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Digital marketing has made AI a permanent fixture, and generative AI is obviously set to completely transform the search engine sector.

Though it is still in its infancy, Google’s AI Overviews, formerly known as Search Generative Experience (SGE), is already upending conventional search tactics and changing the landscape of digital marketing.

Google’s primary goal is to fully comprehend user intent and provide the most comprehensive, pertinent responses. The new interface for providing those responses is called AI Overviews.

We were joined by Lindsey Schrant from Neil Patel Digital to examine this changing search experience and help unravel how AI Overviews functions and what it means for marketers.

• What is AI Overviews?
• What does AI Overviews look like?
• Query types
• The limitations of AI Overviews
• 8 likely impacts of AI Overviews
• 5 tips to prepare your site for AI Overviews

Tip: This post is based on Lindsey’s webinar, which you can listen to as a podcast or view on demand.

One of the biggest functional and visual changes to the search engine results page (SERP) in recent years was made when Google announced their plans for AI-powered search results on May 10, 2023. Consider AI Overviews as a development of highlighted snippets, employing generative AI to provide thorough, contextualized responses that beyond the fundamentals in order to satisfy (and predict) user intent.

Note: In various regions, AI Overviews are being put out gradually. Keep checking Google’s official blog for local availability updates.

Does this imply that the conventional SERP is being replaced with AI Overviews?
Not precisely. Though they are becoming richer and more informative, traditional search engine results pages (SERPs) still play a significant role in the experience.

A new layer of search—a more conversational, interactive approach—is introduced by AI Overviews. Consider it a conversation with your search engine. You can pose sophisticated, natural language queries, and the AI will produce detailed answers tailored to your requirements. That’s what the Search Generative Experience is all about.

Practically speaking, this implies that users may ask more in-depth, conversational questions and get comprehensive summaries from AI, along with connections to further investigate independently. AI Overviews will eventually offer more thorough and precise responses as Google’s AI has a deeper understanding of user intent and web information.

What Takes Place in AI Overviews When You Type a Query?

The following essential elements are included in the AI Overviews search result, which is intended to improve your experience:

Generative Answer: An AI-generated narrative response will appear in place of a conventional list of links. Similar to a ChatGPT-style summary customized to your question, this response is a compilation of multiple online sources that attempts to offer a coherent, understandable explanation.

Source Dropdowns: Parts of the generated text are accompanied by tiny dropdown arrows. By clicking them, you may see the original sources that were used, which lets you double-check the material and do more research.

Website Carousel: A visual carousel of websites is displayed beneath the generative response. These links take you to more in-depth and contextualized content that is relevant to your search.

Follow-Up Questions: To delve deeper or clarify your question and carry on the conversation smoothly, you can ask follow-up questions.

Suggested Follow-Ups: AI Overviews provides a carousel of suggested follow-up questions to assist direct your search if you’re unsure of what to ask next.

How AI Overviews Address Various Kinds of Enquiries ?

When someone searches for information, they are merely seeking facts or information. These could be asked in the form of a question, such as “What core exercises can I perform at home?” or in a broad sense (for example, “core workouts at home”).

AI Overviews provides an answer for these kinds of enquiries that is very similar to an improved featured snippet. The AI-generated response is given in an easy-to-understand, well-organised manner, frequently with bullet points or detailed instructions. Users can view the original sources by using the dropdown arrows adjacent to text passages, and they can read more by clicking on the carousel of connections to other websites.

Note: The AI-generated response to many informational questions is so thorough that consumers might not feel the need to link over to other websites. This recalls previous worries about the introduction of highlighted snippets, when the user’s needs are frequently met by the SERP itself.

Users who are actively looking into goods or services with the goal of making a purchase are said to be doing commercial queries. When someone searches for “best dry dog food for an eight-year-old Labrador retriever,” for instance, they are likely wanting to evaluate options before making a purchase.

The existence of sponsored advertisements is the primary distinction between commercial and informational questions. Relevant advertisements show up above the AI-generated response for commercial searches, such as product comparisons or recommendations. These were chosen because they are pertinent to your question.

The experience is comparable to informational queries aside from the advertisements; you will still receive a comprehensive, AI-generated text response with dropdown menus that lead to the original websites and a carousel with more resources.

Commercial questions are unique since AI Overviews frequently emphasise well-liked product options and provide an explanation of why each one is unique. This synopsis can contain information from shops, companies, and consumer reviews to assist in making selections about what to buy.

Product-focused searches that specifically include a brand name, such “Nike running shoes,” are known as “branded commercial queries.” These enquiries show that the consumer has a specific brand in mind and is not merely shopping.

AI Overviews offers a customised, AI-generated synopsis of branded commercial searches that highlights important factors to take into account when shopping for that brand, such as what to look for when purchasing Nike running shoes.

Additionally, a number of links to websites that sell those products will be displayed to you, including both the official brand website and reliable third-party shops.

Pro Tip: Before AI Overviews launches in your area, make sure your product and category pages are completely optimised to improve your chances of getting included. In the AI-generated snapshot, your offerings are positioned as top competitors thanks to clear, well-structured information.

