New KPIs for website measurement

The challenge: Your website is seen, but not visited as often

Google AI Overviews (Google SGE), ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and other AI-supported search systems are fundamentally changing how people search for information on the internet. Instead of clicking on traditional search results, users are increasingly receiving direct answers from Artificial Intelligence. This means for you: Your content appears, it is read, but it no longer necessarily leads to a visit to your website.

This development presents many CMOs and marketing decision-makers with new challenges. It is no longer enough to simply analyze visibility in search results. In future, the ability to achieve impact without clicks and to make this impact measurable will be crucial. The topic of “branding” continues to rapidly gain in importance.

Recent studies report an average decline in website traffic of 18%, with peaks of up to 41%. According to the SEO platform SISTRIX, the proportion of German AI overviews (Google AIO) since the rollout in May was just under 10% a short time later – and the trend is rising. This means that the organic traffic of many brands will continue to collapse in the future.

What is particularly critical is that while the number of impressions remains stable, the actual clicks on the website are falling significantly. According to several market observations, the click-through rate (CTR) has fallen by 30 to 50 percent in some cases. We know from years of experience in digital analytics consulting: The level of traffic that companies were used to before the introduction of AI Overviews will in all likelihood not be achieved again.

However, a study by Ahrefs shows that AI search traffic – most of which comes from Chat GPT – has fewer clicks but higher conversion rates. The conversion of AI visitors is 23 times higher than that of visitors from conventional organic search, according to Ahrefs. Whether the traffic that comes from AI Search is generally of a higher quality has not yet been fully proven. However, the numbers indicate that the visitors have a higher intention, as they stay longer, even though they visit fewer pages on the respective website overall:

Despite all the innovations that currently pose a challenge for many companies, there are also domains that are already benefiting from AI overviews. These include many companies from the healthcare sector, as the following chart from SISTRIX shows:

The integration of generative AI into search is not only changing user behavior, but also the role of websites and content in the customer journey. Increasingly, people are getting answers without even visiting an external site. Artificial intelligence delivers the information directly. And this is often based on content that you have laboriously created with your content team.

This changes several fundamental factors in Marketing Analytics:

1. Visibility is increasingly created without a classic website visit. Users see your brand, but they no longer automatically land on your domain.
2. Traditional conversion funnel data is distorted. The search for information may take place entirely within an AI system. This shifts the first phases in the conversion funnel (awareness and consideration) from the website to communication in AI systems. Website visitors arrive later, but in many cases they are better informed and show a stronger intention to buy. Traditional funnel analyses should therefore be evaluated differently.
3. Traditional attribution must be evaluated differently. The influence that your content has on purchasing decisions or brand perception remains invisible if it only unfolds within an AI platform. If the user then converts at a later point in time, this influence is usually not captured in conventional attribution models.

Another trend is reinforcing this change: brand mentions are becoming increasingly important. Even if your website is not linked, your brand can be mentioned in AI responses and thus be remembered. This has a direct impact on awareness and subsequent interactions with your brand.

The new studies clearly show that user behavior is changing fundamentally as a result of generative AI, AI search and zero-click responses. Your brand’s content can be visible on Google, ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity & Co. without a traditional click on your website.

These new interactions often remain invisible with a traditional web analytics setup, even though they can already have an impact on your brand perception and subsequent conversions. Those who continue to rely solely on KPIs and metrics such as impressions, traffic or CTR are overlooking crucial factors. It is therefore becoming increasingly important for CMOs and digital marketing managers to expand the existing KPI set to include AI-specific key figures. This will enable them to precisely evaluate the success of their measures and act in a data-driven manner, even in an AI-driven search world.

In addition to classic SEO and content optimization, following the Google E-E-A-T model (Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness) is an important success factor. If you are interested in specific tips for your brand, please contact us.

A modern KPI set considers not only traffic and conversions, but also indirect effects such as reach in AI responses, brand citations or engagement outside the website. We divide the metrics into two tables to show what can be measured on the website and what before it.

The development requires a structural adjustment to your web analytics. We recommend expanding your existing KPI set and adding AI-specific metrics to your reports and dashboards. These include, among others:

In our 15-minute webinar on 24.07.2025, our digital analytics expert Constanze Bogner will give you an overview of how web analytics and search behavior are changing as a result of AI Search. You will get an overview of specific KPIs and metrics that are important now.

Topic: Making AI search success measurable with new KPIs
Date: 24.07.2025, 11:30 AM CEST

Details and free registration: