Google is introducing AI-generated topic summaries in Search, also known as "AI Overviews", which could significantly impact SEO, referral traffic, and brand discovery. This new feature, powered by Gemini, will provide generated responses to some search queries before actual website links. The responses could potentially divert traffic away from websites.
While this might be beneficial in some cases, such as reducing traffic to spammy sites, it could also disrupt the traffic strategies of websites that provide in-depth answers to common questions. This new development could make providing detailed information directly in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) a less viable SEO approach.
However, these AI-generated summaries will not be shown for all queries, only those that Google considers suitable. The change will undoubtedly affect the SEO landscape and could be particularly problematic for websites like Wikipedia that rely heavily on matching informational queries.
80% of Google Search traffic is informational, and if these queries are answered in detail in-stream, it could reduce the need for users to click through to learn more, thus limiting referrals.
Despite these potential impacts, Google has tried to downplay concerns, stating that AI Overviews could lead to more visits to a greater diversity of websites for help with complex questions. The company suggests that the links included in AI Overviews could receive more clicks than if the page had appeared as a traditional web listing.
The actual impacts of this change are yet to be seen, but it's clear that it could lead to significant shifts in SEO and referral traffic strategies.
