WNMC24: Google AI Overviews

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Google AI Overviews The Death of Search? Barry Adams May 2024

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Barry Adams ➢ Dutchman in Northern Ireland ➢ Active in SEO since 1998 ➢ Specialised in SEO for News Publishers since 2010 ➢ Newsletter: SEOforGoogleNews.com ➢ Co-founder of the News & Editorial SEO Summit

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I’ve Worked With…

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What are AI Overviews?

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It started with SGE

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SGE: Search Generative Experience • Launched as a Labs feature in May 2023 • Only for opted-in users; ➢ Logged in to their Google account ➢ Opted in to SGE via labs.google.com ➢ Based in the USA ➢ Using the Chrome browser

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SGE had its problems

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SGE lost traction… Source: ziptie.dev

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… and got demoted https://searchengineland.com/google-search-results-without-sge-jump-440369

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Then came… AI Overviews

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Up to 10 source links in a carousel

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AI Overviews often cite sources • Most AI Overviews have at least 1 cited source link ➢ Average number of cited links: 6 ➢ Most cited links are pages ranked on the 1st page

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AI Overviews are still limited in scope • Currently only in the USA (?); ➢ For users logged in to their Google Account ➢ Using the Chrome browser ➢ Not in Incognito mode

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Can we monitor AI Overviews? • Difficult to track with 3rd party tools; ➢ Only shows for logged in Google accounts ➢ Large-scale data harvesters don’t use Google accounts ➢ Data harvesters use Incognito mode to avoid personalisation

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When do AI Overviews trigger? • Estimates range between 1.5% and 42% of Google queries; ➢ Average 14% of queries show AIO by default ➢ 28% of queries have a Generate option to create an AIO ➢ 58% of queries have no AIO feature ➢ Varies by search intent ➢ Limited data available, mainly anecdotal

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AIO varies by search intent https://www.growth-memo.com/p/the-traffic-impact-of-ai-overviews

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AIO does not appear for news queries

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AI Overviews and News • Theory: AIO and QDF are mutually exclusive; ➢ QDF: Query Deserves Freshness ➢ QDF is a query/topic classifier that triggers a Top Stories box ➢ QDF = AIO ?

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The problem with AI Overviews

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Source: https://x.com/lilyraynyc

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Source: https://x.com/lilyraynyc

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https://x.com/Goog_Enough

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But rest assured, Google are on the case!

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Users hate it…

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… really hate it

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But Google will persist

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Impact on Traffic? In a nutshell: We don’t know (yet). https://searchengineland.com/google-ai-overviews-clicks-traffic-impact-442508

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Some early anecdotal data • Average traffic impact of AIO; ➢ AIO present, page not cited: -2.8% ➢ AIO present & page is a cited source: -8.9% Source: https://www.growth-memo.com/p/the-traffic-impact-of-ai-overviews

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AIO is an evolution, not a revolution • Traffic impact will not be disastrous; ➢ But it will be noticeable • News will be least affected; ➢ But evergreen content will be impacted • AIO will get better; ➢ Errors will be ironed out, but never totally disappear • It’s yet another feature on Google’s cluttered results; ➢ Another avenue to maximise ad revenue • AIO is Google trying to stay in the AI race; ➢ Intended to satisfy shareholders

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Fighting against AI Overviews? • Prevent your content from being used to train Google’s Gemini LLM: User-agent: Googlebot-Extended Disallow: / • Probably a good idea; ➢ Prevents your copyrighted content from being used

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Fighting against AI Overviews? • Prevent your webpages from being linked as a source in an AI Overview: • Probably a bad idea; ➢ Also impacts presentation in all other Google surfaces

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The Bigger Issue bbc.co.uk theguardian.com nytimes.com reuters.com

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Google controls our traffic

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It’s been a gradual decline for years • Google says they send more clicks to publishers… ➢ Yet we see dwindling numbers from Google year after year • Google says they share more ad revenue with publishers… ➢ Yet our advertising income continues to decline, while Google’s profits soar

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Google started as a highway to the WWW

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Then Google became a Toll Booth

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And now Google is becoming a Walled Garden

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Summarised

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AI Overviews are not the death of search • AIO is another brick in Google’s wall; ➢ Evolution, not revolution • Google has too much control over the world wide web; ➢ It needs to be regulated or broken up • Don’t try to go at it alone; ➢ Google loves to divide & conquer

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https://www.seoforgooglenews.com/

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https://newsseo.io/

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Thank You [email protected] https://www.linkedin.com/in/barryadams/ https://www.SEOforGoogleNews.com/