A number of clients have been asking the same question lately: traffic is down, conversions are softer, form fills aren’t where they used to be. In most cases, nothing is “broken.” The shift is happening upstream, in how people search and find information.
The old pattern was simple: search, scan results, click a few links, then decide. That’s changing fast. Tools like ChatGPTand Claude are now doing the research step for the user. Instead of sending someone to your site, they interpret the question, pull from multiple sources, and deliver a summarized answer. Faster for the user. Fewer clicks for everyone else.
Google is moving the same direction. You’ve probably seen the AI-generated summaries at the top of results. These “zero-click” answers often resolve the question without a visit. A search like “Where can I buy Spring Grove Soda Pop” can surface a clean list of stores like Cub Foods or Hy-Vee directly in the results. No need to click through. Example:
That’s the problem, but also the opportunity. If AI systems are deciding what to show, you want to make it easy for them to understand your content. Structured Data is one of the most practical ways to do that. It gives clear signals about what your content is, what your business offers, and how it should be interpreted. We’ve covered Structured Data in more detail in a prior blog post, but the short version: it’s one of the easier, high-impact improvements you can make right now.
You can also test this yourself. Go into ChatGPT or Claude and ask about your business, your services, or your category. See what comes back. Are you mentioned? Are competitors showing up instead? That’s a useful gut check. Beyond that, tools like Google’s Rich Results Test and Schema Markup Validator can confirm whether your structured data is actually readable. (And if it’s not, that’s usually where to start.)
Either way, this isn’t a temporary dip. It’s a shift in how discovery works. If your site isn’t being interpreted correctly by these systems, you’ll feel it in traffic and conversions. Happy to take a look and point out a few quick wins if helpful. Just reach out!