Anyone Else's GBP Performance Dropping Despite Maintaining Rankings

[dteb]

Over the last couple of months, a couple clients, one in the legal space and one in health, have had performance drop (clicks, calls) despite maintaining the average map pack status.

I'm wondering if this is AI-related, such as AI Overviews taking up more space and eating more into local-intent searches, or summarizing info from the local pack.

 

[ElizabethRule]

Yes, this is a trend many business have experienced. It's a mix of AI overviews/AI local packs and more Ads (LSA, search, and local pack Ads) on the local SERPs. Especially prevalent in the legal space.

Sterling Sky wrote about it in June https://www.sterlingsky.ca/the-state-of-local-seo-in-2026/

 

[DenisOmerovic]

The measurable half of that question is whether your 2 clients are named inside the AI answers at all. We logged 270 answers across 15 audits and the businesses were named in 139 of them, but per business it ran from 2 of 18 up to 18 of 18, with 7 of 18 in the middle. Holding the map pack position says nothing about which end of that spread a client sits on, so it is worth counting before you settle on where the calls went.

 

[NaFormate]

Seeing the same with service clients. Two things worth separating before blaming AI Overviews:
1. Ads above the pack. Search the main money keywords on mobile from the client's area and screenshot the SERP. In legal and health there are often LSAs plus 1–2 pack ads now, so position 1 organically sits below the fold on a phone. Same ranking, much less real estate.
2. Where the drop actually is. In GBP Performance, compare calls, website clicks and direction requests separately, and split searches into branded vs discovery terms. If branded holds and discovery falls, it's SERP layout or AI. If branded falls too, it's demand or seasonality, not rankings.
For the lost discovery traffic, what has worked for us is putting a small LSA or call-only budget on the top 5–10 terms and tracking calls with a dedicated number, so the client can see how much of the "drop" was just moved into paid placements.