We are all familiar with how artificial intelligence is changing the way we interact with the world, especially in the workplace. Many see it as a tool to streamline simpler tasks, while others end up using it more than necessary, which compromises their creative capacity.
The truth is, it has become easier to research a topic ever since the rise of AI chats and Google’s AI overview, which essentially provides instant answers to users’ queries, eliminating the need to click on a website to obtain information.
Despite appearing in about 30% of searches, its frequency increases even more (74%) when users seek solutions to more complex problems – data revealed by the Search Engine Journal.
What is AI overview and how does it impact user visibility?
AI overview is the fusion of generative artificial intelligence and the internet’s largest search engine — Google. It draws from various content sources to provide a concise, objective answer, showing the origin of this information alongside the response.
The result appears right at the top of the page, above any website, even if that website has worked hard to rank at the top of the Google SERP (Search Engine Results Page).
This can be both an opportunity and a barrier for websites that rely on organic traffic. It is an opportunity for those who structure content that is mentioned as a source by the AI overview. On the other hand, it’s a barrier for publishers who, even if positioned on the first page of Google, didn’t manage to answer the user’s query in time before the tool did.
Therefore, this new dynamic of presenting results directly impacts the visibility of the user – who may be content with the AI overview’s generated response (which is more common for simpler questions) or may click on one of the sources indicated by Google.
How AI overview works
The automatically generated responses, written in a human-like tone, are powered by generative AI technology. Unlike traditional AI, which merely analyses and classifies data, generative AI has the ability to create texts, images, videos, audios, codes, and more.
This is possible thanks to machine learning, where the AI “studies” large volumes of data and transforms them into the content we read, see, and hear. When integrated into search engine algorithms, such as Google’s, this technology uses several algorithms that enhance the precision and relevance of the responses, also considering the user’s search intent.
To achieve this, Google uses a range of technologies:
-
RankBrain: This system is capable of answering questions that have never been asked before. Machine learning allows the tool to go beyond fixed databases and freely search for information. RankBrain’s flexibility turns it into an analyst of general contexts, so if the user searches for a term that doesn’t directly match any article or website on the web, the algorithm can find material on the same subject based on similarities observed in previous searches.
-
BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers): BERT focuses on the context of phrases, analyzing the keyword in relation to the terms that appear before and after it. It understands questions that might be asked in a very informal tone, as well as terms that can have different meanings in different contexts, characterising its bidirectional functionality.
-
MUM (Multitask Unified Model): The main difference and innovation in MUM is its ability to provide responses in different media formats. Its text can be enriched with images and videos, due to its ability to integrate them – something the previous models could not do.
How Does This Differ from Snippets? It’s true that snippets also use AI, but they don’t create new texts and elaborate answers – they simply highlight information already written in the source found by the AI.
Does the AI overview lead to a drop in traffic?
Ahrefs analysed 300,000 keywords and found an average 34.5% reduction in CTR (Click-Through Rate) for the first position when AI Overviews appeared in the search results.
On the positive side, if the AI Overview mentions your site as a source, this can help increase your site’s authority, and the user may click on the referenced source, converting faster than other users. This happens because, when analysing available information on the web, the AI selects content that resonates most with the user, essentially pre-segmenting before the click.
Thus, even though your traffic may decrease, it doesn’t mean it’s less qualified. On the flip side, if your site isn’t cited by the AI, it’s crucial to implement strategies to earn that mention or, at the very least, improve your position in the results.
SEO strategies in the AI overview era
Finally, we arrive at what matters most: what optimisation strategies can we use to ensure a website is not only cited by the AI tool but also generates organic traffic? Well, many of the practices remain the same as the basics you already know, but you should invest even more in them:
- Provide the answer the user is seeking as clearly and directly as possible, as early as possible. After all, one of the main criteria for the AI overview is relevance. This doesn’t mean your text should be limited to just the question.
- Address semantic themes and terms that complement and enrich the content. This also helps Google recognise your authority on the subject and can provide an even more complete experience for the user.
- Focus on building authority – creating content clusters and using internal linking will enhance the perception of ‘authority’ mentioned above. In other words, focus on E-E-A-T (Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) like never before.
- Content structure: Using H1, H2, and H3, lists, bullet points, and menus might give your text more of an “AI” feel, but that’s exactly why the AI overview understands it better this way – it helps it identify different sections. Along with this, it’s essential to keep sentences brief and paragraphs short.
- Add Schema Markup: Use markups like FAQPage or HowTo to help Google better understand your content structure.
- Use and create images and videos, especially for the MUM algorithm.
- Ensure correct indexing and page performance.
- Link building also helps the AI choose which sources should be highlighted. If a website is frequently cited in relevant contexts, it gains more credibility and tends to be more visible in the results.
- It’s also helpful to use dropdown menus at the beginning of the text so that the AI can quickly analyse all the topics that will be covered next.
The post Tips to get more clicks in the AI overview era appeared first on Sherlock Communications.