ARE AIOS HURTING
TRAFFIC?
How to identify true loss with GA4, GSC,
& rank tracking
TOM CAPPER
Sr. Search Scientist
@THCapper
tom.capper@moz.com
ON THE AGENDA:
● AIO Situation Update
● How AIOs appear in GA & GSC
● Layering in rank tracking
● Worked examples
● Should we be worried?
CHRIS ANG
Enterprise Account Executive
STEPHANIE CHEUNG
Enterprise Account Executive
BREAKOUT SESSION
ON THE AGENDA:
● AIO Situation Update
● How AIOs appear in GA & GSC
● Layering in rank tracking
● Worked examples
● Should we be worried?
THE DATA:
● 11.5k keywords
● 2 devices
● 3 locations:
○ Brighton, England
○ Portland, Oregon
○ Cork, Ireland
● 11.5k x2 x3 = 69k keywords
AIO FULL RELEASE, MAY 2024
EU ROLLOUT, SPRING 2025
THERE’S BEEN A LARGE INCREASE
IN AIOS SINCE JANUARY
SERPS WITH AIOS ARE STILL
OVERWHELMINGLY INFORMATIONAL
AIOS OVERLAP WITH OTHER
INFORMATIONAL FEATURES
@tcapper.co.uk
YMYL IS VERY MUCH NOT SAFE.
YMYL IS NOT SAFE
@tcapper.co.uk
HOW HAVE AIOS AFFECTED YOUR
SITES?
POLL:
ON THE AGENDA:
● AIO Situation Update
● How AIOs appear in GA & GSC
● Layering in rank tracking
● Worked examples
● Should we be worried?
AIOS IN GOOGLE
ANALYTICS
@tcapper.co.uk
YOU MIGHT HAVE NOTICED THESE
PARAMETERS IN SERPS & REPORTS
@tcapper.co.uk
THESE CAN BE ISOLATED IN GOOGLE
TAG MANAGER
REPORT SETUP
HOW IT LOOKS IN GOOGLE ANALYTICS
SO THE SAME SNIPPET FROM THE
HTML SERP IN STAT…
@tcapper.co.uk
…AND IN THE RANKING URL
HASH PARAMETER…
…ALSO APPEARS IN GOOGLE
ANALYTICS, WITH A CLICK COUNT
@tcapper.co.uk
BUT WAIT. THERE’S A PROBLEM.
THE HIGHLIGHTED TEXT ISN’T
IN THE AI OVERVIEW
@tcapper.co.uk
ONE OF THE AIO URLS DIDN’T EVEN
HAVE FRAGMENT TEXT
@tcapper.co.uk
GA4 FOR AIO TRACKING:
PROS & CONS
+ We can map traffic to specific features (with a rank tracker)
@tcapper.co.uk
GA4 FOR AIO TRACKING:
PROS & CONS
+ We can map traffic to specific features (with a rank tracker)
- It’s inconsistent — not every AIO has fragment text
@tcapper.co.uk
GA4 FOR AIO TRACKING:
PROS & CONS
+ We can map traffic to specific features (with a rank tracker)
- It’s inconsistent — not every AIO has fragment text
- No keyword-level filtering — what if this text is duplicated?
AIOS IN GOOGLE SEARCH
CONSOLE
THIS IS MOZ’S GSC DATA FOR THE
KEYWORD [URLS]
THIS IS WHEN WE STARTED
APPEARING IN AIOS
@tcapper.co.uk
PROBLEM 1:
WE ONLY KNOW ABOUT THE AIOS
BECAUSE OF OTHER TOOLS.
IMPRESSIONS CLEARLY INCREASED.
AVG. POSITION… MAYBE?
@tcapper.co.uk
PROBLEM 2:
THESE METRICS ARE… NOT
PARTICULARLY USEFUL.
THIS IS THE OFFICIAL GOOGLE
GUIDE TO ‘AVERAGE POSITION’
SOME CLARIFICATION LAST MONTH
MOZ.COM RANKING FOR [URLS]
SO PRE-EXISTING LOWER POSITIONS
ARE TANKING THE AVERAGE?
HERE’S HOW THAT AIO APPEARANCE
SHOWS UP IN STAT
@tcapper.co.uk
GSC FOR AIO TRACKING:
PROS & CONS
+ We can filter to keyword/URL combinations
+ Powerful when AIO & organic are different URLs
- AIO is otherwise not separated from regular organic
- Metrics are poorly & ambiguously defined
@tcapper.co.uk
WE HAD TO BRING IN ANOTHER
SOURCE TO GET THE FULL PICTURE.
