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AI Overview – What It Is & Why It Matters

1st October 2024

Change is afoot in the world of SEO and digital marketing. Just as we caught our breath from the onslaught of software integrated AI tools and content generation for pretty much every type of create endeavour, Google then launches their latest update: AI overviews.  For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have an online presence, AI Overview is going to be a game-changer. In this blog we will be looking at why that is, and attempt to answer exactly how to rank in AI Overviews. 

What is an AI overview?

There’s little doubt that Google is determined to completely change the way we arrive at answers on its search pages. Let us welcome AI Overview, the new box that appears at the top of your Google search results page. AI Overview is bringing TL;DR to your online searches (Too long, didn’t read for those who don’t speak Gen Z).

AI Overview is a relatively new feature introduced by Google in 2023 (or 2024, depending on where in the world you are located). Ostensibly brought about as the latest battle in the war on spammy ranking web pages, many have called the latest round of updates to the Google algorithm an ‘extinction level event.’

As it is still in the ‘experimental stage, any advice we give here is subject to change, but so far it has been criticised for not always giving answers that are accurate or correct, to some comedic (or alarmingly harmful) results. Its aim is to provide users with a concise summary of answers to a particular query.

While the algorithm updates may have had little impact on the general public, it has been making waves in the world of SEO and drastically affecting the traffic and ranking of small business websites. So what exactly is it, how does it work and how can small businesses learn how to rank in ai overviews? Read on to find out.

When did AI Overview launch?

While Google doesn’t always announce specific launch dates for new features, AI Overview seems to have been gradually introduced throughout 2023. Many users began noticing it appearing in search results around the middle of the year.

The precursor to Google’s AI Overview was Search Generative Experience, and this is many people trying to get ahead of the curve studied, in preparation for the official roll out. In testing mode for much of 2023, the USA got the first glimpse of the new AI generated answers in May 2024, while the UK had to wait until well into 2024. 

It still doesn’t appear for everyone, however, and not all searches generate an AI result. There is much speculation about what does and doesn’t, with some noticing that definitive, informative answers that are well established are the ones that get the most AI generations, whereas more time sensitive or debatable questions do not. Neither, it appears, do commercial based questions.

Why is AI Overview important for SME businesses? 

A large percentage of visitors to your website do so by finding you in the answers page to a question they put into google (this is known as the SERP, or search engine results page).

For decades now, SEO practices have worked effectively at getting businesses to appear in the top results, meaning that they are more likely to get the majority of traffic coming from that particular search. That is until Google rolled out their AI Overview. Scores of websites are seeing significant drops in traffic and click through rates from Google, although some have attributed this to recent algorithm updates that have affected their rankings rather than AI.

Whatever the cause, it is certainly a hot topic in the dual worlds of online SME and SEO at the moment, with a degree of uncertainty caused by Google’s lack of transparency over how it will work  (especially with paid for adverts) and planned future updates.

Should I be trying to appear in AI overviews?

If you are wondering if you should be proactively engaging with AI, and especially Google’s AI overview, as part of your online marketing strategy, we have included some pros and cons that we have recognised so far. Again, this is very much done with a broad brush, and the exact effect will depend on the unique needs, goals and industry of each business.

Pros:

  • Increased Visibility: As mentioned earlier, appearing in an AI Overview can significantly boost your website’s visibility in search results. What long-term effect this will have on your site’s visitor numbers remains to be seen. However….
  • Improved Click-Through Rates (CTRs): A well-crafted AI Overview can attract more clicks, leading to higher CTRs and increased organic traffic. There are multiple experiments underway in the SEO world at the moment, as we all try to crack the exact algorithm for AIO.
  • Enhanced User Experience: A clear and informative AI Overview can provide users with a better understanding of your website’s content, potentially leading to longer visits and higher conversion rates, as well as a heightened degree of brand recall when it comes to establishing yourself as a voice within your industry.
  • Brand Awareness: Appearing in AI Overview results can help increase brand awareness and recognition. This is especially true if you actively campaign to routinely appear there. It may also help Google to recognise you semantically within your field.

