Google constantly develops new ways to search, the latest of these advancements being search powered by AI (artificial intelligence). By the end of 2024, it’s estimated that over one billion users will be able to access AI Overviews (formerly known as SGE). But what are AI Overviews, and how will this new generative era of search impact the everyday user? Let’s dive straight in…

A moment in search

For the past couple of years, Google has been teasing its latest generative AI advancement within SERPs (search engine results pages). Initially unveiled as Search Generative Experience (SGE), Google first announced this major overhaul to its search engine at May 2023’s Google I/O. This debuted as an experiment within Google Labs, which allowed the public, in certain countries, to test out AI-driven Google search results and provide feedback.

In March 2024, Google launched its first live deployment of SGE to the public. This was met with some backlash, with some users asking how they can turn off SGE results! On 14th May 2024, AI Overviews officially rolled out across the USA, with millions of American users seeing search results from this new AI-generated era on their screens.

From mid July, the SOZO team began to see the gradual UK rollout of AI Overviews. From our own observations, this appears to be mostly for mobile searches and/or informational intent keyword phrases. This appears to be a more cautious rollout to the UK, in line with Search Engine Land reporting a new low of 7% of queries showing AI Overviews on 7th July 2024. This is likely in the aftermath of Google receiving negative press for providing dangerous and wrong answers via AI Overviews. This however could change, and Google will likely increase the % of queries over time, as it seeks to improve and fine tune the accuracy and quality of AI generated responses.

SOZO is well-equipped to embrace the impending changes to Google search as we know it – more on that below…

What is Google AI Overviews (formerly SGE)?

Google’s AI Overviews are essentially AI-generated snapshots of relevant information that is gathered across the web. According to Google’s original guide, users will be able to do the following:

• Ask new kinds of questions that are more complex and descriptive
• Get the gist of a topic faster, with links to further explore relevant results
• Make quick progress by asking conversational follow-ups or trying suggested next steps

So, how will Google achieve this? When a search is initiated, Google will crawl its index and identify the most relevant sections of content, before producing a simplistic AI overview. These overviews can appear in a variety of content formats, including paragraphs, expanded lists, bulleted lists, images and videos. Google is gaining much of its AI training data from Reddit, representing a shift from traditional organic search results pages to a more comprehensive, technology-driven experience.

Search content types

There are three standard types of searches within Google’s AI Overviews that will all appear slightly differently – informational, shopping and local search results.

1. Informational search results

As you can see from the screenshot below, users conducting informational searches will be presented with key content in an easy-to-read format, with opportunities to dive deeper into any given topic.

2. Shopping search results

When a shopping search takes place, users will be presented with useful product listings directly within the results, featuring images, prices and up-to-date reviews (as below). When a user clicks on a listing, they can view additional product information that is directly pulled from Google’s Shopping Graph, which features over 35 billion product listings.

3. Local search results

Local organic searches will continue to feature the existing map structure. However, more information will also be included from trusted sources within Google’s Knowledge Graph, local directory sites such as Yelp, and relevant subreddits.

User benefits of Google’s AI Overviews

Google’s AI overviews offer a multitude of benefits vs its traditional search counterpart. Although by no means an exhaustive list, we delve into some of the most significant advantages below.

A simple overview of complex topics

AI Overviews provide the user with a simple summary of even the most complex questions or topics. This allows a user to quickly grasp basic information, without getting overwhelmed with too much detail.

Fast, direct information

Information gathering will be hugely streamlined following the implementation of generative AI search content. Users can find the information they require directly in one place, without having to navigate to multiple websites.

Conversational follow-ups

AI Overviews are a much more interactive experience than traditional Google searches. Although Google has been suggesting related questions to any given theme via the People Also Ask feature for some time, AI overviews takes this one step further by allowing users to ask conversational follow-ups and suggested next steps. This helps users to obtain relevant, in-depth information and continue their search journey.

Potential drawbacks of Google’s AI Overviews

The big question is how will AI Overview affect your search results, the quantity of visitors to your website and ultimately, sales and enquiries? Let’s dig a little deeper…

Website traffic

If users gain all the information they require upfront from AI summaries, this could prevent them from navigating to your website. These AI-driven responses to even the most simplistic questions are so detailed that users may not decide to click through to a website. Google will still cite that website as a source, but the overall volume of website traffic generated from informational search queries is likely to increase.

Driving quality conversions

In an early announcement, Google described AI Overviews as a “jumping-off point to explore web content”. Although website traffic may indeed decrease for basic queries, most users will still need to conduct more detailed research around a topic, especially before making a purchase decision. Therefore, when somebody does visit your website, they’re likely to be well-informed and ready to convert.

How SOZO is preparing clients for search-generated success

Here at SOZO, we are proactively bringing the global rollout of Google’s AI Overviews to the individual attention of our clients. We are keeping ahead of the latest industry news, trends and case studies surrounding potential developments, to ensure we remain ahead of the curve.

Google SGE was rolled out across 120 new countries in November 2023, including South Africa. With the help of our specialist search engine marketing team, we are able to actively test and monitor changes to Google’s search generative experience in real time.

Despite Google’s AI Overviews not even being available as an experiment yet in the UK, we are delivering dedicated workshops to our Search Marketing clients, providing them with real life examples using their own websites and keyword phrases. We’re also proactively sharing useful tips on how to optimise and maximise our clients’ visibility within this new AI-powered search experience.

So, how can we leverage Google’s AI Overviews to benefit our clients? If we continue to focus on informational keywords and offer the best possible explanations via high quality content, Google will interpret the key information and show this within the new search experience. We are working hard to determine strong layouts for product pages; aspects such as great summaries, technical specifications and video content are now more important than ever before.

We’re also continuing to implement best practices for SEO, avoiding unnecessary keyword cannibalisation which could dilute the strength of your search rankings. We will take the time to prepare and clean up for SEO, researching long tail keywords according to informative or decision-making queries.

Content writing will be a key priority area going forward, and our in-house copywriting team will ensure that all pieces of content are written according to Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines. Within informational searches, we are aiming for depth and authority, whilst regularly updating older content. We will ensure that all content is streamlined and fulfils all elements of the marketing funnel.

The team at SOZO are well-prepared for the universal rollout of Google’s AI Overviews. If you need some extra support navigating the ever-changing search landscape, please email our Marketing Director to set up a meeting.