Just like with GA4.
THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
(BUT IT’S AI MODE, NOT AIO)
ON THE AGENDA:
● AIO Situation Update
● How AIOs appear in GA & GSC
● Layering in rank tracking
● Worked examples
● Should we be worried?
@tcapper.co.uk
YOUR RANK TRACKER*
INTRODUCES THREE DATA POINTS.
* any good rank tracker
@tcapper.co.uk
1. WHETHER THE AIO IS PRESENT
@tcapper.co.uk
2. WHETHER YOU APPEAR IN IT,
AND IF SO, IN WHAT POSITION
@tcapper.co.uk
3. TRADITIONAL ORGANIC RANK,
AKA ‘BASE RANK’
WE MIGHT ALSO CHOOSE TO LOOK
AT PAGE-LEVEL DATA OVER TIME
@tcapper.co.uk
BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER:
GA4 + GSC + Rank tracker = AIO impact
ON THE AGENDA:
● AIO Situation Update
● How AIOs appear in GA & GSC
● Layering in rank tracking
● Worked examples
● Should we be worried?
KEYWORD EXAMPLE 1:
[URLS]
@tcapper.co.uk
MOZ HISTORICALLY PERFORMS
MIDDLINGLY HERE
@tcapper.co.uk
WE KNOW FROM STAT WHEN MOZ
STARTED APPEARING IN THE AIO
BUT THE SNIPPET ISN’T HERE —
“URLS COME IN VARIOUS FORMS”
@tcapper.co.uk
THE PICTURE WE CAN FORM:
● GSC: Low clicks from organic + AIO combined
@tcapper.co.uk
THE PICTURE WE CAN FORM:
● GSC: Low clicks from organic + AIO combined
● STAT: There is an AIO, we know the snippet text
@tcapper.co.uk
THE PICTURE WE CAN FORM:
● GSC: Low clicks from organic + AIO combined
● STAT: There is an AIO, we know the snippet text
● GA: This snippet text generates no sessions
@tcapper.co.uk
THIS KEYWORD ALWAYS DROVE
VERY FEW CLICKS & THE AIO
DRIVES NONE.
KEYWORD EXAMPLE 2:
[SEO]
@tcapper.co.uk
MOZ HAS HISTORICALLY RANKED
WELL FOR THIS TERM.
@tcapper.co.uk
NOW THERE’S ALSO AN AIO RANK,
WITH A DIFFERENT URL
THE BLUE SPIKES SHOW MOZ’S
APPEARANCE IN THE AIO
@tcapper.co.uk
TOTAL CLICKS HAVE DECLINED
WITH ORGANIC RANK
@tcapper.co.uk
THE AIO URL HASN’T SEEN AN
IMPROVEMENT IN CLICKS
@tcapper.co.uk
AGAIN, THE AIO DOESN’T SEEM TO
BE DRIVING TRAFFIC.
KEYWORD EXAMPLE 3:
[KEYWORDS]
@tcapper.co.uk
MOZ DOESN’T APPEAR IN THE AIO
FOR THIS KEYWORD
WE CAN BREAK OUT THIS KEYWORD
IN GA — FROM THE SNIPPET
@tcapper.co.uk
EVEN BEFORE AIOS, THIS P1 RANK
WAS DRIVING VERY LITTLE TRAFFIC
ON THE AGENDA:
● AIO Situation Update
● How AIOs appear in GA & GSC
● Layering in rank tracking
● Worked examples
● Should we be worried?
@tcapper.co.uk
FOR MOZ, THE MAIN TAKEAWAY IS
THAT AIOS PRIMARILY HIT ALREADY
LOW CTR KEYWORDS.
@tcapper.co.uk
FOR MOZ, THE MAIN TAKEAWAY IS
THAT AIOS PRIMARILY HIT ALREADY
LOW CTR KEYWORDS.
For your site, it may be different!
@tcapper.co.uk
AIO IMPACT ASSESSMENTS:
● GA → Map traffic to features
● GSC → Map traffic to keywords
● Rank tracker → Map keywords to features
CHRIS ANG
Enterprise Account Executive
STEPHANIE CHEUNG
Enterprise Account Executive
BREAKOUT SESSION
AIO Hurting Traffic? How To Identify True Loss With GA4, GSC & Rank Tracking

AIO Hurting Traffic? How To Identify True Loss With GA4, GSC & Rank Tracking