If you’ve Googled anything in the last few months, you’ve definitely seen Google’s AI overview.
It’s the snippet of information at the very top of the search results, before you see any of the other websites below.
Its purpose?
To answer your search query in the most succinct, clear way possible.
As useful as this is for people searching (just consider how much time it saves scrolling), it’s caused ripples of worry among businesses worldwide.
Websites that used to rank at the top, are now pushed at least 3 spaces down as the AI overview consistently dominates the top position.
The issue?
If people don’t scroll past it, businesses risk losing a significant amount of their online visibility, and potentially their organic traffic as a result.
In this blog, we’re explaining:
- What Google AI overviews are
- How Google AI overviews are affecting SEO
- What businesses can do to be featured in Google AI overviews
- The future of SEO
Let’s get started with understanding a bit more about this feature.
What Are Google AI Overviews?
Google AI overviews are AI-generated summaries of content, gathering information found online. It aggregates the best content with the aim of giving you the quickest, clearest answer to your search query.
For example as a marketer, you might Google: “what is a marketing timeline?”
Google will then scour the internet to find the best answer and pull together the best bits of content, from different sources.
Take a look below which shows the Google AI overview for this particular search:
The idea is to save people from scrolling through lots of different websites to find the answer they need.
As you can see, it uses content from other sites (this one being the Discovery website) to serve responses.
But how does it work?
How Do Google AI Overviews Work?
Google AI overviews are powered by Gemini, which if you haven’t heard of it, is a large language model (LLM) developed by Google.
Let’s start by breaking down what we mean by a large language model.
An LLM is a type of artificial intelligence that uses lots of text data to understand and generate human language. By using techniques such as deep learning, it often analyses billions of different words.
This allows the LLM to understand and generate text by learning from huge data sets. As a result, it can mimic human language with a high level of accuracy, even understanding the context of a conversation.
Aside from generating text, LLM can also translate languages, summarise text, solve math equations, and produce different kinds of creative text (i.e. poems, letters, emails, music scripts).
The responses you get from these tools are often meaningful and relevant, as they have learnt and processed so much data.
Why Are Google AI Overviews Useful?
As Google AI Overviews are trained through deep learning techniques, they provide valuable answers that effectively answer your search query.
The answers generated by Google AI overviews are not snippets from a single source, but rather the LLM has scoured multiple, quality sources, then served you the best information.
It will also simplify complex concepts into clear, easily digestible responses so that you get the answer you need quicker.
Other reasons why Google AI overviews are useful are below:
Provides the best answer to search queries
As the overview is not from a single source, it combines the best information from various sources online.
As we’ll go into more below, Google AI overviews also take this information and present it in the clearest, most easy to understand form. This allows you to get snappy, direct responses rather than trying to make sense of different websites.
Some websites are also difficult to use and it can take time to find the information you’re looking for. However Google overviews has done the hard work for you, ensuring the response is right there at the top of the search results when you need it.
Saves users time
As we’ve mentioned above, you can sometimes spend hours online trying to find the information you need. Whilst it’s a great thing having access to so many different websites nowadays, it also makes the task of finding the right information more difficult.
Furthermore, you might just need a quick answer to an immediate need. For example, when asking for directions to somewhere or how to cook something.
In both of these scenarios, you don’t want to scour through pages of website copy, you just want a succinct, straight-to-the-point response. And that’s exactly what Google AI overviews do.
Breaks down complex information
When you’re scrolling through different websites, you’re relying on whoever is writing the website copy to be good at communicating information. But, this isn’t always the case.
Websites can easily be badly written, whether that’s the website copy, service pages, or blogs. This can make understanding the information difficult, as not every business has a professional content writer.
With Google AI overviews, you can be confident the LLM has taken the complex information, and simplified it on your behalf. This means the answer you’re presented with in the overview is still accurate and correct, whilst also communicated in a way that you understand.
This saves you scratching your head trying to work out what each website is saying.
Visually appealing
Google AI overviews are designed to be visually appealing and engaging to read.
This means the responses are formatted in such a way that they are easy to scan and therefore easy to digest. This supports the entire purpose of these overviews which is to present the best, clearest answer to a search query.
Whilst the written word can be accurate, if it’s badly presented or stuck in an ugly paragraph of text, people probably won’t read it. That’s why Google uses a mix of headings, bullet points, list styles, and imagery to make sure the information they provide is not only correct, but also pleasant to read.
Cites the original sources for further exploration
While the overview collates the best information and summarises it into a digestible response, Google still cites the original sources.
This allows users to explore the original websites if they wish, delving further into specific articles, blogs, and research pieces.
This means Google is giving users the best of both worlds; if they need a snappy response they’re covered, but if they want to read about the topic in more depth, they’re free to do that too. Furthermore by citing the original websites, it gives original sources online visibility as Google is directing users back to these sites.
The next question in the world of SEO and online visibility, is how can businesses make sure their website is the one included in the AI overview?
This takes us onto our next part of the blog.
