Google's AI Answers Now Eat Most of the Clicks, and Chatbots Send Back Under 1%. If You Run a Content Site Solo, Stop Renting Distribution From Search.
An Ahrefs study put the CTR drop at about 58% when an AI Overview shows, small publishers report referral declines near 60%, and AI chatbots still return under 1% of page-view referrals. The click economy a solo content site was built on is structurally shrinking. Here's the owned-distribution pivot I'm making. A follow-up to the May 30 and June 9 posts.