Last October, Google expanded AI Overviews, rolling the feature out to more than 100 countries and territories around the world.
Now, with more than one billion users every month, Google has further expanded AI Overviews with Gemini 2.0, which aims to provide answers to more complex questions such as coding, advanced maths, and multimodal queries. For now, this feature is only launching in the US.
Along with the expansion of AI Overviews, Google has also begun testing an experimental AI Mode. This is set to ‘expand what AI Overviews can do with more advanced reasoning, thinking and multimodal capabilities’. AI Mode will essentially reduce the need for multiple searches and allow AI to answer more complicated questions.
What Does This Mean For You?
Targeting AI Overviews may now be more important than ever for your business. With the increase in use of AI Overviews, better accuracy, and greater trust from users over time, appearing in an AI Overview search result could help to improve your brand’s visibility and increase your click through rate (CTR).
Optimising for AI Overviews
Since AI Overviews are still fairly new to search, it’s difficult to give a definitive answer on what will and won’t work. However, from various studies, there are a few things you can do to increase the likelihood of featuring in an AI Overview:
- Target Informational Queries - Queries with informational intent were more likely to trigger AI Overview responses.
- Rank well in the SERPs - 33.4% of AI Overview links rank in that query’s top 10 organic results. By establishing a strong SEO strategy for your website, you can boost your positioning in the search results and improve your chances of featuring in AI Overviews.
- Use Schema markup - Schema markup helps Google understand the context and purpose of your page. By implementing schema markup, you can increase the possibility of ranking at the top of the SERPs.
- Ensure you are focusing on search intent - Targeting the right keywords is always important, but matching search intent is equally as essential, particularly when targeting AI Overviews.
- Continuously measure performance - Certain tools, including Semrush, now allow you to track your visibility in AI Overviews. Keeping an eye on your current performance allows you to constantly adapt and improve based on what is and isn’t working for your site.
Want Help With AI Overviews?
AI Overviews are becoming a powerful tool in the search results. Whilst it’s still fairly early days, we expect AI Overviews to continue growing, improving in accuracy, and controlling the search results.
If you’d like expert help gaining visibility in AI Overviews, or generally boosting your SEO performance, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today.
