Spoiler alert: ranking in Google as we have known it until now is over. Google is redesigning its search results. Recently, it rolled out AI Overviews in Belgium. What exactly is it, and what impact will this have soon on your search results?
You may have already noticed: you enter a search query in Google, but you no longer see a list of the typical blue links. Instead, you get an AI-generated answer right at the top of the page.
It sounds convenient for the user, but for your organic SEO traffic, it looks set to be a real game changer. Because what if your target audience already gets the answer to their question before they even reach your website?
AI Overviews are compact, automatically generated summaries of search results. No longer a reference to a single source, but a summarized answer based on multiple sources. Compare it to a kind of ChatGPT Light, but implemented directly into Google’s search pages.
The goal? To serve the user faster. Without clicks to external websites, because the answer is already waiting in Google itself. Good news for the user experience, less favorable for websites that rely on organic traffic as an inbound channel.
The SEO tool Ahrefs has already attempted to analyze the impact of AI Overviews. Conclusion? An average drop of 34.5% in clicks on the first position when an AI Overview appears.
In other words: even if you are still in the top 3 search results, you risk missing out on a lot of visitors. Your content might still be there, but it doesn’t necessarily play the leading role anymore, despite your SEO efforts.
This will undoubtedly result in fewer website visitors in the short term. And that calls for action.
Now that AI Overviews have been active for a few weeks, we are checking Google Search Console for several clients to gauge the impact of this new innovation.
Expliciet: CTR decreased by 0.10%
Miniflat: CTR fell by only 0.06%
Marchetta: CTR decreased by 2.20%
Kepler: CTR increased by 0.20%
Job Talent: CTR decreased by 0.20%
Diresco: CTR increased by 0.60%
Conclusion? Although it is still premature to draw definitive conclusions and the arrival of AI Overviews seems poised to hijack organic visitors, we are not yet seeing a common downward spiral.
Although the algorithm behind AI Overviews is not yet fully transparent, there are several things you can (continue to) do:
1. Create truly helpful content
By this, we mean content that addresses real user questions. With context, nuance, and added value. AI only picks up content that is clear and relevant, looking beyond pure keyword thinking.
2. Longer search queries are on the rise
Detailed, more complex search queries will become the norm from now on. For example, “What are the VAT benefits of a heat pump in 2025?” will yield a better result than “heat pump benefits.” So, take into account the actual questions your buyer persona is asking and create content for them.
Don’t just rely on the expertise of tools like AnswerThePublic or AlsoAsked for this anymore, but also talk to your customers about the questions they ask during the customer journey.
3. Build your E-E-A-T
Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust. Google wants content written by people with experience, subject-matter expertise, authority, and reliability. Unique, meaningful, distinctive content from brands that know what they’re talking about, with as few generalities or AI copycats as possible.
4. Structured data and Schema Markup
One for the web developers. A bit more technical, but certainly important. Use Schema.org Markup (such as FAQPage, HowTo, Article) to label your content so that Google’s AI brain better understands what it’s about. Structured data also helps Google recognize and use information faster in its AI Overviews.
AI Overviews are no reason to panic, but they are a signal that the playing field is changing. You certainly don’t have to let go of SEO, but you do need to approach it more smartly.
At Expliciet, we follow these developments closely. Want to brainstorm now about how we can make your content strategy future-proof? Or are you curious if your content offers enough context and authority to appear in AI Overviews?
Be sure to get in touch with us. We’ll ensure your content doesn’t become a footnote, but the primary source where AI gets all its information.