Is this a permanent shift?

Yes. AI search is not a fad; the share of research happening inside LLMs keeps growing.

Should I cut SEO spend?

Not yet. Add AEO on top. Cut SEO only when AI citation is the dominant source of named pipeline.

Why is my website traffic down but pipeline flat?

If your traffic dropped 20 to 40 percent but pipeline held flat, the funnel did not break. Buyers shifted top-of-funnel research from your website into ChatGPT and Perplexity. The visits you still get are mostly mid- to bottom-of-funnel.

Quick answer

Stop optimizing for the visits you lost. Start being cited inside AI, and treat the remaining traffic as the high-intent pipeline it actually is.

What changed

Awareness and education moved into LLM chat.
Buyers arrive on your site already knowing the category.
They come for proof, pricing, and a decision, not an overview.

What to do

Get cited inside AI. The top-of-funnel did not vanish; it moved.
Identify the silent traffic. Most high-intent B2B visitors never fill out a form.
Route intent into pipeline. The visits you get are worth more, treat them that way.

That is what SiteSonar does. See how it fits together →