Where Did All My Website Traffic Go? (And What To Do About It)

21 July 2025

A Digital Dispatch by Sian Jamieson, Partnership Lead

AI Digital Strategy SEO

Let’s be honest: keeping up with SEO in 2025 is like chasing a squirrel through a hedge — fast, confusing, and occasionally painful. One minute you’re riding high on Google, and the next… website traffic tumbleweed.

So if you’ve noticed a dip in website traffic recently, it’s not just you. It’s not even just your website. It’s the whole search landscape, and it’s changing fast.

TL;DR (Yes, we’re doing these – read on to find out why!)

Organic website traffic is dropping — for everyone.
AI Overviews are answering search queries before anyone clicks.
Keywords still matter, but engagement matters more.
We’re shifting focus to structured, human-first content, new metrics, and smarter SEO strategies.

Why Website Traffic Is Dropping in 2025: What’s actually going on

Earlier this year, I joined a session with Neil Patel, which echoed our own thoughts at Pooka.

The big headline was this: organic website traffic is down across the board. And it’s not just the wee folks feeling it — search traffic is down for everyone, regardless of size, scale, marketing budget, or brand clout. The big un’s and the wee un’s are all feeling the drop-off.

And because it’s happening for smaller, values-led organisations too — the kind we work with every day — this is exactly why we’ve dusted off our digital magnifying glasses and are poking around like the SEO sleuths we secretly are.

After a months of digging, here’s our understanding:

1. AI Overviews (AIO) are stealing the spotlight

Google’s new “AI Overview” answers people’s questions before they ever click a link. So even if your site ranks #1, users might never actually visit it. Tough crowd.

2. More ads, fewer clicks

SERPs are now a sea of ads, snippets, maps, and shopping boxes — pushing organic results further down (or off) the page.

3. Users want answers, fast

People are skipping search altogether and heading straight to tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, or voice assistants. They’re after quick summaries, not 1,000-word blog posts.

4. Competition is fierce

Everyone and their dog has a blog now — and Search Engine’s are rewarding content that’s useful, well-structured, and clearly written for humans.

5. Google’s cracking down on fluff

The Helpful Content update binned the keyword-stuffing days. If your blog was written for bots, not people, it’s likely taken a hit.

So… does keyword ranking still matter?

Short answer: yes. Long answer: it’s complicated.

You still want to show up for search terms that matter to your audience. But rankings aren’t what they used to be. Search results are now personalised — by location, device, search history — and may be swallowed by AI summaries.

Instead of chasing rank, focus on:

✅ Matching search intent
✅ Writing helpful, people-first content
✅ Boosting engagement (think: scroll depth, dwell time, downloads)
✅ Diversifying your traffic sources — don’t just rely on Google.

Pooka’s Play: Smarter SEO That Works for Humans (and AI)

We’re still all-in on SEO — but we’re playing smarter by:

Writing for real people (like always) — but have your developers create underlying structure such as FAQ schema that AI can understand
Adding TL;DRs and FAQs to our blogs (you’ll see those rolling out soon!)
Using context prefixes like “Guide to” or “Best tools for…” to help search engines and AI understand what we mean
Looking at new success metrics — like how long people stay, what they click, and if they come back
Continuing to prioritising E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust) in our content.

If you’ve ever thought “We just want to be useful” — good news, that’s SEO in 2025.

New SEO Metrics: Engagement Is the New Click

In this new world of AIO and zero-click searches, you need to shift from “how many people came to the site?” to “what did they do once they got there?”

Here’s what that means for measurement now:

🕒 Dwell time – are people sticking around?
📜 Scroll depth – are they reading past the first scroll?
🔁 Return visits – do they come back for more?
💬 Shares, saves, and comments – are you starting conversations?
✅ Micro-conversions – like clicking a button, watching a video, or signing up for your newsletter.

What’s Next? Smarter SEO, Snackable Guides, and More to Come…

As you’d hope, we’re making a few changes to our own blog and website to reflect the changing landscape — and good news, we’ll be sharing what we do along the way. (Starting with a beginner’s guide to SEO, coming soon. Spoiler: it’ll be snackable.)

Got questions? Drop us a line.

We’re always up for a digital detective moment.

Pooka’s Top 3 SEO FAQs (and What Google Really Wants in 2025)

What is AIO?

AIO stands for AI Overview — it’s Google’s way of answering your question directly on the search results page, using generative AI. Instead of sending people to websites, it creates a quick summary from multiple sources (sometimes without credit). Handy for users, tricky for websites.

Does SEO still matter in 2025?

Yes — but not in the way it used to.
SEO in 2025 isn’t just about ranking for keywords. It’s about matching search intent, writing for humans (and AI), and tracking what people do once they land on your site. Think engagement, not just eyeballs.

How can I improve website engagement?

Great question — and honestly, this is the new SEO gold.
Here’s what to aim for:
🕒 Dwell time: Make people want to stay
📜 Scroll depth: Design pages that encourage exploration
📥 Micro-conversions: Give small ways to engage (downloads, videos, newsletter sign-ups)
💬 Conversation sparks: Use comments, FAQs, or CTAs to start dialogue

🧠 Pro tip: A well-placed TL;DR or clear CTA can make all the difference — especially if your audience is time-poor (like most of ours!).

Partnership Lead

Sian Jamieson

Sian puts real people and actionable data into the heart of every digital communications strategy and will add nearly two decades of experience to your project.