How do you define flat traffic when SEO actually works

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

The line is down, and you’re dreading the conversation with your boss about why your SEO investment is “not working.”

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

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

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

Why flat traffic isn’t the red flag it once was

Last year, one of our clients in the home services space experienced organic traffic that not only increased but actually decreased over the past six months.

Their CEO became angry. But here’s what the traffic chart would show:

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

This is not an isolated case. It’s the new normal, and AI Overview is a big reason why.

Google’s AI Overviews now aggregate answers directly into search results, pulling from multiple sources to provide users with what they need without ever having to click.

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

It generates a comprehensive response right away in the SERP. Your content may fuel that response, but you’ll never see clicks in your stats.

This creates a fundamental attribution problem.

Organic click rates show Google AI Overview has decreased by 61% since mid-2024.

Meanwhile, click-through searches increased 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 about 16% of all queries.

This is what we are dealing with.

Your SEO may be working well, your content is being cited and included in AI generated responses, but you probably don’t have a direct way to measure it.

Someone reads your information in an AI Overview, remembers your product, and converts three weeks later with a direct visit or a branded search.

That is not an SEO failure. It’s a success you can’t replicate organically.

Since about 65% of all searches end without a click on any external website, paying too much attention to the volume of traffic in this area is like judging a restaurant by how many people pass through it, rather than how many become paying customers.

Dig deeper: AI search is growing, but SEO basics still drive the majority of traffic

Rethinking traffic as your primary KPI

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

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

If AI Overview exposes users to your product without generating clicks, that influence comes from somewhere else.

Direct traffic increase? That could be people who found you through an AI generated response and typed in your URL directly.

Increased branded search volume? Same thing.

The results below are a real SEO win, but they will never appear in your organic traffic report.

This means that your reporting needs to be expanded.

Track organic traffic, yes, but next to direct traffic, branded search volume, and assisted conversions.

A user who first encountered your product in AI Insights and converted two weeks later with a direct visit still started their journey with a search. Your SEO makes that happen.

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

• Teach participants why that picture is incomplete.
• Adjust your strategy to target low-impact keywords AI Overview.

That means shifting focus to middle-of-funnel (MOFU) and bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) goals.

Keywords like “[product] or [solution] prices,” “[product] vs. [competitor],” or “the best [solution] for [specific use case]” are less likely to trigger an AI Overview than broad knowledge questions.

They also have low search volume, but the visitors they attract are very important.

• Someone searching for “what is CRM” is just reading.
• A person searching for “Salesforce vs. HubSpot for mid-sized companies” explores the options.

There is a trade-off this way: MOFU and BOFU keywords generally have less volume than higher information keywords.

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

Why a few clicks can actually be a good sign

When your content appears in AI Overview or featured snippets, you get product exposure without the corresponding clicks. Users see your expertise; they don’t just need to click to get their answer.

Visibility and traffic diverge in what’s called “fine tuning,” impressions go up while clicks go down.

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

Dig deeper: How to best measure LLM visibility and impact

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What to look for when traffic stops telling the full story

If traffic isn’t the main event, what should you really be looking at?

Here are the metrics that reveal true SEO performance:

• Revenue per visitor (RPV) from organic traffic: If your organic traffic is generating $2.50 per visitor instead of $1.80 from six months ago, your SEO is crushing it. Traffic may be flat, but profits are high.
• Conversion rate per landing page: Segment your organic traffic with landing pages. You may get traffic moving to the pages that convert the most, which is exactly what you want.
• Keyword rankings for high-intent terms: Track keyword positions that indicate readiness to buy: “buy,” “price,” “vs [competitor],” “the best [product category].” Movement here is more important than general knowledge levels.
• Voice sharing AI overview and featured snippets: Tools like Semrush show when your content is cited in AI-powered results. This seems to drive brand awareness even without clicks.
• Earn quality points. If you’re B2B, track not only the number of organic leads but also their score. The top ten most qualified beat the unqualified 50.

Here is a working example. I’m tracking a client whose organic sessions dropped 12% year over year, but their organic-to-SQL conversions improved 28%.

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

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

How can you explain this change without sounding defensive

The tricky part is not understanding this change; it informs participants who still think that SEO equals traffic growth.

Lead with business results first

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

Instead, open with “Our revenue increased 23% this quarter because our SEO strategy targeted high-intent users.”

Use the context of the field

Most all web pages do not get traffic from Google. Maintaining visibility already puts you in a good position.

Enter flat traffic as stability in a competitive environment.

Show quality change

Present case-by-case data. For example

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

Here is the script I use:

• “Our SEO strategy has evolved to match the way search engines work today. Instead of optimizing for high clicks, we optimize for high business value. The result is fewer but more qualified visitors who convert at higher rates.”

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

The answer reframes the entire conversation about business value.

When flat traffic is actually a problem

Let me be clear: low or declining traffic is not always good news. Here’s how to tell the difference:

• Descending keyword ranking across: If traffic is low but rankings are dropping, you may have a problem, perhaps due to technical issues, content quality issues, or algorithm penalties.
• Low traffic with flat or declining conversions: Traffic staying static while conversions are decreasing suggests that audience quality is decreasing.
• Engagement metrics will get worse: Increased bounce rates and session duration alongside flat traffic means users are not getting value.
• Losing share of voice to competitors: If competitors start showing up while yours remains low, you fall behind.

Low traffic is good when coupled with improved conversions or strong competitive positioning.

It is a problem if it closes down the fitness.

Dive deep: LLM development in 2026: Tracking, visibility, and what’s next for AI discovery

Redefining what ‘effective SEO’ means

Effective SEO in 2026 means aligning revenue, not increasing traffic.

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

Here is my framework for evaluating SEO success:

• Revenue metrics: Cost per acquisition, customer lifetime value, return on investment from organic traffic.
• Visibility metrics: Share the voice in all aspects of the SERP, not just the traditional ranking.
• Quality metrics: Engagement rates, conversion rates, lead qualification scores.
• “Future-proof” metrics: Working on social AI and emerging search platforms.

The SEO industry has experienced similar changes before, and this won’t be the last.

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