SUMMARY BY CHATGPT

?? Main Topic: Google's AI Overviews Are Hurting Website Traffic
Tom revisits and expands on his earlier episode (#980) about Google’s AI Overviews, warning that they're drastically reducing traffic to websites. Two new studies (by Ahrefs and Amsive) show:
• Click-through rates (CTR) dropped 34.5%–37% even for top-ranked sites.
• AI Overviews display answers directly on Google, so users don’t click through to websites.
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?? Key Takeaways:
• Don’t waste time or money on full-scale SEO anymore, especially for non-branded keywords (e.g., “public speaking”).
• Stick to basic SEO practices (see episodes #469, #466, #525).
• Stop targeting high-competition keywords; go after mid-level, less competitive keywords.
• Focus on brand visibility instead of rankings.
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?? What You Should Do Instead:
1. Brand Visibility (covered more in-depth in the upcoming episode):
o Use content marketing, social media, PR, influencers, affiliate programs, and sponsorships to get your name out.
o Email marketing is crucial—build a list so you’re not reliant on organic traffic.
o Podcasting and other outreach helps you spread your brand.
2. Use tools like Kartra to automate your marketing and capture leads effectively.
o Tom promotes his affiliate link: screwthecommute.com/kartra with free training and support.
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?? Resources Mentioned:
• AI Overview Warning: Episode #980
• Basic SEO Tips: Episodes #469, #466, #525
• Keyword Research: Episode #130
• Free Automation eBook: screwthecommute.com/automatefree
• Mentor Program: GreatInternetMarketingTraining.com
• Tom's Online School: IMTCVA.org
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Tom emphasizes that while AI tools are useful, Google's AI Overviews are cannibalizing web traffic, and businesses must shift their marketing strategies accordingly.

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Episode 995 – AI Overviews
[00:00:08] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:24] Hey everybody, it's Tom here with episode 995 of Screw the Commute podcast. And you know what I really hate? I hate redoing something that I just did. So this is going to be kind of a variation of that, but I just did episode 980 about the artificial intelligence overviews that Google is putting on and why you shouldn't kill yourself on search engine optimization anymore. And the lawsuit about Google, that was episode 980. Anytime you want to get to a back episode, you go to screwthecommute.com, slash, then the episode number. That was 980, and I highly suggest you listen to it, but I've got to redo and amplify that today on episode 995, because two new studies just came out showing how really, really bad these AI overviews are hurting your websites. Now this seems to be in direct contrast to episode 994, which I just did. Okay. That said, hey, you need to be training your people in AI. I mean, this is a crazy it reminds me of the start of the internet's wild West. Good, bad and the ugly, right? So yes, you need to be doing training on AI and using it to your advantage. But in this particular area, it's hurting your website. So let's talk about this. And first of all, make sure you download the copy of my new automation An e-book version 3.0 at screwthecommute.com/automatefree and check out my mentor program at GreatInternetMarketingTraining.com.

[00:02:15] Along with my school, the only licensed dedicated internet and digital marketing school in the world. I mean, in the country for sure, but probably in the world and certified to operate by SCHEV, the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia. But you don't have to be in Virginia because it's distance learning. IMTCVA.org.

[00:02:33] All right. Now here's some other back episodes you should jot down if you can, if you can, or listen to this again. See, I'm all in favor of basic search engine optimization. Episode 469. Episode 466. Episode 525. Show you things you should be doing, but I do not want you paying for SEO services and doing all just, you know, throwing your money down the toilet, basically. All right, so these two companies that did these studies was Ahrefs, and then Amsive. And and I might add that these studies were for most of us on what they call non-branded keywords non-branded means. It's not something like somebody knows about like Nike or something like that. But most of us, you know, for instance, public speaking is a non-branded keyword phrase basically. So it's not a company name.

[00:03:43] Okay. But anyway, the losses of click through rates to individual sites that cover your topics. Oh my goodness. Ahrefs found a 34.5% click through rate loss for even if you were the best of the best on that keyword and got number one rankings in Google, you lost 30, almost 35% of your traffic and some has hit 37%. If you are less than the top three in your which takes a phenomenal amount of work and time and effort to get in the top three anymore. So all that work you did, 37% of it gets lost. Okay, so this is just crazy for you to spend time and effort working on those kinds of things. Well, you say, well, Tom, what are we doing? We throw our hands up and just quit. No, there's some things you should be doing and can be doing to help yourself out with this now. I've been preaching it for years and years and years that I saw this. I didn't see AI coming, all right, but I saw the fact that search engine optimization wasn't worth the time anymore, other than the basics. On episode 469, 466 and 525. So we're right in the middle of this mess where the eye overviews. And for those of you who don't know what the hell I'm talking about, that's as soon as you do a search on Google right at the top.

[00:05:23] It gives you an eye overview of the answer to your question without visiting a website. That's what I'm talking about here, that you don't have to go to a website to get the answer. They compiled the answers for you and and hit you with it right at the top. Well, that could be handy for you as a searcher, but from people that own websites, this is devastating. See? So what can you do about it? Well, there's a couple things you can you can do about it. First of all is don't shoot for the main keywords anymore. Shoot for mid mid popular keywords. And that can be different for every topic on earth. You got to just do some keyword research, which is episode number one. And I think 130 of this podcast. And again, anytime you want to get to a back episode, you go to screwthecommute.com, slash, then the episode number. And then if they're non-branded, you know, most of us, you know, are not selling Nike and Adidas and stuff like that. We're selling our services. So that's a non-branded keyword. So don't shoot for the biggies anymore. It's okay to use them. But the thing is, is I'm trying to save you wasted effort. But the next thing you can do a good a much better job of.

[00:06:42] And that's called brand visibility. In fact, Monday I'm going to do a another an episode just on that. But what does brand visibility mean. Well, that means you got to get back to content marketing, getting your stuff spread out all over the internet with your name and website on it. You still have to do social media stuff, which I hate, and you have to get engagement. If you don't get engagement, you're again wasting your time with that. But you could hire influencers, you could do PR, digital PR, you know, with the PR services, Sponsorships are great because you got the big branded companies promoting you. Affiliate programs means you got affiliates putting your name out there. So your name is showing up everywhere in your website. And of course, the big E that I have been doing for years is I get to do all that stuff, but I get them on an email list. That's why I'm sitting pretty today, because I don't have to depend on organic traffic anymore. And I was considered one of the best of the best for 12 years straight during the beginning of the internet, you know? But that's long past. That's history. See? So get your brand. When I say your brand, I'm not talking Adidas or Nike.

[00:07:59] I'm saying your name, your website, showing up all over the place. Do a podcast. All right. Drive people to your website, things like that. So it's basic traffic generation outside of organic traffic. All right, well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. This is like I said, I hate copying doing things over and over again. But this is so important to you, you got to pay attention to it because your website is just going to sit there with zero traffic nowadays, unless you do some of these other things I'm talking about. All right. So watch for brand visibility coming up first of next week and I will catch you on the next episode. But I'm begging you to check out the shopping cart system that's going to help with all this, to automate all this that I am now representing. It's Kartra and go to screwthecommute.com/kartra and you will be able to get discounts and all the stuff I've kind of negotiated for you to, uh, to get into this. And then we give unlimited one on one tutoring and free training for you and your staff for as long as you have the cart. So nobody else on earth does this. All right. So there you go. All right. We'll catch you on the next episode. See you later.