Google’s AI Is Stealing Your Clicks. Here’s How Halal Businesses Can Fight Back

The old rules of online success are gone. For years, businesses simply needed to rank high on Google to get traffic and sales. But Google’s new AI Overview feature, launched in May 2024, is changing everything. It gives users instant answers, often without them needing to click on a single link. This “zero-click” search is a major threat to businesses that rely on their websites to get customers, and it’s something every halal business needs to understand.

Here’s why this matters and what you can do about it.

Related: How To Create An AI Agent To Grow Your Halal Business?

The Clicks Are Disappearing

AI Overviews are summaries that appear at the very top of Google’s search results. They pull information from various websites to answer a user’s question directly. For example, if someone searches, “Is car sex legal in Alabama?”, the AI will provide a legal summary without the user having to click on a law firm’s website.

This is a big problem for businesses that use educational content to attract customers. While you might still rank high, users simply aren’t clicking through to your site. This means you lose the chance to tell your story, build trust, and make a sale.

• Pew Research Center found that when an AI summary appears, users click on a traditional link at only half the normal rate.
• Seer Interactive reports a 70% drop in organic click-through rates when AI Overviews are present.

Companies are still getting “impressions” (their site appears in the AI summary), but the clicks—the actual visits to your site—are gone. And for businesses, clicks are what truly count.

A New Strategy: The Halo Effect

While AI Overviews can reduce clicks, they also present a new opportunity. Search experts like Andrew Shotland and Ben Fisher believe that businesses must now focus on getting their content into these AI summaries. Why? Because being featured in an AI summary creates a “halo effect.”

• Building Trust: People are starting to trust AI summaries. If your business is cited as a source in an AI answer, it gives you instant credibility. This can lead to higher-quality leads, as the people who do click through are more serious and closer to a buying decision.
• The Right Content: Businesses should focus on creating content that AI loves. This means creating clear, list-style articles, videos, and guides. For a halal business, this could be a guide on “The Top 5 Halal Certifications” or a video titled “How We Ensure Our Ingredients Are Halal.” This type of content is easily digestible for both users and AI.

What Halal Businesses Should Do Now

The time to act is now. Here’s a checklist for your business to adapt and succeed in the AI era:

• Take Ownership of Your Reputation: Regularly search for your business name and related keywords. If you see a wrong or misleading AI summary, report it immediately. On Google, you can do this by clicking the “thumbs down” button on the overview and then “Report a problem.” This ensures the AI is telling the right story about your brand.
• Feed the AI: Do not block AI crawlers. These crawlers need to access your site to include you in their summaries. Instead, create high-quality, educational content that the AI will want to use.
• Diversify Your Traffic: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. While optimizing for AI is important, also build other sources of traffic. Create content for platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and social media to connect with customers directly.
• Focus on the Whole Customer Journey: Remember that people do a lot of research before they buy. A Forrester study found that 59% of all retail sales in 2022 involved a digital component, either online shopping or online research. This figure is expected to grow. Even if a customer doesn’t click on your website, your appearance in an AI summary can be the first step in their journey to finding your business.

By fine-tuning your content for AI, correcting any inaccuracies, and building a presence on other platforms, you can keep your business competitive and thrive in the changing, AI-driven search world. The future of marketing for The Halal Times is about becoming a trusted source of information, not just a link in a long list.