Artificial Intelligence is advancing rapidly, and its impact on the digital marketing sector is enormous: content creation with AI tools, audience hyper-segmentation thanks to advanced algorithms, trend prediction through predictive AI platforms… But AI is also presenting some challenges, including the one we address in this article: SEO positioning in the era of generative AI.
Tools like generative AI chats are changing the way users search for information on the web. Now, in tools like ChatGPT, users can receive answers directly in seconds, without needing to explore multiple web pages. Does this mean SEO is dead, and people no longer search on Google? No. It just means it’s changing, and we need to adapt.
In this article, we want to explain the key points to adapt to this new era of SEO, where, in addition to tools like ChatGPT, there is another clear protagonist: Google AI Overview. As a company that wants to remain visible online, it is very important to understand it and integrate it into your positioning strategy. Here’s everything you need to know about it.
What is Google AI Overview?
Google AI Overview is the section we now see at the top of Google search results. It’s generated with Artificial Intelligence and directly shows the answer to the user’s question in the SERP. It doesn’t always appear, but it does when the system detects it may be useful.
You can distinguish it because it takes the first spot in the search results and is preceded by the title “View created with AI.” Its length can vary greatly, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. To the right of this section, we can see all the sources of information that AI used to base its answer (so relevant websites appear).
How Does Google AIO Affect SEO Positioning?
As you can imagine, this affects the visibility of websites on Google. Now, what users see when they hit “enter” is not a list of web pages but an AI summary. As a brand, this can greatly alter your online traffic, as there’s no need to visit your site to find the answer to the question; it appears directly in the search results.
This mostly happens with searches that use long-tail keywords, i.e., those with eight or more words. These are the cases when Google AI Overview is triggered and when your visibility and traffic are most affected.
Sectors that Google considers sensitive, such as those that may impact health, finances, well-being, or user safety (also known as YMYL, your money your life), are more influenced by Google AI Overview. For example, according to a study by SE Ranking, Google AIO was triggered in 65.33% of health-related searches.
Using the new AI Overview tracking feature from SE Ranking, integrated with Rank Tracker, we compared over 100,000 keywords in 20 industries before and after the launch of AIO and analyzed the featured sources in the AI summaries. This is what the data tells us about the impact of AI Overview on these 20 industries.
Observations: YMYL keywords (websites with content related to health, safety, financial stability, or well-being) tend to generate a lower percentage of AI summaries with Google AI Overview compared to others. In these cases, Google tends to highlight articles from highly trusted sources like .edu and .gov domains, or from the top positions in search results.
On the other hand, industries that do not typically generate AI summaries include automotive, education, and travel.
Commercial intent in searches also affects the generation of AI summaries. The data shows a significant drop in AI summaries for queries with commercial intent (related to products). For example, searches related to pets triggered 15.58% of AI summaries in June, but that number dropped to 1.04% in July. And the sector with the most searches—by a wide margin—is “Services and Marketing” with 40.64%.
However, it’s not all negative. This new reality also means the traffic you receive will be of higher quality, as users who visit your site will do so because they truly need more information and are more interested in what you have to tell them. Therefore, again, when asked if SEO is dead, the answer is a resounding no.
Furthermore, if you’re chosen as a source for Google AIO, you will appear in a privileged section on the right side of the SERP, as we mentioned earlier.
Key Points to Appear as a Google AI Overview Source and Maintain Strong SEO
According to the official Google Search Center website, it is Google’s internal systems that automatically determine which links are shown as references in Google AIO. Therefore, as they continue to say, websites do not need to do anything special to be considered, they just recommend continuing to follow the SEO guidelines that have been used so far to rank in the SERP.
- Clear and direct content that answers questions
- Google AI Overview extracts accurate answers. Use headers like “What is…,” “How it works…,” “Advantages of…” and answer concisely.
2. Structured data (Schema Markup)
- Implement schema to mark FAQs, articles, products, or reviews. It helps Google understand the context and relevance of the content.
3. Authority and verified sources
- Cite reliable sources and demonstrate expertise on the subject. Google’s AI prioritizes content that is backed by and comes from high-authority sources.
4. Optimization for featured snippets
- Appearing in featured snippets increases the chances of being included in AI summaries. Use lists, tables, and well-defined paragraphs.
5. User experience and loading speed
- AI considers factors such as usability, responsive design, and site speed to decide what to display.
6. Updated content focused on search intent
- Publish recent and helpful content aligned with what the user truly wants to know (not just keywords).
7. Semantic SEO and generative AI
- Use synonyms, related entities, and natural language. AI doesn’t focus solely on the keyword, but on the overall semantics.
8. E-E-A-T strategy (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)
- Ensure that your content conveys experience, specialization, authority, and trust across all material.
In other words, Google is saying that its Google AI Overview algorithms more positively value websites that are well-ranked in the SERP and are more likely to choose them as sources. But beyond that, there’s nothing more we can do.
What About Tools Like ChatGPT?
While this would be another article, we think it’s important to mention it. ChatGPT, in its search functionality, can also offer users updated information and show sources of information. Therefore, through this tool, you can also receive traffic.
How Do I Know if Google AI Overview Chooses Me as a Source?
As you can imagine, tracking your brand’s presence in Google AIO summaries is not as simple as knowing where your website appears in the SERP for a specific keyword (which can be easily determined using SEO analysis tools). However, there’s an interesting tactic you can try to see if you’re relevant for Google AIO.
It involves monitoring the answers Google AIO gives when you ask about your brand, your competition, or your industry. The idea is to see how your brand will appear when a potential customer asks questions like: “What’s the best sports shoe brand in Spain?” or “Which brand is better, X or Y?
The way your brand appears in response to these questions (and others of a similar nature) can help you understand your presence in Google AIO and, therefore, what image users will have of you. We encourage you to test it out and try again in a few months to see if the result has changed.
In addition to that, perhaps in the future, SEO analysis tools will adapt and offer functionalities that allow us to understand how relevant a website is to Artificial Intelligence. This way, we’ll be able to know how to be more important to them so they choose us as a source of information.
At Pukkas, we are SEO optimization experts and specialized in AI searches. Do you want your website to appear in Google AI Overview? Contact us!
