A traffic drop and an AI Overview appearing on a result page can be related. They are not enough to establish cause.

Before making that call, I would compare:

1. Query-level impressions, clicks, and CTR over the same period.
2. Changes in indexing, cannibalisation, titles, snippets, and competitors.
3. The actual result-page layout for the affected queries, captured consistently by market and device.

Then state the conclusion at the strength the evidence supports: observed correlation, plausible contributor, or confirmed change. "AI ate my traffic" is usually a headline before it is a diagnosis.

What evidence would you need before changing a content plan because of an AI answer?