Without a doubt, people who still do not know what AI Overview is are missing out on a myriad of opportunities in their field of activities. Imagine getting a precise, concise, and functional answer every time you have a question in mind. AI Overviews technology makes this experience possible for you.
In fact, this new feature has not only changed the way we access information, but it also creates new challenges for content creators and businesses. With the introduction of AI overviews, users have access to faster answers, but the question arises: how does this technology work? What impact will it have on SEO and online content? Most importantly, how can you benefit from it? In this article, you will get to know the details of this new phenomenon and learn how to take advantage of its opportunities and challenges.
What are AI Overviews?
AI Overview is one of Google’s newest search features that provide users with summarized answers powered by artificial intelligence. These answers appear right at the top of search results (SERPs) and are intended to simplify the search process for users.
Simply put, this technology helps users get answers to their questions directly without having to browse multiple websites. For example, if you search for “how to lose weight?” Google will automatically generate a concise, functional answer that is aggregated from information available from multiple sources. Additionally, these summaries include links to original sources; therefore, users can go to authoritative websites for more information.
The mentioned feature was initially introduced as Search Generative Experience (SGE) and as a beta version through the Search Labs program. After positive users’ feedbacks, Google launched the feature publicly in the United States on May 14th, 2024, and now aims to provide access to more than a billion people by the end of the year.
Google’s main goal with introducing AI Overviews is to improve the search experience for users. In fact, by providing quick and direct answers, users no longer have to browse multiple websites to find the information they are looking for.
AI Overviews release timing
Google’s AI Overviews feature has experienced a lot of ups and downs from experimental steps to general availability. Here’s how the technology converted from an experimental idea to a cutting-edge tool for millions of users around the world.
- May 10th, 2023: Google announces first test of Search Generative Experience (SGE) feature.
- May 25th, 2023: Access to the SGE beta version opened to users who had registered on the waiting list.
- March 22nd, 2024: Google began testing AI Overviews in its main search results, including for users who had not joined in the SGE program.
- May 14th, 2024: Google officially launched AI Overviews in the US. Moreover, a new filter called Web was introduced, allowing users to see only text-based results from websites.
- May 24th, 2024: The AI review has come under fire for providing dangerous and inaccurate information. Some of the incorrect advice consisted of using non-toxic glue to make pizza sauce stick better, eating a small rock a day, and drinking urine to quickly pass kidney stones.
- May 30th, 2024: In response to criticism, Google announced that it would make changes to this system to improve the accuracy and safety of AI Overviews.
- August 15th, 2024: AI Overviews launched in the UK, India, Japan, Indonesia, Mexico, and Brazil. On this date, Google also enabled the feature for Incognito Mode and unregistered users. It also tested the ability to “save” AI Overviews and add related links within the text of AI Overviews.
- August 23rd, 2024: John Mueller from Google confirmed that AI Overviews performance is affected by Core Updates.
The importance and impact of AI Overviews
Why is AI Overview important? This question has been one of the most crucial and frequently asked questions that users have encountered since the early days. In fact, this group of people intended to know how AI Overview would affect their business.
One of the significant impacts that AI Overview may have is an increase in click-through searches. This means that users are likely to observe the information they need directly in AI summaries and do not need to visit the websites. This can negatively affect the organic traffic of websites that are at the bottom of the search results.
However, AI Overviews can create new opportunities for you. In fact, if your website’s content is prominently displayed in a Google AI summary, it can increase its visibility and click-through rate (CTR). Interestingly, Google’s initial experiments have also confirmed the mentioned subject.
How do AI Overviews work?
The artificial intelligence behind Google’s AI Overviews feature has been designed in a way to answer users’ questions in the most accurate and relevant form possible. In September 2023, Google filed a patent application for a “generative summaries for search results” system that helps us gain better understanding of how this technology works. According to Rich Sanger’s analyses of the patent application, the major steps in how AI Overviews work are as follows:
- Query Submission: In the first step, the user enters a search term into the Google search engine.
- Understanding the Query: In this stage, Google analyzes and identifies the context and main purpose of the search query using Large Language Models (LLMs).
- Gathering Content: The system collects relevant documents, including web pages, articles, images, and videos, to provide the best possible information.
- Processing Additional Content: In addition to direct search results, Google also analyzes content related to similar searches and useful information that other users have found.
- Generating a Summary: A large language model (LLM) combines the collected information to produce a concise and beneficial answer for the user.
- Dynamic and Context-Aware Responses: AI adjusts its responses based on the specific context of each search query. If users perform similar searches in different situations, the AI changes the responses to fit the new context.
- User Interaction and Learning: Google adjusts future AI behavior based on how users interact with search results. If users show more interest in certain answers, the system learns these patterns and provides better answers in the future.
- Enhancing Accuracy and Relevance: Google’s AI is constantly updated with new information and user feedback to provide more accurate and relevant answers.
How does Google select information sources?
After learning about how AI Overviews work, you may confront a question that how the system selects its information sources? In answer to this question, Google uses three main criteria to evaluate sources, which we will introduce below:
- Query-Dependent Measures: The system examines the relevance of each document to the user’s query. This assessment includes spatial ranking, relevance to the language and location of the query.
- Query-Independent Measures: Search documents are evaluated based on factors such as the number of times users have selected them in multiple searches, trust, overall popularity and recency.
- User-Dependent Measures: The system also considers the user’s profile and recent interactions, including previous searches and other activities they have executed on Google.
Why should we care about AI Overviews?
There are various reasons to pay attention to AI Overviews, but most importantly, if you want to continue to benefit from Google’s search traffic, you should care about this technology.
