Google’s New AI Overviews June 2024

Google’s New AI Overviews the Impact on SEO and How To Optimise

Google’s recent launch of AI Overviews, previously known as Search Generative Experience (SGE).

Let’s discuss a new feature for search engine optimisation (SEO) and how businesses can adapt to rank their content in this new AI-generated section of search results.

Introduction of AI Overviews

AI Overviews are now live for the US audience and will reach another billion users by the end of the year.
This marks one of the most significant changes in search and SEO in two decades.

Understanding AI Overviews

When searching on Google in supported countries, users will see AI-generated text snippets at the top of the results page.
These snippets include links to websites that corroborate the information provided.
Google’s large language model, Gemini, generates these texts.

Impact on SEO and Traffic

Businesses and marketers are concerned about how to get their websites ranked in these AI Overview sections.
There is a potential for reduced traffic to websites if they are not included in these overviews.

Types of Searches Triggering AI Overviews

AI Overviews are primarily shown for informational queries, especially those starting with “what,” “how,” “when,” and “why.”
Examples include health-related queries and product information.

Ranking in AI Overviews

Websites need to be among the corroborating sources listed in the AI Overviews.
Having content that is highly relevant and narrowly focused on specific queries helps.
Summarising the answer in a few sentences with high readability is crucial.

Important Note: Does this mean that if I want to rank for a keyword in AI Overview, I should simply take the answer generated by the Google AI Overview section for the keywords and enrich my web page with exactly that information?

Optimising Content

Websites should provide clear, concise summaries at the top of the page.
Frequent updates and reoptimisations may be necessary to maintain ranking in AI Overviews.
Submitting content to Google Search Console for reindexing can speed up the process.

Challenges and Future Prospects

Google’s handling of AI-generated content and attribution is controversial.
There is uncertainty about the long-term impact on organic traffic and potential legal issues.

False Information in AI Overview

It is important to note that AI Overview is not always accurate and has produced some erroneous results.

During the early stages of rollout, users and developers should handle AI Overview with care.

The image below is a screenshot of a Google Search for..

Google Al overview suggests adding GLUE to get cheese to stick to pizza 😅, and it turns out the source is an 11 year old Reddit comment