numbers Tell the Story

Read those numbers again. Nearly half of all Google searches now show an AI-generated answer before any website link. And when that box appears, almost 6 out of 10 people who would have clicked on a website just read the summary and leave.

Google confirmed in October 2025 that over 1.6 billion users interact with AI Overviews every month. This is not a small experiment. This is the new default for how Google works.

What Changed in March 2025

March 2025 was the month everything shifted for Indian businesses. Google expanded AI Overviews to cover significantly more Indian search queries. Here is the timeline.

If your traffic started dropping between March and June 2025, AI Overviews are almost certainly the cause.

Three Types of Pages Getting Hit Hardest

AI Overviews do not affect all pages equally. Some types of content lose far more traffic than others. Here are the three categories getting hit the hardest.

Three Types of Pages That Stay Mostly Safe

Not every page loses traffic. Some types of content actually hold up well because Google does not show AI Overviews on those queries. Here is where your traffic is likely safe.

Why This Hits Indian Small Businesses Hardest

Every article about this topic is written for American brands with American examples. But the reality is that Indian small businesses face a much tougher version of this problem. Here is why.

Most Indian small businesses built their entire strategy around Google organic traffic. They spent lakhs on SEO agencies. They published hundreds of blog posts. They fought for years to reach page one. And now the traffic from those hard-won rankings is disappearing without any change in their ranking position.

Indian businesses have smaller margins to absorb the hit. A CA firm in Hosur that loses 30% of its website enquiries feels it immediately. A restaurant owner in Bengaluru who depended on "best biryani near me" traffic has fewer customers walking in. These are not large companies that can absorb a revenue dip. Every lost lead matters.

Most Indian SEO agencies have not adapted. Ask your SEO agency what they are doing about AI Overviews. Most will not have an answer. They will tell you your rankings are fine because they are still reporting position numbers. But position 1 with a 58% click reduction is not the same position 1 you paid for.

What You Can Do About It

This situation is not hopeless. Businesses that adapt quickly will actually come out ahead because most of their competitors are still confused about what happened. Here are four specific actions that work.

1. Audit Your Keywords for AI Overview Exposure

Open Google Search Console. Export your top 50 keywords by clicks. Search each one on Google and check if an AI Overview appears. Mark each keyword as "AI Overview present" or "No AI Overview." This gives you a clear map of where your traffic is leaking.

This is exactly what the OptiScale AI Visibility Audit checks across five platforms, with 10 real queries and screenshots for every result.

2. Shift Content Toward High-Intent Local Queries

Stop writing content that answers simple factual questions. AI Overviews will always beat you on "what is" and "how to" queries. Instead, create content around queries with purchase intent that include your city name.

Instead of "what is interior design", write about "interior design cost in Hosur for 2BHK apartment." Instead of "how to choose a CA", write about "CA firms in Bengaluru that handle startup compliance." These queries show less AI Overview coverage because they require local, specific, current information that AI cannot easily summarise.

3. Get Cited Inside the AI Overview

When AI Overviews appear, they cite sources. Small links appear below the AI-generated text. If Google cites your website as a source, you still get some traffic. Websites with strong structured data, clear factual content, and high domain authority are more likely to get cited.

Add schema markup to every important page. Write content with clear, direct answers in the first paragraph. Use statistics and specific data points that AI can extract and attribute to you.

4. Build Traffic Sources Beyond Google

Depending entirely on Google organic traffic was always risky. Now it is dangerous. Start building visibility on AI search platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity. Build your email list. Strengthen your Google Business Profile for local map pack results. Invest in referral partnerships.

The businesses that treat Google as one traffic source among many will survive this shift. The ones that depend on Google alone will keep losing ground.

If you want to know exactly which of your keywords are affected by AI Overviews and what to do about each one, book a free 15-minute discovery call with OptiScale Advisors. No sales pitch. Just a clear picture of where you stand.