This new feature is part of Google’s future direction, and Google is unlikely to stop its efforts in this area or go back to the way it was. According to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, AI has been transforming Google search for a long time. He said:
“When mobile was introduced, we knew that Google search would have to change a lot. We call these changes Featured Snippets, but for almost a decade, Google has been using AI to answer many of the questions asked by users. We call these answers Web Answers. Google has always tried to provide useful answers to questions, but we have always felt that people are not only looking for answers, but also want to get a wider range of perspectives and information. We have always made an attempt to strike that balance.”
Google still has the largest share of the search market worldwide, and the rise of AI-powered search engines has not affected it so far. Consequently, if you want to keep your traffic from Google and continue to be visible in search results, you ought to seriously consider AI Overviews and adapt your strategies to these new changes.
Can I opt out of AIO rankings?
If you are dissatisfied with Google using your content to train its AI models, unfortunately, you cannot opt out to be put into AIO. Google considers this feature part of the search experience, so it cannot be automatically removed.
The good news is that there are some particular ways by which you can inhibit your content from being used in AI Overviews. Here are some ways:
- Use robots.txt to block Google: Using a robots.txt file, you can instruct Google not to index certain pages or sections of your website. While this action does not guarantee that your content will be excluded from indexing, it does reduce the likelihood that it will be used in AI review.
- Use noindex tags: Adding the noindex meta tag to specific pages instructs Google not to index that content entirely. In fact, the noindex tag method prevents these pages from appearing in AI Overviews and regular search results.
- Use nosnippet tags: Using the nosnippet meta tag, you can tell Google not to generate any summaries for the content of your pages. This method can also hinder your content from appearing in AI Overviews.
The impact of AI Overviews on SERPs
Since Google introduced AI Overviews, also known as Search Generative Experiences (SGE), many studies have been conducted to examine their influence on search engine results pages (SERPs).
The findings of these studies show that AI Overviews are changing the dynamics of search results and are seeing certain changes in their effect. Here are some of the key findings from this research:
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Fluctuation in display rate
A study conducted by BrightEdge demonstrated that the display rate of AI Overviews in search results fluctuated widely. In July, this feature rose to 12%, but by the end of the month it had diminished to 7%. These fluctuations clearly indicate changes in the effectiveness and visibility of the feature in search results.
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Informational keywords have been more affected than other keyword models
According to research conducted by Flow Agency, AI reviews are more likely to show up in searches for informational keywords, especially in the early stages of the sales funnel (TOFU). For example, in the human resources and workforce management domain, 24% of keywords related to this domain had AIO, compared to only 5% for business keywords. These results are also confirmed by SEOClarity research.
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Higher search rankings lead to more exposure in AI overviews
A study by Rich Sanger and Authoritas found that AI overviews are more likely to select higher-ranking content for display. Approximately 46.3% of the content linked in these summaries came from organic search results and were associated with the same query.
Interestingly, this percentage increased to 60.4% when related searches were added. Also, content ranked first had a 53% chance of appearing in AI Overviews, while content ranked 10 had only a 36.9% chance. These results indicate that, unlike in the early months of 2024, Google is currently showing less content outside the top ten in AI overviews.
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How to follow up and Measure the Impact of AI Overviews
Unfortunately, in Search Console, Google does not differentiate between AI Overviews and organic search results, placing all displays and clicks in one group. In other words, you cannot specifically separate AI Overview traffic from organic traffic.
However, you can use SEO tools for follow-up of rankings and visibility of AI overviews in search results for important keywords. These tools will allow you to observe whether AI Overviews are showing up in search results for specific keywords or not, and does your website is ranking for them. Using these tools, you can see how AI Overviews are changing over time and measure the effect that it has on your website’s views.
Optimizing website for AI Overviews
As Google seems to be aligning AI reviews with organic search results, following SEO best practices and working towards a high ranking on Google is still the best way to optimize.
Rich Sanger’s recent research on AI Overviews shows that the fundamentals of SEO remain the same. In other words, even with Google’s introduction of AI Overviews, the key points for SEO success have not altered. These crucial points include:
- Keyword Research: Identify the right keywords to grab users’ attention.
- Produce Quality, Relevant Content: Your content should fully meet users’ needs.
- Ensure your content is comprehensive and meets the E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) criteria: They will help Google recognize your content as a valid source.
- Link Building: Build authoritative backlinks to boost the credibility of your content.
Appear in AIO by providing new and valuable information
Given that there is still no 100% coverage between search results and AIO; but it is possible that by providing valuable and new content, you will have a better chance of being seen in the AI overview section. In fact, Google does not care about copied and repetitive content, but rather looks for innovative and unique content.
Rich Sanger, after analyzing Google Patents, concluded that Google pays special attention to content diversity in search results. This means that if the content that ranks high for a particular search is similar, Google will also pay attention to more relevant and different searches to provide more diverse information. Therefore, to improve your position in AI Overviews, you need to produce new, rich and diverse content.
You may encounter a question that how we can add new and valuable information to our content. The answer is that there are three strategies by which you can add new content:
- Experimentation: Test new ideas in the real world and ultimately provide data that others have not had yet.
- Experience: Experience yourself and provide new information from your own perspective.
- Effort: Go beyond other people’s content and address the issues more completely and deeply. In fact, you need to be able to differentiate your content from the rest.
Conclusion
In this article, we told you what AI Overview is and how it has evolved into an advanced technology. We also provided complete information about the importance of AI Overview, how it works, why you should pay attention to AI Overview, how to get out of its ranking, the impact of AI Overviews on SERPs, and other important topics so that you can fully comprehend it. If you still have specific questions about AI Overview, share them with us through the comments section.