Cons:

  • Limited Control: It is worth remembering that you have limited control over the content that appears in your AI Overview. While you can optimise your meta description and the text within your page or blog post, Google’s algorithm will ultimately determine what information is displayed and where.
  • Potential Misrepresentation: In some cases, the AI Overview might not accurately represent your website’s content, potentially misleading users.
  • Dependency on Google: Relying heavily on AI Overview for visibility can make your business more vulnerable to changes in Google’s algorithms or policies. It would be a better practice to expand your strategy to include other search engines and other means of exposure to potential customers, such as a multi-channel campaign that makes use of a variety of different online tactics, rather than search results alone. 
  • Changeable results: AI overview answers are created in-the-moment, and there’s no current way to guarantee that appearing in an overview one day will mean that you will appear in it the next. The ranking for these changes a lot quicker than the organic ranking on the original SERP.

Can I opt out of/ hide the AI Overview?

While there are a few hacks bandied around online, currently, there is no definitive direct way to opt out of or hide AI Overview for your website. Google’s algorithm determines whether an AI Overview is generated based on the content of your pages. Some have campaigned to stop this, citing it as essentially Google stealing their content in order to keep customers on their page instead of travelling on to the website themselves. This idea of harvesting content to feed AI is a common concern across the whole computer-generated world, with many

How to rank for AI overviews

If you are curious about the result or want to start optimising your site’s content for AIO, we’ve got a few pointers to work from. 

The purpose of the overviews are to provide quick, concise information from credible sources. To do this, there are a variety of ways in which the information may be displayed. This will vary depending on the exact question asked, but may include: a paragraph outlining the answer to the question. This will usually also include the keyword on the question somewhere within the text. If it is required to answer the question fully, there may also be key points to further explore the topic. These can also take the form of instructions. After this there may also be images, videos and related topics.

Throughout all of these sections are links back to the websites that they drew the answers from, as if citing the sources, if the reader wants to verify and check the accuracy of the information given. Some have argued that the icon that links back is unnecessarily small, leading fewer people to actually click on the link.

There is also a small right handed side bar that includes more visually branded links to other websites, which may be a better way to get visitors to your site as the link looks more appealing and, if crafted carefully, could be a useful way to create compelling text in order to draw visitors to you. 

While many SEO experts are currently trying to decipher how Google decides what type of link goes where, there are a few pointers to follow in order to increase your chances of appearing in an AI Overview.

  • Optimise Content: As with all SEO practices, it is vital to ensure that your content is well-structured, informative, and relevant to your target keywords. Make use of headings and subheadings to make it clear that the context of your content is understood at first glance.
  • Target Long-Tail Keywords: Long-tail keywords have always been important for long term SEO strategies, and this may be even more so now. Use them to target more specific queries and go after those with lower competition to better your chances of ranking higher in organic answers and AI overviews. By focusing on relevant long-tail keywords you can increase your chances of appearing in AI Overview results. 
  • Write Compelling Meta Descriptions: Your metadata is your first chance to dazzle your audience! While the title is important for ranking, the description is increasingly being used as the basis for the AI Overview. Make sure it is absolutely perfect for your target audience, by being engaging and an accurate summary of your content.
  • Leverage Schema Markup: Schema markups provide search engines with additional context around the content on your page and site. Using schema markup could help improve your chances of appearing within an AI Overview and your overall search rankings.
  • Keep an eye on the data: Make use of tracking and data analysis tools to keep on top of what is working and what is not. SEMrush have recently added AI overview results to their organic search results tracking, as a means for website owners and marketing managers to gather more accurate data on how their content is performing. We are yet to see anything concrete that allows us to track and analyse traffic from these appearances, but there will undoubtedly be something soon.

The future of SEO in the age of AI  

AI Overview is just one example of how artificial intelligence is utterly changing the landscape of search engine optimisation. Bing, Apple and Android are also rolling out similar generated answer facilities, and it seems that there are new variations of this theme popping up almost weekly.

As AI continues to evolve, we can expect to see more sophisticated features that help businesses improve their online visibility and customers find exactly what they are looking for, without having to sift through spammy content. (Want to stand out from the crowd of spam? Read about how here.) But we are still in the early days where there are bound to be teething problems, and winners and losers of the new way of doing things. 

While the nature of SEO is certainly up for a seismic change, good quality and unique content will always have a place on the internet. The best course of action is to create content so compelling, enticing and different to your competitors that readers cannot help but click on the link through to your site. As well as actual text on the page, this can also include interactive content, visual assets that are eye-catching and informative, which may also lead to organic back links to your website, if it is compelling enough. Make it compelling enough, or opt for the help of content writers, such as those you can find working for Gooey Digital. We would love to create content for you that stands out, stands the test of time and helps grow your online presence. Contact us today for a chat.

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Nick Huxsted
1st October 2024

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