How to explain flat traffic when SEO is actually working

You know that sinking feeling when you look at your organic traffic dashboard and see – nothing exciting. 

The line’s flat, and you’re dreading the conversation with your boss about why your SEO investment isn’t “working.”

Here’s the thing: flat traffic doesn’t mean failure anymore. 

Some of the most successful SEO campaigns I’ve worked on recently had underwhelming traffic numbers but delivered incredible business results. 

Let me show you why that’s not necessarily a bad thing and how to communicate it effectively.

Why flat traffic isn’t the red flag it used to be

Last year, one of our clients in the home services space experienced organic traffic that had not only plateaued but had actually declined over the previous six months. 

Their CEO was getting antsy. But here’s what the traffic chart wasn’t showing: 

• Conversion rates from organic visitors had jumped 10%.
• Total leads from our SEO efforts had increased by 8% year over year.

This isn’t an isolated case. It’s the new normal, and AI Overviews are the biggest reason why.

Google’s AI Overviews now synthesize answers directly in search results, pulling from multiple sources to give users what they need without requiring a click. 

When someone searches “best project management software for small teams,” Google doesn’t just show a list of links anymore. 

It generates a comprehensive answer right there on the SERP. Your content might be fueling that answer, but you’ll never see the click in your analytics.

This creates a fundamental attribution problem. 

Organic click-through rates featuring Google AI Overviews dropped by 61% since mid-2024. 

Meanwhile, zero-click searches rose from 25% of searches five years ago to 58.5% in 2024, and by mid-2025, we had reached 65%. 

AI Overviews now appear in roughly 16% of all queries.

Here’s what we are dealing with. 

Your SEO might be working beautifully, with your content being cited and synthesized in AI-generated answers, but you have almost no direct way to measure it. 

Someone reads your insights in an AI Overview, remembers your brand, and converts three weeks later through a direct visit or branded search. 

That’s not a failure of SEO. It’s a success that you simply can’t attribute back to organic.

With almost 65% of all searches now ending without a click to any external website, obsessing over traffic volume in this environment is like judging a restaurant by how many people walk past it, rather than how many become paying customers.

Dig deeper: AI search is growing, but SEO fundamentals still drive most traffic

Rethinking traffic as your primary KPI

The shift that needs to happen: Organic traffic should no longer be your primary KPI. 

It’s not that traffic doesn’t matter. It’s that it no longer tells the complete story of organic performance.

When AI Overviews expose users to your brand without generating clicks, that influence shows up elsewhere. 

Direct traffic increases? That might be people who discovered you through an AI-generated answer and typed your URL directly. 

Branded search volume climbing? Same thing. 

These downstream effects are real SEO wins, but they’ll never appear in your organic traffic report.

This means your reporting needs to expand. 

Track organic traffic, yes, but alongside direct traffic trends, branded search volume, and assisted conversions. 

The user who first encountered your brand in an AI Overview and converted two weeks later through a direct visit still started their journey with search. Your SEO made that happen.

If your organization is still laser-focused on traffic growth as the primary success metric, you have two options: 

• Educate stakeholders on why that’s an incomplete picture.
• Adjust your strategy to target keywords less impacted by AI Overviews.

That means shifting focus toward middle-of-funnel (MOFU) and bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) terms. 

Keywords like “ or [solution] pricing,” “ vs. [competitor],” or “best [solution] for [specific use case]” are less likely to trigger AI Overviews than broad informational queries. 

They also have lower search volume, but the visitors they attract are far more valuable. 

• Someone searching “what is a CRM” is just learning. 
• Someone searching “Salesforce vs. HubSpot for mid-size companies” is actively evaluating options.

There are trade-offs with this approach: MOFU and BOFU keywords typically have less volume than top-of-funnel informational terms. 

But if traffic is the metric your stakeholders care about most, these terms give you a better shot at delivering clicks while also driving qualified leads.

Why fewer clicks can actually be a good sign

When your content appears in AI Overviews or featured snippets, you’re getting brand exposure without the corresponding click spike. Users see your expertise; they just don’t need to click through to get their answer.

Visibility and traffic are separating in what’s being called “the great decoupling,” impressions are rising while clicks fall. 

