What are AI Overviews?
Google's new addition is AI Overviews (or AIOs), which gives a short answer to a query. Rather than giving the searcher a couple of links to a site, the searcher will be given a summary, short answer from Google's computer algorithms, based on text in a few online sources.
AIOs are finally getting their moment with sophisticated queries. For instance, if the query is "How to reduce blood pressure naturally," the user will likely be presented with a list of natural remedies (improve diet, exercise, and stress manage) all encapsulated above the results in a more readable box.
AIOs will appear in position "zero" of the page of search results and will be placed first, before paid and organic search results. They can even have links or quotes from the source sites to pull in and create the summary.
How AI Overviews are Changing the Search Game?
AIOs are transforming the manner in which users are consuming search results. Instead of jumping from page to page, users are now getting everything they desire from the snippet provided by the AI. This is transforming the behavior of the users and injuring site owners.
Human beings are reading the summary and not scrolling past the fold. Certain of the leading blogs or websites are therefore losing readers. Human beings are not scrolling down the page and reading further down because AI has already provided them with the answer.
Just go ahead and type in "best running shoes for flat feet." You'll likely have a short-list and product recommendations within the AIO. You might not even need to read, let alone go read detailed reviews or go over to blogs.
Actual Impact on Organic Traffic
The changes with AIOs have resulted in a significant drop in organic traffic. Even if your website is ranking in the top 10, the only would visit less if your page is featured in the AIO.
From January to April 2025, many sites RESOURCES report located a 23% drop in clicks from Google Search. The captivate of potential users are finding, without visiting the search result link.
Also, click-through-rate (CTR) varied, decreasing from 3% to 2.3% for about 2 or 3 months, i.e., 32%. Impressions occasionally might grow (they at least have put your link in best visibility) but hardly ever result in clicks unless it is in the text that has been shown as the artificial intelligence summary of your post.
Included vs Not Included: AIO Divide
There are some pages that won't be turned into an AIO summary. They will be added or subtracted in whole (though they're on page 1) to review.
If you are named or cited in the AIO summary, there is a higher chance that your page will be clicked. The person it is meant for has already viewed it first, so will be willing to click there first in the course of searching.
If the page is not in or not in adapter, least likely to be seen. Although you are said to still be on a top-page level, the term can be lost if they don't scroll past the AIO scrapbook at all.
The report added:
No AIO: Top 10 pages were still clicked.
AIO – page included: Most traffic.
AIO - excluded page: Story line was abruptly dropped.
The study shows not just ranking but "being there simply matters more than being well ranked."
Several Effects by Search Motivation
AI Summaries impact not all users' questions equally. It just depends on whatever the user is looking for.
For gathering information, for instance, "how to blog," the people will learn everything that they would like to know from the AIO itself. Therefore blogs and how-to articles are not getting so much traffic.
For transactional phrases like "best budget smartphone under $300," people will be comparing. If your AIO has your site, they'll click your site. If your AIO doesn't have your site, you're much less likely to be clicked.
Either way, as long as you do end up in the AIO, it probably puts you in front of your best shot to be noticed and traffic.
How to Make Your Site Appear on AIOs
If AIOs are here to stay, you would want to be a part of them. This is how you can be a part of them:
✅ Write in short, fact-based style - Write in plain language, concise paragraphs, and helpful tips.
✅ Be responsive - Have a summary or bullet points at the start of the article.
✅ Schema markup - Structured data like FAQ markup, HowTo markup, or Product markup informs Google about your content.
✅ Credible content reference - Put stats, quotes, or expert references into your content.
✅ One topic per page - Targeted content is so much easier to match with search queries.
Conclusion
AI Overviews will transform how users search for and access information through Google. If you want users to keep coming to your web pages for traffic, you really need to focus on what you can do to position your site for AI answers.
You can improve your chances of getting included in AI Overviews, and stay in front of the users in the age of AI search, by:
writing decent clear content,
answering key user questions early in your content, and
continuously using good SEO.
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