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Source: Unsplash
Alt: Person using Google search on a laptop
Over the last decade, Google has been moving the search results from a simple list of blue links to an increasingly complex page. Local search, video and image results, knowledge panels, and product listings have all moved website links down on the page.
But most of these features present an opportunity for SEOs to adapt and optimize for them. Many fear the latest addition to Google’s search result page, AI Overviews, is encroaching on informational content, one of the largest drivers of organic traffic.
In this guide, we’ll explore how Google AI Overviews are going to affect SEO and provide AI Overviews SEO tips that will help you adjust to the new realities of search.
These sections were meant to help users receive a basic answer to their question without having to browse through multiple websites. Typically, they are only a couple of sentences long and a link to a single website where the text was taken.
Source: Google
Alt: Featured snippet appears in SERP.
AI Overviews expand this concept. They provide a long answer based on multiple sources cited on the side of the text and at the end of each paragraph that appears in the answer. You can think of it as an advanced version of the featured snippet with multiple sources.
Source: Google
Alt: AI Overview dominates the SERP page.
AI Overviews are typically generated for long informational keywords. Commercial queries like the one below rarely show AIOs.
Source: Google
Alt: Commercial queries don’t generate an AIO.
As shown in the screenshots, AI Overviews take up the full screen when they are generated. This pushes all the organic results together with featured snippets and other search features below the fold.
Visual dominance is not the only thing that diverts Google users from clicking on links in SERP. AIO is good at answering user questions on a basic level. It typically provides an overview of the answer and a bit more context once a user expands the AIO.
This means there’s no reason to scroll down and read the full article that pops up in organic search results because the user has already received a basic answer. Because of this new search feature, in 2024, in nearly 60% of Google searches, users don’t click on search results.
What are the negative impacts of AI Overviews on SEO? Companies which rely on informational content to drive traffic and leads will have to change their strategies. Many informational queries are going to be resolved right in the SERP. This prompts a heavier competition for SERP visibility as AIOs dominate the visual space in SERP, and the places for links featured in them are limited.
Will users recognize the problems with using LLMs for informational search or will LLM companies catch up with these issues remains an open question. For now, some users will certainly stick to AI tools instead of Google, but many advanced users are likely to avoid them.
Google’s AI Overviews feature doesn’t have the issue with making up sources, as all of them are quoted directly from the web. What AI Overviews mean for SEO is that queries that can be answered by AI in a thousand words or less will not result in many clicks.
Search is changed by Google’s AI Overviews, and SEO should change too. But it doesn’t remove organic search as a viable traffic source. Here are the recommendations on how to optimize for AI Overviews.
Rank high. This has always been the goal of SEO, but now that AIO takes up even more space in search, the race to the top 10 and link building are even more important. Pages in the top ten are also more likely to appear in AIO sources.
Focus on expert content. Niche content optimized for long-tail keywords is likely to be harder to generate AIO for and might not trigger it. Expert content will also be more likely to be featured in AIO sources and prompt advanced users to click on it.
Meet E-E-A-T standards. Meeting Google’s expectations in content is likely to improve its search visibility both in AIO and in organic results.
Implement structured data. Adding Schema markup to content can improve its odds of being featured in AIO sources.
Track AI Overview mentions. Don’t tread AI search blindly. Use a tool like AIO tracker by SE Ranking for Google AI Overviews SERP tracking, and inform your SEO strategy.
In general, you should expect a drop in informational traffic, but you can keep the conversions from falling if you can attract the right audience and give them high-quality niche content.
Google AI search results will impact all types of content, but the impact will rely heavily on the type of content. Here are the considerations on the most popular content types.
Short definitions: Content that reads like a dictionary entry is likely to be impacted the most.
Evergreen content: Detailed content on the basic concepts will likely see much less traffic. The people who do click on it will be more qualified, and content like this is likely to be featured in AIO sources.
YMYL content: Content on topics like finance, medicine, or law is likely to be less affected by AIO as users will seek expert opinion instead of simple AI-generated answers.
User-generated content: USG on platforms like Quora and Reddit may gain more visibility and may get quoted by AIO.
Unique data-backed content: Content that features your own studies and data is likely to be quoted by AIO.
Niche and deep-dive content: Niche questions that can’t be answered by AIO are likely not to experience a fall in traffic. Search queries like these typically don’t have high traffic numbers to begin with, though.
In general, you should expect to see less traffic across the board and focus on attracting small amounts of qualified traffic instead of large traffic numbers with a small conversion rate.
So, what should you do about AIO in the rest of 2025 and onward?
Invest in quality, not quantity. Well-optimized but generic content doesn’t cut it anymore. Create content that can’t be summed up by AIO, like interactive content or your own research.
Attract the right traffic. Focusing on specific types of keywords and content will result in more qualified leads on your site.
Invest in alternative traffic sources. While SEO traffic is declining, consider expanding marketing elsewhere, like doing social media or running a cold outreach campaign.
Monitor AIO development. Google’s AIO is still changing, and it may look very different in 2026. Google AI Overviews monitoring and keeping in touch with Google announcements will help you stay on top of it.
Google’s AI Overviews are taking traffic away from informational pages. While you may have to invest in other ways to generate traffic, don’t give up on SEO just yet.
The raw traffic numbers on your pages may decline, but it doesn’t mean your sales should. Most of the people who look for a quick answer shown by AI Overviews weren’t likely to convert to begin with.
Focus on attracting qualified leads to your content, both by doing keyword research and by creating middle- and bottom-of-the-funnel content, and your sales figures should be fine.
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