SEO died as a traffic channel the moment pipeline stopped following page views. Traffic is either down for many sites, or its growth nowhere near reflects growth rates of 2019-2022, but demos and pipeline are up for brands that shifted from chasing clicks to building authority.
What you’ll get in today’s memo:
- Why traffic and pipeline decoupled.
- What brand strength actually means in AI search.
- How to reframe SEO with executives.
Boost your skills with Growth Memo’s weekly expert insights. Subscribe for free!
1. We’ve Hit Peak Search Volume For Traditional Queries
Short-head keyword demand is in permanent decline and likely contributing to slowed traffic growth or decline.
An analysis of roughly 10,000 short-head keywords shows that collective search volume grew only 1.2% over the last 12 months and is forecasted to decline by 0.74% over the next 12 months.
Two forces are driving it:
- Fragmentation into long-tail: Demand did not disappear; it atomized into thousands of specific queries.
- Bypass behavior: More users start in AI interfaces (AIOs, AI Mode, ChatGPT) instead of classic search.
This shift is irreversible for four structural reasons:
1. AI Overviews are here to stay. Google’s revenue model depends on keeping users inside the SERP. Zero-click search protects Google’s ad business. The company is not reverting to the 10 blue links.
2. LLM outputs are preferred starting points. Many users have conditioned themselves to expect direct answers. The behavior change is complete.
3. Zero-click is now the default expectation. Clicking through now feels like friction, not value. If the answer or solution isn’t easily acquired, the search experience failed.
4. Content supply exploded. There is significantly more content competing for the same queries than three years ago. AI-generated articles, Reddit threads, YouTube videos, and newsletters all compete for visibility. Even if visibility or “rankings” hold, CTR collapses under the weight of infinite options.
Optimizing for traffic growth in this environment is like optimizing for fax machine usage in 2010. The channel is structurally shifting – the products that people use to find answers have fundamentally changed.
2. Traffic And Pipeline Decoupled Because AI Ate The Click
The correlation between organic traffic and pipeline has broken. But it takes a bit more work to convince stakeholders and executives. We’re seeing this across the industry.
In December, Maeva Cifuentes reported traffic growth of 32% for one of her clients, while signups grew 75% over the same six-month period. Her post was in response to one from Gaetano DiNardi, who found no correlation between traffic and pipeline across multiple B2B SaaS companies he advises. Maeva’s client data shows you can grow pipeline 2.3x faster…
Source link
Disclaimer
We strive to uphold the highest ethical standards in all of our reporting and coverage. We blogs.grocliq.com want to be transparent with our readers about any potential conflicts of interest that may arise in our work. It’s possible that some of the investors we feature may have connections to other businesses, including competitors or companies we write about. However, we want to assure our readers that this will not have any impact on the integrity or impartiality of our reporting. We are committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news and information to our audience, and we will continue to uphold our ethics and principles in all of our work. Thank you for your trust and support.
Website Upgradation is going on for any glitch kindly connect at [email protected]
