UK digital businesses report traffic loss due to AI search

A survey by Cloudways reveals that 80% of UK digital and ecommerce businesses believe AI-generated search experiences have reduced their website traffic over the last 12 months. This phenomenon, described as an “AI visibility gap,” is shifting the requirements for online success.

Research indicates that traditional SEO is becoming insufficient, with 77% of respondents stating it is no longer enough. Instead, technical website performance, speed, uptime, and reliability are becoming critical for visibility within AI search and recommendation systems. In the UK, 81% of businesses noted that technical performance now matters more for visibility than content alone.

While traffic from AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini has grown by 1,439% for UK retail sites over two years, many small sellers remain invisible to these agents. This is partly due to low AI readability; the average retail product page scores only 66 out of 100 for AI readability. Experts suggest that to remain competitive, businesses must ensure product specifications, delivery times, and return policies are available in plain text and that they are not inadvertently blocking AI bots.