Signal Signal 8: AI answers cut click-through by over a third while AI platforms drive 6.5% of traffic

Summary

Deloitte's eighth watch signal describes generative engine optimisation overtaking search engine optimisation as users turn from traditional search to AI chatbots. The race is now to appear inside AI-generated answers rather than in lists of links. Such answers already dominate results on major search engines and have cut click-through to conventional websites by more than a third. AI platforms now drive 6.5% of organic traffic, a share projected to reach 14.5% within a year. The new discipline differs fundamentally from the old, valuing semantic richness over keywords, author expertise over backlinks and being cited in AI responses over page views. The report compares the shift to paid search in the 2000s and social media advertising in the 2010s, calling AI-generated responses the most critical marketing channel of the 2020s.