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The new SERP: How AI Overviews are reshaping organic traffic
You’ve likely typed a question into Google and found the answers right at the top of the page in an AI Overview. Google’s introduction of AI Overviews in 2024 has seen a dramatic shift in how we find information, which has led to websites reshaping their SEO (search engine optimisation) strategies.
Websites that rely on organic traffic are taking a big hit because of the rise of AI Overviews, but others are seizing new ways to appear in them so their click-through rate (CTR) and traffic remain high.
What are AI Overviews?
Google’s AI Overviews summarise information from multiple sources, providing you with a quick and direct answer to queries, without having to click on the cited source.
AI Overviews generate a conversational response to a user’s search. These responses often condense large pieces of information into short paragraphs and bullet points, with links alongside the information directing users to the website the AI has sourced.
How AI Overviews are affecting search behaviour
Convenience for users sounds great, right? Sure, you can now get the answers and information you need there and then, but this has led to an increase in zero-click searches. Put simply, this is when users find the information they need without having to click on a website. With fewer users clicking on the actual source, websites may experience fewer conversions and a drop in organic traffic.
The way users are phrasing their queries is also changing. Before, people often searched using specific keywords and terms, such as “safe food for dogs”, but now users are adopting more conversational, long-form searches, like “is it safe to feed my dog raw meat?” or “can my dog eat fruit like bananas?”
These longer-form questions are more specific and provide context, and the AI Overview will summarise the specifics and likely also present information regarding other safe and unsafe foods that dogs can eat.
Rather than just a list of websites presented that rank for keywords, users are receiving more conversational responses from AI Overviews that understand context to provide clear answers.
SEO has had to adapt to AI Overviews
If your website pages are ranking in the top 10 search results, AI Overviews will likely reference the information from these high-ranking pages. Yes, this provides more exposure to the website, but it won’t matter if it ends with a zero-click search.
Plus, sometimes AI Overviews don’t always link to the original source, further decreasing user engagement and traffic. If a website isn’t high up in the rankings and gets excluded from AI Overviews, both organic traffic and click-through rate for paid ads can also see a decline.
How to adapt SEO for AI Overviews
So, how are businesses adapting their SEO to get their websites seen in AI Overviews, as well as get users to actually click and convert?
E-E-A-T
Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) has never been more important. Google ranks pages when their content highlights credibility, and AI Overviews will include summarised content that has these qualities. To demonstrate E-E-A-T, incorporate some of the following elements on your website:
- Trust signals like reviews, case studies and accreditations
- Backlinks from reputable websites
- Thought leadership opinions through detailed explanations and industry insights
Remaining evergreen
AI Overviews like up-to-date, relevant content to include in the summaries. So you should be making your copy evergreen to ensure it remains relevant over time. You’ll have to also update and optimise content on a regular basis to remain relevant and be visible in AI Overviews.
Formatting and structure
AI Overviews display information using short paragraphs, bullet points and concise sections. Your on-page copy should follow a similar format, with clear headings, subheadings, lists, bullet points and digestible content.
AI Overviews use natural language processing (NLP), and when your content is natural and structured well, the AI will find it easier to extract and source it in the overviews.
It’s also good to include FAQs and schema markup tools to help search engines distinguish the content, build authority and trust, therefore making your website more visible.
Keywords
Keywords are still an important ranking factor but AI Overviews have affected the way they’re interpreted. AI Overviews no longer look for exact search terms, but rather long-tail keywords that cater to specific queries. It’s still good practice to include these in headings and integrate them naturally into content.
Expanding the keyword range by adapting the semantics also helps SERPs (search engine result pages) understand the main topic of the content, and again provides more context, expertise and authority – all things AI Overviews find valuable.
AI SEO services that make you visible
The age of AI is here and no one is fully certain of what the future may hold. Businesses are having to adapt to the technology to navigate the challenges of zero-click searches and remain relevant and visible on SERPs. While AI Overviews don’t mean the end of SEO organic traffic, they’re reshaping how SEO is done.
At Sherbet Donkey, our world-class AI SEO services help your website and content get cited in AI Overviews, with bespoke strategies that see your website thrive in this new age of technology. Get in touch to discuss our services and receive a free audit.
