Google AI Overviews: An SEOverview
Google AI Overviews are here whether you like it or not. These new, AI-generated summaries appear at the top of the search results page to give users a quick breakdown of the topic. Why search, review sources and learn for yourself when you can “let Google do the Googling for you.”
AI Overviews are kind of like a kid giving a book report when they only looked at the Cliff Notes. Sometimes Google AI is right, and sometimes it spits out “UC Berkeley geologists suggest you should eat at least one rock per day.”
Jack Baker, our digital marketing strategist, has already made his thoughts on AI and SEO quite clear, but he’s back to answer the most important questions on this new development.
What do Google AI overviews mean for my business?
Impact on organic search
The AI Overviews occupy a lot of real estate on the search results page. This will have an immediate impact on rankings and organic traffic.
Google’s Senior Director of Product, Search Generative Experience Hema Budaraju, said that link cards within AI Overviews generate higher click-through rates than traditional web search results. Google has released no data to support this claim.
It is possible that there may be some increased clicks if your content is used to generate the overview, but your traditional organic links are going to be pushed even further below the fold. With AI Overviews, ads and all the features Google sticks on the results page, old school organic listings basically start on page 2 now.
Impact on Search Ads
We don’t yet know all the ways that AI Overviews and ads will interact, but they will have an impact on performance. At Google’s Marketing Live presentation, they announced that search and product ads will run above, below and inside of AI Overviews. All of the examples shown were for consumer products, so we don’t know how often, or when, this may occur for B2B and manufacturing-related searches.
Regardless, the presence of AI Overviews is likely going to impact clicks and click through rates by changing the available placements for ads.
We also don’t know how this will impact key metrics like “search top impression share.” Google has not said whether “top impressions'' will only count those that appear above AI Overviews or if the first ad running below an overview will also be counted as a “top impression.”
What does my marketing team need to do now?
Relying on third parties for distributing your content and communicating with customers is tough. Just ask those who pivoted to video for Facebook. Oh wait, you can’t, because they’re out of business.
No one knows how effective Google search will continue to be, so it’s time to build your brand, collect more data and develop other distribution channels.
Build your brand
Developing a strong brand is a long-term investment that will pay off in the short-term and continue to pay off long after Google has pivoted to the next tech investment bubble. Building your brand will make your company stand out from the competition, enhance the perceived value of your products and build lasting, emotional connections with your customers.
Collect more data
Collecting data is key to educating and nurturing prospects when you can no longer rely on people finding you through Google search.
Create more top-of-funnel conversion opportunities so you can capture the names, phone numbers and emails of interested prospects who do find you. That could be anything from gated content on your website, adding a live chat feature, hosting webinars, open house events or exhibiting at trade shows. The more data you have, the more people you can connect with regardless of what Google does.
Develop other distribution channels
Google is becoming less effective for marketers and users, so it’s time to focus on other channels. Use new lead data to build up your email database, improving your email newsletter and marketing automation programs so you can continue to educate prospects. While social media doesn’t have the same organic reach it used to, your social channels can still be effective ways to stay top-of-mind. Lastly, empower your sales teams and distributors with the content and data they need to reach prospects when they’re interested and lead them to purchasing.
Still have questions about AI and SEO? Get in touch. No chat bots here at Ivor Andrew.
