After the rolling out in the US several weeks ago, we’re beginning to see AI Overviews appearing in search results in the UK. While Google officially announced that AI Overviews would be launching for the UK back in April 2024, they had’t been spotted until much more recently. The delay may be down to the negative backlash from many users in the US who have reported poor quality results, overviews that are flat out incorrect and at times dangerous information. Nevertheless, Google appear set on a path to integrate AI into search in some form or another to keep up with indirect competition from AI services like ChatGPT.
As we’ve discussed previously, AI Overviews (previously Search Generative Experience or SGE) will add a new dimension to SEO campaigns. The overview appears at the top of the results and seems to replace what was previously included in the knowledge graph in many cases. Overviews are generated through Google’s AI Gemini and seek to provide better, more detailed answers. Any change to search results is always of huge interest to SEO agencies and there’s been much speculation as to the effect this will have on the SEO industry as a whole. We envisage AI Overviews effectively replacing knowledge graph results and perhaps expanding the coverage from what we already see – but ultimately limited to specific informational searches, with little effect on commercial or transactional search terms. Optimising for these new SERP features will become part of future strategies as, despite reports of AI Overviews resulting in more zero-click searches, they will provide new opportunities to reach users.
Here’s an example of AI Overviews appearing on mobile:
If you’d like to learn more about AI Overviews or discuss our SEO services, please get in touch.