LinkedIn’s AI Search Slashed Traffic by 60%
▼ Summary
– LinkedIn reported a significant decline of up to 60% in non-brand, awareness-driven organic traffic for some B2B topics due to Google’s AI Overviews, despite stable search rankings.
– The company is shifting its strategy from a traditional “search, click, website” model to a new framework focused on being “seen, mentioned, considered, and chosen” in AI-driven discovery.
– LinkedIn’s recommended tactics for AI search visibility are established SEO fundamentals, such as using clear headings, publishing expert content, and improving semantic structure.
– A key challenge is measuring the impact of AI search, as visibility in AI answers often occurs without clicks, creating a “dark funnel” that is hard to quantify for business outcomes.
– LinkedIn formed an AI Search Taskforce and saw early success, with data suggesting it is a highly cited domain in AI search, though its public report lacks specific details on tests and metrics.
The shift towards AI-powered search is fundamentally changing how businesses achieve visibility online, with significant impacts on organic traffic patterns. LinkedIn recently reported that its non-brand, awareness-driven traffic for certain B2B topics fell by as much as 60% after Google’s Search Generative Experience evolved into AI Overviews. This decline occurred even while the platform’s search rankings remained stable, pointing to a sharp drop in click-through rates as users began finding answers directly within the search interface. This trend underscores a critical industry move away from the traditional “search, click, website” model toward a new framework focused on being seen, mentioned, considered, and ultimately chosen within these AI-generated responses.
In response to this challenge, LinkedIn’s B2B organic growth team established a dedicated AI Search Taskforce. This cross-functional group, involving SEO, public relations, editorial, and marketing specialists, pursued several key initiatives. They worked to correct misinformation appearing in AI answers, published new content specifically optimized for generative search visibility, and tested social content to gauge its strength in AI discovery. Early results from these tests indicated a meaningful increase in visibility and citations, particularly for the platform’s owned content.
An external analysis appears to support LinkedIn’s strategic position. Data from late 2025 suggested that Google’s AI Mode cited LinkedIn in approximately 15% of its responses, making it the second most-referenced domain in that dataset, trailing only YouTube. Furthermore, LinkedIn’s own marketing websites experienced triple-digit growth in traffic driven by large language models, with the ability to track conversions from those visits. However, it is crucial to note that while such growth rates sound impressive, they often represent a very small fraction of a site’s overall traffic, frequently accounting for 1% or less for most publishers currently.
The guidance emerging from LinkedIn’s experience, while framed as new learnings, largely reiterates established best practices for search and answer engine optimization. The company emphasizes using strong headings with a clear hierarchy, improving semantic structure and content accessibility, and publishing authoritative, fresh material created by genuine experts. A recurring theme is the importance of speed, suggesting that early movers in adapting to this new landscape will gain a significant advantage.
A major hurdle identified in this transition is the so-called “dark funnel.” The core challenge lies in measuring how visibility within AI answers ultimately influences business outcomes, especially when a user discovers information without ever clicking through to a website. This makes quantifying the true return on investment for AI search optimization efforts exceptionally difficult.
While LinkedIn’s case study provides a compelling narrative about adapting to AI-led discovery, it leaves several important questions unanswered. The article does not specify the exact topics behind the reported 60% traffic decline, detail how much click-through rates actually softened, or provide sample sizes and timeframes for its analysis. It also lacks clarity on how its industry-wide comparisons were calculated and what specific tests moved citation share and by what margin.
The fundamental takeaway is that visibility within AI-generated answers is becoming the new currency for digital presence. However, the tactics required to earn that visibility, authoritative content, technical soundness, and semantic clarity, remain deeply rooted in the core principles of traditional SEO. LinkedIn’s adaptation playbook, while framed for a new era, ultimately reinforces the enduring value of these foundational practices.
(Source: Search Engine Land)
