What is AI Overviews and how will affect SEO?

When Google introduced the Search Generative Experience (SGE), they anticipated that AI would transform both how we search for information and how those results are presented. That moment has arrived! And Google has delivered with AI Overviews . 

What is it and what impact can it have on your brand’s SEO and digital presence? We will answer these questions and share some simple tips to make AI Overviews your ally. 

AI Overviews at Google: What is it?

AI Overviews, short for Artificial Intelligence Overviews, is a technology integrated into Google, powered by Gemini, the search engine’s advanced AI platform.

Its goal is to improve the user experience by providing a more precise response to the search and reducing the time spent browsing multiple links until the requested information is found. 

AI Overviews delivers instant AI-generated summaries at the top of search results, aggregating insights from multiple sources and sometimes (including but not always) providing links back to the original pages.

The arrival of this tool can be seen as Google’s response to other sources of artificial intelligence. Gemini is on the same level as Chat GPT, Open AI, Perplexity, Grok (the AI ​​of X), Meta Ai (in WhatsApp), and Copilot in Microsoft Bing.

What impact does Google AI Overviews have on SEO? 

How does Artificial Intelligence affect SEO? In the case of AI Overviews, the following changes can be anticipated:  

• Fewer clicks on our websites. Initially, there will be a reduction in clicks and, consequently, a drop in the CTR or click-through rate in our Google Search Console. If the user finds a satisfactory answer in the summary created in the AI-Created View, they won’t need to click on other links. This translates into fewer clicks on organic results. 
• “Useful, reliable, and human-centered content ” is more relevant than ever . Google will choose well-structured pages with valuable content to develop its AI Overviews responses. If your website has useful and professional content, it will be more likely to cite or link to you. As with organic ranking, content will continue to be paramount.
• Expertise, Authority, and Trust (EAA) and structured data. These two factors are essential for ensuring content is both reliable and understandable. Based on what we know so far, AI Overviews will use traditional search quality evaluators to determine the usefulness of content in summaries and thus decide whether to use them. Structured data also enhances the interpretation and organization of information on web pages.
• Opportunity for brand visibility and presence. Resolving FAQs and other brand queries so they become AI results allows us to gain digital presence. In addition, you can gain indirect positioning. Your website may not appear in the top search results, but it can be cited in the Gemini summary. This can help you gain visibility and traffic. 
• Organic link displacement. This is an immediate consequence of AI Overviews, which pushes organic results down. Even if you’re at the top of the results list, the appearance of AI Overviews will push organic results down. However, this means that the top organic positions gain importance. If we’re not at the top, our visibility will be more affected than that of the rest.

What to do about AI Overviews?

First, we must start from what Google itself says: “Creators don’t need to do anything special to be considered, other than following our usual guidelines for appearing in searches, as explained in the Google Search Core Guidelines.” And while this is true, we do need to keep in mind some points that can affect AI Overviews just as they affect SEO.  

• AI Overviews and search intent. Keep in mind that the user’s browsing history and location matter. Each search will be unique, and the SERPs will be a more personalized space. Therefore, it’s key to understand our target’s search intent and define the keywords that best address it.
• Optimize frequently asked questions about your brand. By crafting clear explanations of how your products work and highlighting your services’ benefits, you boost the likelihood that AI Overviews will feature your content in their answers.
• SEO remains a key element for driving traffic. Working with structured data markup, SEO, and human-centered content are three factors that will help search engines better understand and rank a website’s content.
• llms.txt file . Although Google doesn’t use the LLMS.txt file in Gemini, other AIs and LLMSs can have a positive impact on having it. This file is useful for AIs to better understand information on sites.
• Follow official information, test, and avoid magic bullets. As AI Overviews is such a recent development and information remains scarce, companies must ground their strategies in authoritative sources and firsthand testing rather than chasing quick-fix solutions.

How can I avoid appearing in AI Overviews?

Although the consequences for organic positioning are unknown (until now, it hasn’t caused any problems), Google has released an option that allows us to prevent our website information from being used to generate AI Overviews summaries . The official way is with the HTML attribute data-nosnippet , which basically tells Google, “this content here cannot be displayed in snippets of search results.” It’s something that already existed and is now being used for this purpose. We must keep in mind that with this, that content also cannot be displayed in traditional organic search results, so it would be a “Neither for AI Overviews nor for the organic result.”

What can you do in your digital business?  

At Redegal, our SEO team is always up to date and aware of all the latest developments in the sector so your brand doesn’t fall behind and achieves top rankings. Shall we talk?