Your content can build significant visibility and authority without driving proportional traffic.

Dig deeper: How to better measure LLM visibility and its impact

What to look at when traffic stops telling the full story

If traffic isn’t the main event anymore, what should you actually watch? 

Here are the metrics that reveal real SEO performance:

• Revenue per visitor (RPV) from organic traffic: If your organic traffic generates $2.50 per visitor instead of $1.80 from six months ago, your SEO is crushing it. Traffic might be flat, but profitability is up.
• Conversion rate by landing page: Segment your organic traffic by entry pages. You might discover traffic is shifting toward higher-converting pages, exactly what you want.
• Keyword rankings for high-intent terms: Track positions for keywords indicating purchase readiness: “buy,” “pricing,” “vs [competitor],” “best
  .” Movement here matters more than rankings for broad informational terms.
• Share of voice in AI Overviews and featured snippets: Tools like Semrush show when your content gets cited in AI-powered results. This visibility drives brand awareness even without clicks.
• Lead quality scores. If you’re B2B, track not just the number of organic leads but their qualification scores. Ten highly qualified leads beat 50 unqualified ones.

Here’s a practical example. I track a client whose organic sessions dropped 12% year-over-year, but their organic-to-SQL conversion improved 28%. 

Their cost per acquisition from organic search fell significantly, making SEO their most efficient channel.

Dig deeper: 12 new KPIs for the generative AI search era

How to explain this shift without sounding defensive

The tricky part isn’t understanding this shift; it’s communicating it to stakeholders who still think SEO equals traffic growth.

Lead with business outcomes first 

Don’t start with “Well, traffic is flat but…” 

Instead, open with “Our organic revenue is up 23% this quarter because our SEO strategy is targeting higher-intent users.”

Use industry context

The majority of all webpages receive no traffic from Google. Maintaining visibility already puts you in successful territory. 

Frame flat traffic as stability in a competitive landscape.

Show the quality shift

Present side-by-side data. For instance

• “Six months ago, organic traffic averaged 2 pages per session and 45% bounce rate. Now it’s 3.2 pages per session and 28% bounce rate. We’re attracting more engaged users.”

Here’s a script I use: 

• “Our SEO strategy has evolved to match how search engines operate today. Instead of optimizing for maximum clicks, we’re optimizing for maximum business value. The result is fewer but more qualified visitors who convert at higher rates.”

When executives push back, I sometimes ask, “Would you rather have 10,000 visitors who browse and leave, or 5,000 visitors who request demos and become customers?” 

The answer reframes the entire conversation around business value.

When flat traffic is actually a problem

Let me be clear: flat or declining traffic isn’t always good news. Here’s how to tell the difference:

• Declining keyword rankings across the board: If traffic is flat but rankings are dropping, you likely have a problem, possibly due to technical issues, content quality problems, or algorithm penalties.
• Flat traffic with flat or declining conversions: Traffic staying steady while conversions drop suggests audience quality is declining.
• Engagement metrics getting worse: Climbing bounce rates and dropping session duration alongside flat traffic mean users aren’t finding value.
• Losing share of voice to competitors: If competitors are gaining visibility while yours stays flat, you’re falling behind.

Flat traffic is positive when accompanied by improved conversions or stronger competitive positioning. 

It’s problematic when it masks declining relevance.

Dig deeper: LLM optimization in 2026: Tracking, visibility, and what’s next for AI discovery

Redefining what ‘working SEO’ means

Working SEO in 2026 means aligning revenue, not maximizing traffic. 

Your organic channel should generate qualified leads, drive conversions, and make a measurable contribution to business growth.

Here’s my framework for evaluating SEO success:

• Revenue metrics: Cost per acquisition, customer lifetime value, return on investment from organic traffic.
• Visibility metrics: Share of voice across all SERP features, not just traditional rankings.
• Quality metrics: Engagement rates, conversion rates, lead qualification scores.
• “Future-proofing” metrics: Performance in AI interfaces and emerging search platforms.

The SEO industry has been through similar transitions before, and this won’t be the last.

The sooner you adjust your expectations and metrics, the better positioned you’ll be to succeed, and to confidently explain why that flat traffic line might actually be a sign of revenue-focused optimization.