What a load of rubbish.
AIOS steal clicks after resummarising other peoples content. This is content theft at scale and is EXACTLY the thing Google told webmasters NOT to do in their guidelines, yet it's ok for them to do it.
And before you brush it off as a partial loss because informational clicks are LESS likely to yield transactions, remember BRAND AWARENESS and consumer consideration were often influenced PRE-purchase.
Google WILL NOT REPORT AIO click data nor AI mode click data in search console because it will show the devastating impact that their content theft re-summarising engines are having on peoples businesses.
Audit after audit same thing again and again - there is NO refuting it, no debate, AIOS do not drive more clicks, they do not drive better clicks - there is NOTHING to suggest that they do.
At the moment its INFORMATIONAL traffic, but just wait until AI mode starts eating into commercial traffic.
I've SPENT YEARS promoting the good side of SEO and advocating for regulation, but seeing what Google are doing, I would love nothing more than governments to step in and put a stop to their monopolisation.
For once, I would LOVE to see more market diversity - and, we see a glimmer of hope with traffic from LLMS growing, becoming a more viable source for SEOS/marketers.
AIOS are fucking awful and need removing.
Leave traditional search alone, put AI mode alongside it and let people chose rather than jamming shit down peoples throats - search as it is - is the worst I've seen it, honestly I feel like I'm scrolling through a YAHOO page in the early 2000s with the amount of clutter and distraction.
Will Google listen to the community of SEOs who are CLEARLY highlighting the pitfalls of its product be it false or inaccurate information through to dangerous recommendations, manipulation and abuse?
Probably not.
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