AI Search Shifts SEO Metrics, Agencies Adapt to New Client Demands

Image credit: Search Engine Journal

Global marketing agencies are re-evaluating client reporting metrics due to declining organic search traffic, primarily attributed to the rise of artificial intelligence in search.

A recent report by AgencyAnalytics indicated 42 percent of agencies are fielding client inquiries about significant drops in organic traffic, citing Google‘s AI Overviews as a primary cause.

Google’s AI Overviews were identified as the top industry concern by 64 percent of agencies, followed by AI search generally disrupting traditional SEO practices, a concern for 59 percent of respondents.

Clients are increasingly prioritizing business outcomes over raw traffic numbers, according to the report. Conversions were the most important metric for 44 percent of clients, followed by leads at 22 percent, return on investment (ROI) at 12 percent, and revenue at 11 percent.

Organic traffic, a long-standing key performance indicator, ranked low among client priorities, with only 6 percent considering it most important.

The shift in search behavior and client expectations has created significant attribution challenges for nearly half of all agencies, which reported an inability to reliably track users who discover brands through AI tools.

In response to these changes, demand for specialized services like answer engine optimization (AEO) and SEO tailored for AI search reached an all-time high of 66 percent in 2026, AgencyAnalytics reported.

To address the changing environment, agencies are being advised to adopt new metrics for AI search visibility. These include Visibility, which measures how often a brand appears in AI search results; Position, indicating where the brand ranks within those results; Citations, tracking mentions by AI; and Sentiment, assessing the tone of AI-generated content about the brand.

These new metrics aim to provide clients with a more accurate understanding of their brand’s performance and impact in an AI-dominated search environment, moving beyond traditional organic traffic figures.

Source: Search Engine Journal