Google announced at their I/O developer conference this month, that they will be rolling out new AI products and functions to their suite. This included the rollout of AI Overviews in search, which users are already seeing for a handful of queries.
In this blog post, Danny Conlon, VP of Product and Marketing, will dig deeper into AI Overviews, what they mean for the future of search, and how these results will impact your rankings.
What You’ll Learn:
- What Are AI Overviews?
- Will AI Overviews Appear for All Queries?
- Will the Increase of AI Overview Answers Decrease My Website Visibility and Traffic?
- How to Measure Your Website Appearance in AI Overview Answers
- How to Turn Off Google AI Overviews in Search
- Will AI Overviews Replace Featured Snippets?
What Are Google AI Overviews?
Google AI Overviews use generative AI to give Google users a concise and informative summary of results on Google while directing them to the most relevant web pages.
Google’s AI solution, Gemini, is behind this feature and develops overviews by collecting information from multiple sources, understanding them, and converting them into bite-sized summaries.
The result is a digestible search result format that gives users the details they’re looking for while pointing them toward more meaningful results.
Here’s an example of Google search results featuring AI Overviews.
Google has been working on AI Overviews since May 2023. At this time, these AI-generated summaries were known as the Search Generative Experience (SGE) and were accessible to users who opted into Google’s Search Lab experiments. SGE results have essentially been replaced by AI Overviews and are now available to all users in the U.S., not just those opted into Search Labs.
My Expert Insight into Google’s AI Overviews
With the rollout of Google’s new AI Overview feature, digital marketers must take this opportunity to better understand how Google users will see results, and also how they change their search behavior over time.
Now is also the time to educate yourself on what it takes to appear in these AI-powered summaries and reverse-engineer results in order to gain visibility.
Just remember, AI doesn’t always get it right, and SERPs are volatile. Don’t change your content just for the sake of AI overview optimization if it strays away from SEO foundations like producing unique, relevant, authoritative and helpful content.
Action Item: Stay on top of SERP’s by conducting your own searches on your top money-terms. Use what is served in AI Overviews to inform your content. In the process, watch fluctuating AI Overview results as they attempt to figure out what users really want—these AI-generated results won’t always give you the answer.
Will AI Overviews Appear for All Queries?
No, AI Overviews won’t appear for all queries.
You’re most likely to see them appear at the top of search results for complex queries that warrant longer summaries of information.
For instance, a question like “steps for building a website” might include an AI Overview featuring basic steps and considerations for designing and developing a site, with links to more in-depth articles on the subject.
A query with a more simple, straight-forward answer like “who is the author of The Lord of the Rings,” will just serve a featured snippet with the answer.
Google’s goal with AI Overviews is to add more value by summarizing complex searches.
Will the Increase of AI Overview Answers Decrease My Website Visibility and Traffic?
The short answer here is no, supposedly.
In fact, there’s a possibility you could benefit from more clicks to your website with the help of these Google AI search results.
According to Google’s Senior Director of Product, Hema Budaraju, the link cards included in AI Overview results encourage more people to click than regular organic results. As such, it looks like these results will get the same kind of engagement as featured snippets and other rich results.
The key is to ensure your content appears in link cards by giving users the most valuable, helpful, and high-quality content possible.
The more your content aligns with Google AI search results, the more likely it’ll be for your content to land a place in AI Overview links.
However, many SEO experts are skeptical of this claim, myself included. We coined the term “Zero Click Serps” for a reason – they weren’t getting clicks. Only time will tell how clicks will be affected if you land in the AI Overview. As for those who don’t earn this coveted spot, I think we can expect a decrease in click-through rates with the AI Overview section pushing down organic search results even further.
How to Measure Your Website Appearance in AI Overview Answers
The best way to determine how your website is performing in AI Overviews will be to view impressions for search queries within Google Search Console.
When discussing AI Overviews, Google mentioned that it would eventually start to include AI Overview impressions and clicks in Search Console data. However, it will blend this data with all other organic impressions and clicks.
So, if you want to gauge performance, look for an increase or decrease in organic impressions and clicks in your reports. You can also perform manual searches to see where your website stands in relation to AI Overviews and adjust your content and SEO strategy accordingly.
How to Turn Off Google AI Overviews in Search
If you’re wondering how to turn off Google AI Overviews when viewing search results, now you can.
You’ll need to select the Web button.
This button is a filter that will only show relevant text-based links to searchers. It’s similar to the other filters you see at the top of the SERPS such as Images or Videos. Once you select the Web button all of Google’s knowledge panels, including featured snippets, Shopping features, and Google’s new AI Overviews will be removed from your search results.
A Google spokesperson confirmed, “AI Overviews are a feature in Search, just like a knowledge panel or a featured snippet, so they will not appear when someone uses the web filter for a search.”
Unfortunately, this Web filter might not always appear as one of the first few filter options. You may need to scroll to the right and select More to find it.
Will AI Overviews Replace Featured Snippets?
No, Google AI Overviews won’t replace featured snippets, knowledge panels, or other types of features stemming beyond traditional results.
Instead, they’ll work alongside featured snippets to give users the most valuable information for complex searches, incorporating a mix of summary content to give them what they’re looking for right at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Get Seen in AI Overviews With Our Generative Engine Optimization Services
Search engine results and search engines themselves are quickly evolving, and so are our optimization strategies.
If you’re looking to gain visibility in AI powered search results like Google’s AI overviews, ChatGPT, CoPilot, Perplexity and more, Ignite Visibility can help. We offer Generative Engine Optimization services that are sure to help you stay ahead of your competition.
Our Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Services Includes:
- Authoritative content creation
- Multimedia asset management
- Structured data implementation
- Brand analysis and research
- Online community management
- And much more!
To put your next plan into action with our experts, contact Ignite Visibility today to discuss your unique marketing needs.
