Google’s AI Overviews Feature Is Live
– What You Should Know
AI. It’s everywhere these days. And if you haven’t heard, it’s even part of Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs.) According to Google, AI has been assisting Google Search in the background for years. But now, AI has a front-row seat on the results page. Here’s how you can best position your content to make the new search experience work for your business.
10 Must-Know Insights About Google’s AI Overview
Originally called Search Generative Experience, or SGE, the generative AI-powered search results feature now goes by AI Overview. It was first announced at Google’s I/0 conference in May 2023 and began beta testing shortly after. It launched to segments of the U.S. audience in May of this year, with mixed reviews. It’s important to note that AI Overview is still experimental, so it is a work in progress. In fact, Google is already taking heat for some glitches that the organization is working on addressing.
So how does the new feature affect your business? Here are 10 things you need to know.
#1: What is Google’s New AI Overview?
Google’s AI Overview provides an answer to a user’s search query using generative AI technology that summarizes search results into a short paragraph. The content is pulled from various sources across the web. The goal of the AI Overview is to provide a snapshot of the topic, so the users can quickly understand information from a range of sources.
AI Overviews are now a core Google Search feature, like knowledge panels. This feature can’t be turned off, but it can be filtered out using the standard search filters after a search query is performed.
It’s important to note that Google already implements a feature called Featured Snippets, which does what AI Overview attempts to streamline: pulling excerpts from existing websites that may be relevant to the user’s question and displaying them in a list of accordion dropdowns.
Image Source: Example search result highlighting the new Google AI Overview
#2: Only a Small Percentage of Search Types Have AI Overviews.
Google is currently only enabling AI Overviews for a small percentage of search types. These tend to be search queries that seek to answer a question or when the system determines they can easily answer the query with AI-generated content.
What search types exactly? And what percentage of searches? Both are still unknown. According to Search Engine Land’s interview with Google’s Senior Director of Product, Search Generative Experience at Google, “AI Overviews are reserved to answer more complex questions where Google feels it can add value beyond the search results.”
#3. AI Overview Isn’t Meant to Replace Organic Search Results.
Unless you’re attempting to position yourself as an authority on a subject (such as a medical procedure, the prototyping of a type of device, or leadership training, etc.) through your website, you do not need to be overly concerned with AI Overviews – not yet, anyway.
As always, it will remain important to keep your website content as accurate and up-to-date as possible and ensure that your credibility is never in question.
Pro-Tip
The best web content is always original. Be a steward of your unique ideas and services.
#4. Current Technical SEO Best Practices are Still Relevant.
Current best practices for technical SEO are still relevant. This means your website:
- Loads quickly, is easy to navigate, and works well on mobile
- Has proper metadata (page titles, meta descriptions, alt tags, etc.)
- Implements clean URL structures
- Uses HTTPS
- Is optimized for robots.txt files
- Uses structured data and schema
At inConcert Web Solutions, the SEO work we do on client websites already follows proven best practices when it comes to organizing and formatting webpage content, and it still applies in the age of AI-assisted search results. If our team is currently monitoring your SEO, rest assured that we are staying current with best practices and will continue to implement recommendations as needed. If you have any specific questions about your site or SEO strategy, be sure to reach out. We’re always here to help.
#5. Content Quality Continues to be Crucial for SEO.
Quality, valuable,
original content
Smart linking strategies
Refreshed
content
Content optimized for long-tail keywords and search intent
Content delivered in different formats, such as video
The current AI model parses the context of the user’s search phrase and serves up the best-related content. It will then determine the user’s satisfaction with the results: did they remain on the page long enough to get an answer? Or did they bounce immediately because it wasn’t relevant?
Your web content needs to answer your user’s potential search queries. And it needs to do so with quality. Make sure it’s engaging, provides value, and follows proven web writing best practices: using headlines and bullets to help break up blocks of copy and making it easy to scan, adding photos, graphics, video, etc.
#6. AI Overview Links to Sources, Providing a New Opportunity to be Found.
AI Overview is “built only to show information that is backed up by top web results,” said Liz Reid, vice president and head of Google Search in a blog post in May 2024. It includes source links for users to continue to explore.
These answers are sourced directly from across the web from sites that are cited right within the AI Overview. So even though the search result is tailored to the user’s search, the answers still rely on the quality of the content gathered from websites. This helps answer a question we’ve started hearing a lot: “Will my website still be relevant?”. Rest assured, yes. Without quality content from credible websites, AI Overview can’t generate its answers.
Throughout the years, a number of Google updates have pushed organic results down such as video results, “People Also Ask” results, maps, etc. so AI Overviews provides businesses with a new opportunity to be found and featured towards the top of the results page. Even better, Google’s testing has shown that links in AI Overviews are getting a higher clickthrough rate than traditional web results.
#7 Content Should be Helpful and Answer a Question or Address Intent.
Google may have just gone from a search engine to an answer engine. At least, that’s part of the purpose of AI-assisted search results. It’s Google’s goal to immediately answer a user’s intent or question, providing an answer immediately in the Google search results. To earn a spot in the AI Overview citation, you’ll first have to make sure your content is answering such queries related to your business.
Previously, content would drive search results; now, it is the user’s search query itself that is going to drive results. AI will determine the context and the “unspoken” elements of the user’s search terms and present a summarized, comprehensive answer at the top of search results.
#8. Google Ads Will Continue to Exist.
Since Google generates the majority of its revenue from ads and other sponsored content, Google Ads will not be phased out by the search giant any time soon. In fact, Google said that there will soon be new ad placement opportunities within the AI Overviews section and they are currently testing this feature.
Google Ads are no stranger to generative AI and machine learning. Google has been using AI to optimize ad placement and refine targeting for years and has been quietly utilizing its machine-learning technology with responsive search ads, which dynamically adapt ad titles and descriptions based on actual users’ search queries.
Want to know more about AI and ads? Check Out 5 Things You Need to Know About Google Ads and AI for more helpful insights.
#9. Users will Soon be Able to Ask Questions Through Video with Google Lens.
But soon, you’ll be able to go a step further and use video in Google Lens to verbally express your search query along with a visual. Check out this video demonstration from Google’s I/0 conference and see how AI searches the context of the video and then provides answers via an AI Overview where the user can click source links to dig deeper.
Advancements in Google Lens searches is just another example of how Google is using AI to improve the search experience.
#10. It’s Everchanging and inConcert Web Solutions is Staying on Top of It.
Change is the Only Constant: Have an Expert on Your Side
We are entering a new era in digital marketing and Google’s AI Overviews is the first of many shifts we are likely to see in the search industry. Just remember: soon AI Overviews will feel like the norm, just like the 13 other major core updates Google has made to search since January of 2020.
Companies with digital partners who they can trust to stay on top of industry trends will set them up for success. If you’re already an inConcert Web Solution client, rest assured we have your back. If you haven’t heard from your agency on what these AI search changes mean to your strategy, or your in-house team doesn’t have the time to keep up with changes on their own, we’re here to help.
Drop us a line and let’s embrace the brave new world of search together.
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