Search engine optimisation (SEO) has long been a staple of how businesses further their outreach online, but very recently the way that SEO is done has begun to change. This is because of the introduction of Google’s AI overviews in May 2024 which have altered the way that answers are provided to search queries. As a result of this, there has been a significant shift in the way that businesses like yours appear in search results.
What are Google’s AI overviews?
AI overviews, formerly known as Google’s Search Generative Experience, are likely familiar to you. When you make a query through Google, the AI overview appears at the top of the page summarising the various results to be found below. The aim is to provide an immediate overview of a topic through a synthesized, comprehensive answer to the query.
If you searched for ‘what’s spaghetti bolognese’, for example, the answer would likely give you a rundown of what’s included in a general recipe as well as a method on how to make it, as well as some background of where it’s from and when in time.
How AI overviews change search behaviour
The most obvious way in which this alters user behaviour is that many people might no longer scroll to find a link, they might just read what the AI overview tells them and conclude their search - even though they haven’t fact-checked the information for themselves. This, naturally, reduces clicks to websites, with AI search results altering the buyer journey through a less thorough search of SERPs. In fact, a 34% drop in CTR has been associated with AI overview.
The potential risks for businesses
Lower click-through rates (CTRs) will be alarming for any business who has built up a strong SEO strategy over the years as it means less visibility for organic results. This can exacerbate an already competitive environment, making it difficult to stand out among AI in search results. If you don’t take how AI impacts SEO into account, then you might struggle to see as much ROI on your marketing.
What opportunities do AI overviews create?
There are reasons to be positive about Google’s AI overviews, though. As AI overviews feature links to pages from which it collates information, that gives your brand the chance to be featured, allowing you to maintain CTRs and boost brand awareness by being featured so prominently.
Additionally, through structured data and trust signals (like having HTTPS in your URL), as well as by displaying topical authority, you can develop an SEO strategy for AI search. Generative search optimisation can help you to appear prominently in results even with the challenges brought on by AI overview.
How businesses should adapt
It becomes important, then, to develop an actionable plan of how to adapt to this new environment. To display topical authority, for instance, you need to be able to provide helpful, in-depth content focusing on EEAT - experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. This can help you to appear in the AI overview, then you should refine the user experience (UX) of your website to fully engage the users that do click-through.
This might also be an indication that you need to diversify your traffic sources. Rather than relying solely on SEO, consider investing in email marketing, or Google Ads, as well as a greater focus on social media.
What does the future look like?
It’s easy to feel anxious and uncertain when it feels as though the fundamentals have changed, but AI is here to stay and that makes adaptability utterly key to your success. Every step in the right direction is valuable when your competitors are all finding their feet, and that means working with the right experts who understand your business and its needs inside and out.
In light of Google’s AI changes, a holistic audit and overhaul of your approach to SEO can help you to remain visible within search engine results. With many businesses in the same position, acting fast can help you to get ahead.
