What is Google AI Overview?
Things are changing in the world of AI.. and fast! Within the last few years we’ve gone from traditional SERPs (i.e. blue links featured on search engine results, you click on the website, you go to the website, you browse for the information or product you’re after and discern a conclusion for yourself). Now? You type something into Google search and a lovely little little paragraph appears with summarised information that you simply read and move on with your day without needing to click a thing.
The great thing about this seemingly small but instrumental AI snippet is that it makes search much easier for users. Clicks through to websites are down, meaning majority of searchers aren’t getting to the blue links (i.e. your website), they’re reading the overview and getting on with their day. Similarly, users are now going to ChatGPT and ‘prompting’ rather than searching to find answers or products they would otherwise find on traditional search engines. If the user wants more info or likes what they see, they can click the teeny weeny paper clip next to the summary and if your website is luck enough to be chosen in this AI, the user can click through.
Great for searchers – not so great for you, the business owner relying on SEO for lead generation.
So how do we get around this?
The way Google & LLMs (Long Language Models – ChatGP, Claude etc) operate is quickly moving. So really, we can’t rely on any of these models as our sole method to get eyeballs on our websites. Instead, I recommend having a holistic marketing and brand strategy that covers a whole range of touchpoints rather than putting all your eggs in one basket.
But there are ways we can capitalise on how AI & LLM’s work as of now… which will inevitably change I’m sure!
Include an FAQ on your site
LLMs & Google AI answer prompts or questions. If you have a nice and tidy FAQ section on the page you want to optimise, chances are you’re doing the hard work for these engines and have formatted your customer’s questions in exactly the same way. If a user is searching “What are the steps to creating a skincare product?” and you’ve answered that in your FAQs, you might be more likely to be served in an LLM.
When you’re crafting your FAQs, think about questions that your clients have asked on repeat in the past. These are the answers that are in high demand and more likely to be used by prompters on the web. You can also go to Answer The Public for more comprehensive data showing the types of questions people are asking online about a certain subject.
Include a ‘Key Takeaway’ or ‘Summary’ section in your blogs
Format your blogs in a way that makes it easy for these models to serve your content – with a brief summary at the beginning or end of each article. This is a TL;DR of content that can be taken as a snippet and served in Google AI or ChatGPT / Claude and served as-is.
Ensure you have engaging content that will keep your reader on the page & encourage clicks
See how you’ve made it all the way to the 5th heading of this article? You’ve probably been reading for a few minutes. You may have even clicked on the article I referenced about a holistic marketing strategy. Or maybe you clicked on the link to Answer The Public? All of this tells Google that you’ve been here a while, you’re engaged, you’re clicking through to other content on the web – essentially that this is a great website that provides value to it’s users (ahem, why thank you, stop it!). All these actions increase my domain authority, which tells Google I’m a site worth visiting, hence a site worth serving. So when your SEO agency talks about internal linking, back-linking, bounce rates – this is what they mean. The better the content, the lower the bounce rate (the rate at which users click onto your web page and decide to move on because it’s boring AF). The more back-links, the more established your site is, and the better the back-links, the more notable it is. So if you can get your friend who writes articles for that big online publication to link back to your site – or better yet if you can write them a guest blog that links back – these are all brownie points that Google & LLM take notice of.
This isn’t new though, Google always has and always will prioritise sites with engaging content that keeps users online and linking through to other content.
After all, that’s what they sell! Time online to serve you ads.
Don’t rely on ChatGPT to write your blogs
You’ve been told ‘you have to post at least 1 blog a month’ by your digital marketing agency, and sure, that’s better than nothing. But don’t post just to post. Search engines & long-language models don’t rank you because you post often, the rank you when you post well. There’s no point regurgitating something that’s already been done, and that’s exactly what ChatGPT will do if you ask it to write you a blog. Even if you guide it around the subject matter, odds on it’s same-old same-old content and will that get your users staying on your site for more than 3 seconds? Probably not. Instead, write opinion pieces. Rather than ‘here are the 4 types of fitness equipment you need in your home’, what about ‘here’s my honest take on why rowing machines are out and reformer machines should be your ride or die’. Don’t be afraid of controversy, something sharable that users might link to on their socials or send in an email as a talking point or just for fun.
Write in YOUR voice. It’s so easy to tell when something has been written by AI now and searchers are quickly cottoning on. They’re more likely to bounce if they can tell there’s a rat, so write in your tone, whatever that may be, to build brand trust actually resonate with your audience.
Google can also tell what’s original content. It’s not to say it won’t rank an AI written article, but if the content itself is dry and nothing new, Google is smart and it won’t server something it knows users will glaze over. So make it edgy, give your opinion and write something new!
Make sure your website is fast and has the basic principles of a well-built site
I know, you think we’re just putting this in here because we create websites and want to sell you one? Well, yes and no. Yes I know you need a well-built site to be served in these new AI models. Just take our client Constellation Financial Planning – we built this site 3 years ago and it’s starting to be served in ChatGPT. This is because the site is very well built, it has amazing performance (site speed, accessibility & SEO) on desktop and mobile and contains content that is easily ‘snippetable’ by AI & LLM. No new content has been added to this site since it was built, but it’s backlinks have increased, due to good engaging content and great networking by it’s owners. These results go to show that having a professionally built website (even without all the tips above) can still get you served on LLM.
CFP’s performance scores mean Google & LLM’s know that it was professionally built and that a lot of care was taken in it’s creation. It is solid with good heading structure, optimised images, good SEO meta descriptions and high levels of accessibility for viewers with disabilities. All brownie points that actually matter.
TL;DR
In a nutshell, AI is changing the way we search. If you want to keep up and have your website showing in Google AI Overview and LLMs like ChatGPT, you need an FAQs sections that mimic prompts, great content that keeps users on the page, a little summary snippet that’s easy to serve, great domain authority and a technically sound website. Follow these steps and you’re well on the way to recovering those click throughs.
Not sure if your site is high performing or meets technical SEO standards?
Self-diagnose your SEO Checklist
You’ll walk away with an understanding of what makes a high perfomance site that is more likely to be served in AI search models.
