In short: If clicks from Google are falling while average position looks stable, there are usually four possible causes: AI summaries that answer the question directly in the results, a core update, seasonality or a technical problem. Each leaves a different trace in Search Console: in impressions, in CTR, in rankings around specific dates and in indexing. Protect the pages that bring in enquiries and orders, and your brand queries, first, and show management the business result, not just the clicks.
Why do clicks fall when rankings hold?
Average position in Search Console is an average across all impressions. It can stay the same while everything around your result changes: an AI summary, ads, a product block or a set of questions appears above it. The site is in the same place, but people see less of it and click less often.
That is the difference between visibility and visits. A Pew Research Center study published on 22 July 2025 tracked the browsing of 900 adults in the US during March 2025. On searches with an AI summary, people clicked an ordinary result on 8% of visits, against 15% on searches without one. They opened a link inside the summary itself on only 1% of visits. After a page with a summary, 26% ended their browsing session, against 16% without. A summary appeared on 60% of searches that began with a question word, and on about 18% of all searches in the study.
This is US data from 2025 and does not describe your market directly. But it shows the mechanism: for questions that an AI summary answers well, some clicks simply never happen.
How can you tell what the cause is?
Before looking for a fix, establish the cause. The four possible causes look different in the data:
| Cause | What you see in Search Console | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| AI summaries | Impressions steady or rising, CTR falling, rankings steady | Informational queries, questions, date of the change |
| Core update | Rankings fall around the update dates | Before and after comparison |
| Seasonality | Impressions fall too, and the same happened last year | Year-on-year comparison |
| Technical problem | Sharp drop in impressions for whole sections | Indexing report, robots.txt, noindex |
1. AI summaries
The typical pattern is: impressions unchanged, fewer clicks, lower CTR, much the same position. The drop is concentrated in informational queries and “how”, “what” and “why” questions, not in brand or commercial searches. We explain how to become a source within the summaries themselves in our article on AI search optimisation.
2. Core update
Here rankings do change, and the drop starts around the update dates. In 2026 Google confirmed the March core update from 27 March to 8 April and the May core update from 21 May to 2 June. There was also a Discover core update, completed on 27 February and initially for English-language users in the US, and a spam update on 24 and 25 March. According to the Google Search Status Dashboard, two more spam updates followed: the June 2026 spam update, which started on 24 June and took about two days, and the August 2026 spam update, which started on 18 August and took about two days and 16 hours. If your drop lines up with one of these dates, read what to do after a Google core update.
3. Seasonality
If impressions are falling too, not just clicks, people may simply be searching less. Compare with the same period last year, not only with the previous month. August and December look different from March for most businesses.
4. Technical problem
A technical problem usually looks like a sharp drop in impressions for whole sections or page types from a specific date. Check the indexing report, robots.txt, a noindex tag added by mistake, redirects after URL changes, and whether the site loads properly on a phone. If you would like someone outside the business to look at the site, a free website audit helps you see where the obstacle is.
ScaleLab tip: Check whether the drop shows in Search Console as well, not only in GA4. If Search Console shows the same clicks but GA4 shows fewer visits, the problem is probably in tracking, for example cookie consent settings, rather than at Google.
How should you read Search Console?
Work in the Performance report and compare periods, not individual days.
- Period comparison: the last 28 days against the same 28 days last year and against the previous 28 days. This separates seasonality from genuine change.
- Query filter: separate brand queries from the rest with a filter on the company name. The two groups almost always behave differently.
- Pages losing many clicks: sort pages by the change in clicks and see whether CTR or impressions fell for them.
- Devices and countries: a drop only on mobile, or only in one country, points to a specific cause.
An important note: according to Google’s documentation, traffic from AI features is counted in the overall Performance report, under the “Web” search type, together with the other results.
The new report for AI Overviews and AI Mode
In June 2026 Google introduced a Search Console report for generative AI features in Search (the Generative AI performance report). According to Google, as of 31 August 2026 it has been rolled out to all websites, but it only appears if the site has enough impressions in AI features. The report shows the site’s impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode, grouped by page, country and device.
How to use it: compare the pages with many impressions in AI features against the pages losing clicks in the overall report. If they overlap, that supports the idea that the drop is linked to AI summaries. The report is new, so check Google’s help page for what data it currently shows before drawing conclusions.
Which pages should you protect first?
Not every lost click is worth the same. A drop in visits to a general article often does not affect enquiries. A drop on a service page does, straight away.
1. Commercial pages
Service, product, category and pricing pages come first. Check that they are indexed, that they clearly answer the customer’s question, and that enquiries from them in GA4 or your own system are not falling. An AI summary cannot send an enquiry on the customer’s behalf, so these pages stay directly tied to revenue.
2. Brand queries
Searches for your company name come from people who already know you. Make sure the right page appears for them, that your Google Business Profile is up to date, and that no third-party sites or old pages are taking the clicks. If these searches are growing, that is a good sign even when overall clicks are down.
3. Informational articles
Articles that answer simple questions are more exposed to AI summaries than commercial pages. Do not delete them in a hurry. Instead, add what the summary does not provide: first-hand experience, examples, your own data and a clear next step towards the service.
ScaleLab tip: Draw up a list of the 10 to 20 pages that bring in most of your enquiries and track them separately every month. Total clicks will move around, but that list tells you whether the business is affected.
How do you explain it to management?
A chart of falling clicks with no explanation causes panic. Report the drop in four parts:
- What happened: how much clicks and impressions fell, and against which period.
- Why: which of the four causes the data supports and which you have ruled out.
- What it means for the business: what happened to enquiries and orders from organic search, and to brand searches.
- What you are doing: which pages you are protecting, what you are changing and when you will report on the result.
Do not promise a return to the old click levels. If some questions are now answered directly in the results, those clicks may not come back. It is more honest to track metrics you can influence: enquiries, orders and the visibility of commercial pages. We describe what such a report looks like in the section on the monthly report.
In our SEO work we report every month how many enquiries come from unpaid search, because a ranking is not a goal in itself.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my ranking the same while clicks are falling?
Average position does not show what sits above your result. If an AI summary or another block appears above it, people click less often without the site having dropped. Check whether impressions are steady while CTR falls.
How can I tell whether the drop comes from AI summaries or a core update?
With AI summaries, rankings hold and CTR falls, mainly on informational queries. With a core update, rankings change and the drop starts around the update dates, for example 21 May to 2 June 2026.
Does Search Console show traffic from AI Overviews?
Traffic from AI features is counted in the overall Performance report, under the “Web” search type. Separately, the new report for generative AI features shows the site’s impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode by page, country and device.
Will the lost clicks come back?
Not necessarily. If the cause is technical or seasonal, usually yes. If some questions are now answered directly in the results, those clicks may not return, so keep an eye on enquiries and orders.
Sources
- Pew Research Center: Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results, 22 July 2025
- Google Search Console Help: Generative AI performance report (Search)
- Google Search Central Blog: Introducing Search Generative AI performance reports in Search Console, June 2026
- Google Search Central: AI features and your website
- Google Search Central Blog: Google’s February 2026 Discover core update, February 2026
- Google Search Status Dashboard: Ranking incidents history
- Search Engine Journal: Google Confirms March 2026 Core Update Is Complete, 8 April 2026
- Search Engine Roundtable: Google May 2026 Broad Core Update Is Done Rolling Out, 2 June 2026