Playbook: diagnose traffic loss when rankings held

Playbook: diagnose traffic loss when rankings held
Sometimes positions are stable but clicks fell — that's a SERP-feature shift, not a ranking update. How to confirm:

— Step 1: In GSC, compare position (flat) against clicks/CTR (down) over the period — divergence is the tell.
— Step 2: Check if AI Overviews or featured snippets now occupy your query — they push organic below the fold.
— Step 3: Look for new SERP elements (PAA expansion, video carousels) on your money terms.
— Step 4: Segment informational vs transactional — AI Overviews hit informational CTR hardest, per early studies.
— Step 5: Adjust strategy toward queries AI features don't yet cannibalize.

Fixing 'rankings' here would be solving the wrong problem.

One to bookmark: Search Engine Land's AI Overviews coverage — tracks which query types lose organic clicks to the feature.