Users who are searching for goods, services, or companies in a particular area are using local enquiries. A search like “dog boarding Wichita KS,” for instance, indicates that the consumer is seeking for possibilities in the area.

AI Overviews creates a customised response for local searches that emphasises important details about your search, such the kinds of services provided by dog boarding establishments in Wichita, Kansas.

Similar to more conventional local search tools like the map pack, you’ll find a list of nearby companies along with a carousel of relevant websites, an AI-generated description, and connections to review platforms and excerpts of reviews.

Pro Tip: More than ever, customer reviews are important. In order to increase your visibility, start gathering and displaying good evaluations.

Do you want to go further? For additional information on how to improve your local SEO strategy, visit this blog.

YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) questions cover subjects that have a big influence on someone’s general well-being, safety, health, or financial security. Such searches as “home remedy to treat poison ivy rash” frequently look for direction or advice.

For YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) requests, AI Overviews still offers an AI-generated response, but it comes with a crucial disclaimer: “This is for informational purposes only.” This information is not intended to be a diagnostic or source of medical advice.

This extra care is deliberate. Google wants to encourage people to seek expert advice instead of depending only on search results because YMYL questions sometimes contain delicate subjects, such as financial or health decisions. In order to safeguard users and encourage responsible decision-making, the model has been specially trained to incorporate this disclaimer in such circumstances.

AI Overviews appears to provide a very strong and user-friendly search experience. But as you get to know the technology better, several limits become apparent.

The following are some major obstacles to consider:

AI “Hallucinations” & Inaccuracy: AI-generated answers aren’t always accurate. AI Overviews is still developing, like any generative AI models, and occasionally generates false or misleading information, or “hallucinations.” These mistakes are frequently caused by inaccurate web content that the AI is using. The quality of the input has a significant impact on the output’s quality.

Data Voids and Incomplete Results: AI Overviews occasionally might not provide any answers at all. This may occur if the system is unable to completely comprehend your question or if it concludes that there is insufficient high-quality or trustworthy information available to produce a trustworthy response.

Inconsistencies with Conventional Search Results: Content produced by AI isn’t always consistent with conventional Google search results. Confusion or conflicting information may result, for example, if the response given in the AI Overview is different from what is shown in the featured snippet or organic listings.

The search landscape is already changing due to AI Overviews, and it is difficult to overlook how it affects both organic and sponsored search tactics. The following are some of the main adjustments and difficulties it is bringing about:

Traditional organic listings are pushed lower on the page as a result of the AI-generated summary taking up a large amount of space at the top of the SERP. Decreased organic traffic could result from this diminished visibility.

Reduced Clicks to Websites: AI Overviews frequently offer sufficient details to answer a user’s question without forcing them to visit a website. The traffic that does arrive is probably higher qualified—users who require more than what the SERP offers—even if this may result in a decrease in overall SEO traffic.

sponsored Advertising Still Predominates: As of right moment, sponsored advertisements still show up above both organic and AI-generated content. As a result, they continue to have the greatest influence on visibility and clicks.

More Competition for Top slots: As AI Overviews emphasises particular material in its summary, there will be more competition for those coveted slots. It will get harder to rank organically, particularly for competitive phrases.

Simplified Product Comparison: AI Overviews improves the customer experience by facilitating product comparisons for users right in the SERP, but it also makes it more difficult for companies to stand out and increase conversions.

Growth of Long-Tail Queries: People are using more conversational, organic language while searching. In order to reflect the way people actually speak and search, websites will need to be optimised for specific, long-tail keywords.

Enhanced Visibility for UGC: AI Overviews are likely to highlight user-generated content more frequently, particularly customer reviews, which makes genuine input a valuable resource.

Making ensuring your website is optimised for visibility and performance is more crucial than ever as AI Overviews starts to change the way people search. The basic idea is still the same—quality content wins—despite the new technologies. The adage “content is king,” which Google has long promoted, is still relevant today. Websites that regularly generate excellent, pertinent material will be in the best position to prosper in this new environment.

Here are some essential preparation tips:

Create Content Clusters: Arrange your material with supplementary subpages around major themes. This enhances internal linkage and establishes thematic authority.

Promote Customer Reviews: In addition to fostering trust, user-generated content such as reviews has a high chance of appearing in AI Overviews, particularly for local and business queries.

Make sure your structured data is up to date and accurate by updating your schema markup. Schema improves your content’s comprehension by search engines and raises the likelihood that it will appear in AI results.

Compose Comprehensive, Interesting Content:
Don’t settle with superficial responses. Give users thorough, practical information that genuinely meets their needs and entices them to stay on your website.

Employ AI-Friendly Formats: To improve visibility in AI-generated responses, organise your content in a way that makes it easy for AI to understand. Examples of such formats include FAQs, bullet points, clear headings, and succinct summaries.

Marketing is undergoing a transformation thanks to artificial intelligence, which makes it possible for more personalisation, intelligent optimisation, and smooth automation of important tasks. With the help of our brand-new, interactive AI course, which includes hands-on demonstrations, you will learn the fundamentals of AI and discover how to use the best resources for research, content production, data-driven insights, and creative design.