Dubai SEO consultant says AI search is reshaping traffic and conversions

Dubai consultant Raaquib Pathan says UAE brands need to stop measuring only rankings as AI search changes how buyers find and vet vendors. He points to lower click volumes, stronger conversion rates from AI visitors and early UAE adoption as reasons companies should rebuild visibility around citations and answers.

Why it matters: - AI search is changing how buyers discover brands in the UAE, which means traffic quality matters more than traffic volume. - Ahrefs data cited in the release shows pages ranking first on keywords with an AI Overview get about 58 percent fewer clicks than they would without one. - Semrush data cited in the release shows AI search visitors convert at 4.4 times the rate of traditional organic visitors. - UAE brands that rely only on rankings may miss the new path from search to revenue.

What happened: - Dubai SEO consultant Raaquib Pathan said AI search is thriving and that search has evolved, not died. - Pathan said UAE businesses have been hearing this message for the last two years. - The release cites Ahrefs research on 300,000 keywords comparing click behavior from December 2023 and December 2025, with results published in February 2026. - The release also cites Semrush research on more than 500 high-value topics. - The release includes Pathan's LinkedIn profile: Raaquib Pathan.

The details: - Ahrefs found position two lost roughly half its clicks when an AI Overview appears. - Ahrefs found position ten dropped by close to 20 percent. - Semrush projected AI search traffic will overtake traditional organic traffic by 2028. - Microsoft’s AI Economy Institute ranked the UAE first in the world for AI adoption in Q1 2026. - Seven in ten working-age people in the UAE use AI tools regularly, compared with under 18 percent globally. - The release says Dubai buyers now often start research inside ChatGPT or Perplexity and finish on Google. - Pathan said buyer research in Dubai now starts in AI tools and ends on Google. - The release says modern AI search work starts with a citation audit. - The release says brands need baseline testing across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Mode using real buyer questions. - The release says brands need entity cleanup, including consistent naming, clean schema, real author pages and About pages. - The release says content should answer the question within the first 60 words and then support that answer with original data. - The release says off-site visibility matters in directories, review platforms, trade publications and community threads. - The release says reporting should track share of AI citations alongside rankings and revenue. - A Dubai-based B2B services client reportedly went from flat organic traffic and almost no AI visibility to appearing in 38 percent of tracked buyer prompts. - The same client’s AI referral sessions reportedly convert at 6 times the rate of organic. - A higher education client reportedly saw informational traffic fall while enquiries rose.

Between the lines: - The release argues that many marketers are focusing on the first half of the story, lower clicks, and missing the second half, higher conversion rates. - Pathan said traffic is down and pipeline is up, framing AI search as a filter rather than a collapse. - The release suggests AI search rewards brands that can be cited by models, not just ranked by search engines. - The biggest shift for UAE brands is likely measurement, since sessions alone may understate performance when buyers arrive later in the funnel.

What’s next: - The release says more UAE brands will need to measure share of AI citations and revenue impact, not just keyword rankings. - The release says the current gap in AI search reporting is the opportunity, and that gap will close. - Pathan works with Dubai businesses in education, SaaS, manufacturing and retail on AI answer visibility. - Pathan’s takeaway is that brands should get cited or get skipped.

The bottom line: - AI search is already reshaping how Dubai buyers choose vendors, and the brands that adapt early may see fewer clicks but stronger leads.