How Google Chooses Sites for Its AI Overview
There’s still some ambiguity around how Google decides which websites feature in its AI overview and what these factors are.
It seems that Google uses a combination of deciding measures including Google’s core ranking system, structured data such as LocalBusiness, and user search intent.
It’s useful for businesses to know this as it means you can start optimising your website content to suit. By understanding how your content is being reviewed by Google and the principles it takes into consideration when linking sites in its overview, you can reframe your content accordingly.
Let’s explore each of these factors in more detail so you can position your content for more success in search results.
- Google’s Core Ranking System – AI Overviews rely on the same core ranking principles that determine which websites appear in organic search results, including page rank, number and quality of backlinks, website speed, content quality, and overall user experience.
- Structured data – Google AI overview scans structured data on a webpage to identify what information to show. For example LocalBusiness information, FAQ schema, and product info all help the LLM understand the page better so it knows what to serve in response to your query.
- Search intent and relevance – Google’s AI understands the search intent behind a users search query (for example, whether it’s informational or transactional) and will provide useful information and the nature of the topic to determine whether an AI Overview can provide a helpful summary of information.
A key thing for businesses to consider when trying to optimise their content for the AI overview is how to entice users past the initial overview snippet.
Whilst it’s great to be featured there as it increases your online visibility, you want to give them enough of a reason to explore your content further. This allows you to not only dominate that top position but to also sustain click through rates by attracting people back to your website.
How SEO Is Being Affected By Google’s AI Overviews
The main thing businesses want to know is how their SEO is being affected by Google AI overviews.
And it’s easy to understand why they’ve caused so much panic.
The overviews are essentially pushing all of the other search results further down the page, meaning businesses are relying on people scrolling further down.
This has led businesses to worry about a reduction in click through rates and organic traffic as if users are getting the answers they need at the top of the page, why would they click through to the individual sites?
However Google AI overviews also present businesses with an opportunity. By understanding how the tool works and how to feature in it, businesses can take advantage of the new SEO landscape.
Other ways SEO is being affected are listed below:
- Greater emphasis on content quality – Whilst quality content has always been a core ranking factor, it’s gained even more importance due to AI overviews. Users want the best information and they want it now, so writing high quality pieces has to be the priority for every business.
- Change in user behaviour – When people get used to only reading the information at the very top of google, in its most simplistic and digestible form, it triggers a shift in the way they browse the internet. Businesses need to be aware of this change and rethink how their content is structured and consumed.
- Possible reduced click-through rates – If people are only reading the information in the overview snippet and not exploring different websites, this would lead to a reduced click-through-rate.
- Organic traffic – Leading on from the point above, if people are satisfied with the content in the overview snippet and they’re not exploring the original source, it will lead to a reduction in organic traffic. That’s because the AI overviews dominate valuable space at the top of search results pages, pushing everything else down.
- Greater emphasis on E-A-T – Businesses need to focus on building authority and expertise (E-E-A-T) signals as this can help increase the likelihood of their content being featured. This includes writing high quality, well-researched content that features rich elements such as statistics, links, testimonials, expert options, and infographics.
- Increased competition – We should preface this by saying that appearing anywhere in the search results is always competitive. Every website is competing for the top positions in search results, so this isn’t anything new. That said, businesses need to focus even more on quality content as you’re not only competing for top search positions but also for a place in the AI overview.
What Is the Future of SEO?
As AI continues to evolve, the search results are inevitably going to change.
This means businesses need to stay ahead of any changes, including how Google decides what to feature in its overview snippets and the ways in which they can optimise their current site to feature.
By knowing what Google is looking for when summarising information, you know how to approach your own website copy.
Whilst we’ve discussed the current contributing factors that dictate which websites are chosen, this will likely change as the tool progresses.
What’s not going anywhere is the need for quality content.
This has remained the key ranking factor aa you need to provide users with quality, valuable information that genuinely meets their search intent. Businesses often lose sight of their end customer by trying to write purely for search engines.
However, you need to write for the people reading it. Invest time and effort into crafting valuable, insightful copy that builds trust with your audience. This means doing your research, including quotes and statistics, linking to reputable sites to build trust, and making your content visual.
Does that sound like a lot? Partnering with a professional marketing team is often best, as they manage this process on your behalf – allowing you to get back to your day-to-day list. Get in touch with us for a chat about how we can help.
Google AI Overviews: What Are They & How Are They Affecting Your SEO?
Google AI Overviews are changing the way people browse online and the way they consume information.
As a large language model, they effectively mimic human language, combining different online sources and summarising the information in a clear and concise way.
This saves users the time and effort from browsing multiple websites trying to find the answer they need. From a business perspective, this presents both challenges and opportunities as the competition for top positions in search results is even more fierce. It has meant even more emphasis is placed on high quality content that gives users something different to its competitors.
The SEO landscape is always changing, and with developments like Google AI Overviews, it’s more important than ever to stay proactive. Keeping up can be a challenge, but you don’t have to do it alone. As a digital agency, we create forward-thinking content that’s built to perform in a changing search environment. Get in touch with our team to find out how we can help.
