Does the introduction of AI Overviews mean the end of SEO?

What is AI Overviews?

Let’s start from the beginning. AI Overviews is a search model from Google that, similarly to ChatGPT, leverages generative AI to process and respond to queries. AI Overviews compiles information from different sources and displays this at the top of the search results engine page (SERP), along with links to websites for further reading.

Following a trial period in Google Search Labs, AI Overviews was first launched in the US in May 2024. It’s currently being rolled out across more than 100 countries worldwide and is expected to have more than 1 billion monthly users. The tool has been available in the UK since August this year.

How is AI Overviews impacting the search landscape?

We can already see that AI Overviews is impacting the search landscape in various ways. The perhaps most obvious result of AI overviews is that traditional search results get pushed down the page. This means that users can get the information they’re after quicker, without having to visit specific websites. 

As AI Overviews have not been around globally for very long, it’s too early to draw any conclusions about whether it, in fact, has led to more zero-click searches and less organic traffic to websites as per our prediction at the beginning of the year. However, in May this year, following Google’s experiment with AI Overviews in Search Labs, Google’s VP Head of Google Search, Liz Reid, claimed that “the links included in AI Overviews get more clicks than if the page had appeared as a traditional web listing for that query.” So, if this trend continues, AI Overviews may not mean a drop in organic traffic overall (yippie!) - only a drop in clicks on traditional search results links.

Another possible result of the global rollout of AI Overviews is a change in people’s search behaviour. Whilst evolving search behaviour is nothing new, AI Overviews is likely to more pivotally reshape not only how we engage with the SERP but also how we search for information. By leveraging technology such as advanced natural language processing (NLP), AI Overviews opens the possibility of more detailed and complex searches rather than traditional keyword-centred ones. 

Adapting your digital marketing strategy to the future of Search: how to rank for AI Overviews

With AI Overviews getting continuously refined and rolled out across more countries, I think we can now safely say: AI Overviews is here to stay. So, do we need to panic? Well, not quite yet. In fact, if Liz Reid’s claim earlier in the year stays true and links included in AI Overviews get more clicks than if the page had appeared as a traditional web listing for that query, websites may actually have an increased chance of driving organic traffic – if they are featured in AI Overviews. So, how can we make that happen?

Continue to follow SEO best practice

Continuing to stay on top of your SEO strategy might not be the exciting tip you’re looking for, but it’s probably the most useful one for now. According to Google Search Central, “there is nothing special for creators to do to be considered [for AI Overviews] other than to follow our regular guidance for appearing in search, as covered in Google Search Essentials.” Google’s guidance includes basic SEO practices such as ensuring your content is helpful and reliable, using words that people use to search for content, and making links crawlable.    

Google’s claim is largely supported by a study recently conducted by Rich Sanger SEO and Authoritas to map how Google's AI Overviews souce links. For example, the study found that:

“The likelihood of a search result document appearing in an AI Overview depends on its SERP position. A link ranked first has a 53% chance of being featured, while content ranked tenth has a 36.9% chance. This trend holds for related and reformulated queries as well, with higher-ranking documents more likely to be included.”

So, in other words: continue to optimise your content for traditional Search. the higher your content ranks in SERP, the bigger the chance of it featuring in AI Overviews.

Consider ramping up your YouTube efforts

Another key finding from the Rich Sanger and Authoritas study is that YouTube is the top domain linked in AI Overviews. This suggests that to be featured in AI Overviews, businesses should increase their focus on this platform and create and optimise content that’s relevant to the queries they want to rank for. This includes including clear, descriptive titles and video descriptions that include your target keywords. 

What’s next?

Whilst there’s a risk that AI Overviews will lead to an increase in zero-click searches, the opposite may also be proven true: that links featured in AI Overviews get more clicks than what they would if they were featured as a traditional search result. So, does AI Overviews mean the end of SEO? Thankfully, it seems that this is not the case. As studies have shown, there’s a big overlap between content featured in AI Overviews and traditional search results, indicating that SEO continues to be relevant to ensure digital visibility.