Why some industries are losing search traffic without algorithm penalties

Katina Ndlovu
Jan 22
1 min read

Dark UI graphic titled “Search Performance” showing stable rankings but shrinking clicks, with a flow diagram redirecting traffic to AI answer and SERP feature surfaces, plus neon green callouts like rankings unchanged, clicks shrink, and traffic redistributed on a black background. — Losing search traffic can happen without penalties when results pages satisfy intent before users click.

Some industries are losing search traffic without penalties because search is shifting to zero-click and AI answers that satisfy intent on the results page, so impressions and citations can rise while clicks drop as discovery fragments across AI Overviews, SERP features, and AI-native platforms.

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