This isn’t my first time diving into AI search–but a lot has developed in just a few months. As of December, Google’s AI overview (AIO) appears at the top of 47% of search results. AIO (formerly SGE–search generative experience) is also expanding in its approaches to answering questions. Today, let’s look at a few examples, and talk about the do’s and dont’s of adapting to AI-powered search.
To illustrate how quickly AIO is evolving, let’s look at a side-by-side comparison of similar searches 3 months apart. I’m using a locational search pertaining to my company, InboundAV, as an example:
Search for “HubSpot Partner Glendale, CA” made October 2024
3 months later, the same search query does not return an AIO:
Search for “HubSpot Partner Glendale, CA” made January 2025
However, a similar but more conversational query provides insights into what’s changed:
Search for “Best HubSpot Partner in Los Angeles, CA” made January 2025
In just 3 months, AIO is not triggered by the same search query (I ran the search a number of times in January to confirm it was not a one-off).
However, AIO does appear when simply adding “best” to the beginning of the search. It also appears in a number of variations like this one:
Search for “Who is the best HubSpot Partner in Los Angeles, CA” made January 2025
At face level, it appears that AIO is being used to answer more subjective and/or conversational searches. Adding words like “best” and posing search queries in the form of a question triggers AIO.
In another example, “Staffing agency in Boston, MA” returns sponsored results at the top:
Search for “Staffing Agency in Boston MA” made January 2025
Whereas “How to find a staffing agency in Boston, MA” returns an AIO with different results, citing 3rd party agency reviews as sources:
Search for "How to find a staffing agency in Boston, MA" made January 2025
Similarly, for B2C:
Search for “best electric guitar” made January 2025
Search for “how to find the best electric guitar for me?” made January 2025
Why worry about these kinds of searches? Around half of current Google searches are considered to be more “conversational” in nature now. Searches are getting longer and more specific due to voice-activated search and increasing reliance on AIO (source: WebFX).
Another important shift is that the October results are far less accurate–and not because I’m biased in saying InboundAV is the “best”.
In reality, the other agencies included in the October search results for “best HubSpot partners in Glendale” are either not HubSpot Partners or not based in Glendale, CA. So, the response is flawed in that sense. 3 months later, the answer is more relevant to the search in terms of location and services being searched for.
What does this tell us? The way that Google uses AIO is changing rapidly, and it will likely keep evolving. The best way to keep tabs on how these evolutions impact your business is to regularly check on search results for common queries related to your business.
Between October and January’s HubSpot Partners search, the cited sources looked slightly different as well. This gives us insight into how Google may be updating what it classifies as trusted information.
In January, instead of citing a general HubSpot page as the top source, a client testimonial published by HubSpot serves as the top source. LinkedIn is now included as the second source.
Of course, types of sources will be influenced by industry. In the B2B examples, on top of LinkedIn, industry directories, databases, and review forums served as key sources. For the B2C example, Google cited comments from reddit, along with retailer websites.
What’s clear is that client, consumer, or industry reviews are considered a key factor for AIO in answering these subjective questions.
So you want your business to start appearing in AIO results for searches related to your industry. There’s 2 parts to this:
Both of these achievements bring valuable visibility to your business at the awareness and consideration stages of your customers’ purchasing cycle.
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Becoming a trusted source of information in your industry increases your website’s citations in AIOs.
This means publishing articles, blogs, web pages, FAQs, landing pages, and more about topics related to your industry. This content should not be intended to drive an immediate sale, but to educate. Plan your material to answer common questions that your audience may have in your area of expertise.
Regardless of whether AIO is involved or not, trusted 3rd party authorities play an important role in today’s search results.
Key trusted sources for B2B:
For B2C:
Keyword intent describes the ultimate reason or goal behind a user’s search query. This explains why searches worded as questions might trigger AIO more often.
Informational intent–in other words, searches made seeking information on a specific topic– is king for AI. Understanding this informs your content strategy.
Other intent categories include:
AI Overview Visibility by Intent
Why does intent matter? AIO’s emerging preference towards informational intent change might be in part to allow for Google to prioritize paid results for other queries.
Understanding keyword intent helps you devise a strategy to leverage your AIO visibility for your business’s awareness and consideration stage. When it comes to the decision stage, customers are more likely to be making commercial, navigational, or transactional searches, and AIO is less likely to appear in their search results.
Google identifies and penalizes AI-generated content using algorithms to consider factors like writing style, coherence, and contextual accuracy. Google also has a tool called SynthID that can watermark and identify AI-generated content and scan images, audio, text, or video for these watermarks.
Considering the influence of keyword intent and the fact that AIO appears in roughly half of search results, it’s important not to put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to SEO today.
AI overviews (referred to here as SGE) do NOT always grab information from domains that rank on the first page of Google. This is another crucial factor to consider. Yes, you want to always strive to rank on the top page of Google. But in order to appear in AIOs, your optimization approach should cater more towards answering information-seeking searches. In other words, ranking for AIO versus traditional SEO require separate strategies.
With rapid changes in just a few months, it’s clear that AIO is still evolving. You must be adaptable and play the field in order to play the SEO game.
InboundAV helps businesses implement AI-driven tools to boost online visibility. Ready to learn more?
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