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Google Organic Traffic for E-Commerce Stores Fell 20% in September and October
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How are Google's search changes affecting e-commerce brands?
Across 200 ThoughtMetric brands, Google organic traffic was down 20% in September and October compared to the 2026 monthly average. The drop lines up with a set of Google changes that started in late August, when AI Overviews began expanding to fill the whole screen on some searches and pushed organic links further down the page.
Google organic traffic for e-commerce stores, January to October 2026
What the data shows
We looked at combined Google organic search visits for 200 e-commerce brands using ThoughtMetric from January through October 2026. Each month is compared to the January to August monthly average.
For most of the year, organic traffic stayed within a normal range. February was the lowest month at 12% below average, partly because it only has 28 days. Summer ran slightly below average, with August landing 5% under.
September dropped to 20% below average. That's a 16% decline from August to September in a single month.
October also came in 20% below average. Organic traffic held at the lower level instead of recovering.
What changed in Google search
Google made several changes to search between mid-August and the end of September.
On August 19, Google started rolling out generative UI in AI Overviews after first launching it in AI Mode. Generative UI lets AI Overviews return interactive tools and custom layouts directly in the search results.
On August 28, Google confirmed that AI Overviews now expand to full length automatically for some searches. SEOs first spotted the change on August 27. On those searches, the "Show more" button is gone and the full AI answer loads at the top of the page with an "Ask anything" box underneath. Organic links sit below all of it.
On September 2, Google moved AI Mode to Gemini 3.8 Flash. This update was limited to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers, so its effect on overall search traffic was likely smaller than the AI Overviews changes.
Through September, AI Overviews also started appearing on far more brand-name searches. DemandSphere's tracking showed AI Overviews on about 26% of branded keywords on September 1 and about 82% on September 29. Ahrefs found a similar increase in US desktop results.
What this means for e-commerce brands
Brand-name searches used to be the most predictable part of organic traffic. A shopper searched a store's name and clicked the first result. With an AI Overview sitting above that result, some shoppers now get what they need from Google's summary without clicking through.
A drop in organic sessions doesn't necessarily mean demand for your products fell. Some of those shoppers still buy, but they come back later through a direct visit or a paid ad. That makes organic session counts harder to read on their own.
If your organic traffic dropped in September, compare it against total revenue and new customer revenue before making changes to your SEO budget. September and October together are more useful than either month alone, since two months at the same level points to a lasting shift rather than a one-off dip.
ThoughtMetric shows organic search revenue next to your paid campaigns and AI search referrals. You can see whether a drop in organic sessions shows up as a drop in revenue, or whether those customers are arriving another way.
Methodology
This analysis uses combined, anonymized Google organic search visits from 200 e-commerce brands using ThoughtMetric between January and October 2026. Each month's visits are compared to the January through August 2026 monthly mean. February has 28 days, which accounts for part of its lower total.
See where your customers are coming from
Google now shows more answers right on the search page, so fewer people click through to your site. Some shoppers see your brand in an AI Overview, then come back later and buy.
ThoughtMetric shows which visits led to each sale, whether they came from organic search, paid campaigns, email, or AI search. Post-purchase surveys ask customers how they found you, so you can see Google's impact even when it didn't send a click.
