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I’d be a little careful blaming AI first here, especially if these are mostly “service + city” searches.
For local service businesses, I think the bigger issue is that ranking organically doesn’t mean the same thing it used to. You might still be in a good organic position, but the user has already seen ads, the map pack, reviews, maybe an AI result, and a bunch of other noise before they ever get to the blue links.
The first thing I’d do is split the problem in GSC.
If impressions are down, that’s probably demand, rankings, or search volume.
If impressions are stable but CTR is down, that’s probably SERP crowding.
If clicks are stable but bookings are down, that’s more likely CRO, pricing, offer, seasonality, or tracking.
For a service business I’d probably care more about the map pack than traditional organic at this point. GBP categories, reviews, photos, service areas, local links/citations, and strong service/location pages are all worth looking at.
If your CAC is still good on paid, I’d scale that carefully, but keep brand, non-brand, service/city, competitor and remarketing campaigns separate so you know what’s actually incremental.
I’d be pretty skeptical of anyone selling “ranking in AI results” as a clean product. Track ChatGPT/Gemini/Copilot referrals if you want, but I wouldn’t move serious budget there unless you can see customers actually using those journeys.
So I don’t think organic SEO is dead. I think the job has changed from “rank #1” to “own more of the local SERP.”
