Google’s AI Overview searches have taken the world by storm since their introduction, and they’re only getting more prominent as time goes on. With 3/4ths of all problem-solving queries featuring AI Overviews, now’s the best time to find out how you can capitalize. Find out everything you need to know with this Coalition Technologies guide.
Table of Contents
The Rundown
In this quick Coalition Technologies overview, you’ll learn more about:
- AI Overviews is a powerful new search feature that creates AI-generated summaries by scraping multiple pages.
- AI Overviews can be a great way to boost your brand visibility even without gunning for the top spot on SERPs.
- This feature can also drive a lot more qualified traffic to your website.
- AI Overviews is constantly changing, and optimizing for it is difficult without a dedicated team.
- AI Mode is an experimental, multimodal chatbot-like feature that could replace AI Overviews in the future.
What Are They?
AI Overviews is a new search feature launched officially in the US in 2024. This Google AI feature gives searchers AI-generated answers for their queries right at the top of the page, summarizing multiple relevant sources into one cohesive answer.
For example, searching for ‘how much flour should I use for a vanilla cake?’ will give you something like this:
Google AI Overviews: The Good
Google’s AI Overviews are revolutionizing the search experience for both customers and businesses. You no longer need to be the top-ranked result on Google to get eyeballs on your page. On the customer side, these overviews make life a lot easier by doing the research for them.
It’s not a perfect feature, but let’s focus on the best parts for now.
- Multi-Source Summaries: Before Google Search added AI Overviews, most searches began and ended with the top-ranked search result. By incorporating multiple sources into a single summary, Google is leveling the playing field and generating more holistic answers for queries.
- Enhanced Brand Visibility: This is linked directly to our earlier point about what Google AI Overviews is doing for websites that aren’t ranked #1. Businesses with authoritative, original, and high-quality content are now more likely to be cited as sources, boosting their visibility to potentially millions of customers.
- It’s worth pointing out that Google seems to be actively emphasizing other sources of information for its AI Overviews. SEJ noted that after the March 2025 core update, AI Overviews were less likely to cite pages in Google’s top 10 organic results.
- It’s worth pointing out that Google seems to be actively emphasizing other sources of information for its AI Overviews. SEJ noted that after the March 2025 core update, AI Overviews were less likely to cite pages in Google’s top 10 organic results.
- Qualified Traffic Source: The big fear around the announcement of AI Overviews was the possibility that it would increase no-click searches. While that’s a valid fear, it’s also worth pointing out that Google’s AI Overviews are a fantastic tool for driving qualified traffic to websites.
How?
Searchers clicking on links featured in an AI Overviews response are more likely to be interested in engaging with them. For example, someone clicking on a vanilla cake recipe would likely want to know more about the process (and where they can buy the ingredients!) - Encouraging Exploration: Google Search’s AI Overviews encourage deeper, more holistic exploration for searchers. Links aren’t just embedded in the AI Overviews sidebar; they’re also included in each line of text.
Google has also started embedding links to other Google search results to help users learn more about a given topic.
Google AI Overviews: The Bad
If you’re unsure what Google AI Overviews are, you might think it’s the perfect feature for the AI age. However, it’s not without its faults.
Volatility
We mentioned Google’s recent core update changing up the citation system for AI Overviews earlier. While that’s great news for smaller businesses looking to boost their visibility, it’s also a reminder that this is an incredibly new feature that could undergo drastic changes throughout the year.
SEO Tip: Optimizing for AI Overviews
If you know what Google AI Overviews is and what it can do, you can probably already see the incredible opportunity it offers for growth. Smaller and mid-sized businesses can’t afford to sit out the core updates before updating their content. The sooner you can prepare your website for AI Overviews, the faster you’ll see an increase in traffic and sales. That means:
- Using long-tail keywords to optimize your content for more specific searches
- Building entity authority with a more cohesive content strategy
- Getting high-value, relevant backlinks from industry sources
- Technical SEO techniques, like enabling schema markup
The best way to plan ahead for what Google AI Overviews could be is with a reliable AI SEO agency that can do the legwork for you. Agencies like Coalition Technologies use the latest AI-forward strategies to optimize websites for trends like voice search, AI Mode, and more.
Inaccuracies
Google Searches featuring AI Overviews can include inaccurate information. AI Overviews tend to oversimplify information and misinterpret queries, leading to misleading AI-generated summaries.
What Is AI Mode?
AI Mode is an opt-in experimental Google Labs feature that could be the future of search.
This more advanced model runs on Gemini 2.0, giving AI Mode multimodal capabilities. By including images and even videos, you can ask follow-up questions to your original query in a chatbot-like environment.
If you’re familiar with what Google AI Overviews are, you’ll be right at home with AI Mode. AI Mode also scrubs multiple sources to generate concise summaries for users, which begs the question:
Will AI Mode Replace AI Overviews?
Google has indicated that AI Mode follows the same quality principles and ranking systems as their other core search features. It’s likely AI Mode will replace AI Overviews at some point in the future, and it might not be for the best:
- AI Mode’s chatbot-like answers can overly simplify responses without offering the same nuance and diversity you would get from AI Overviews.
- AI Mode could end up lengthening search times by encouraging users to ask follow-up questions instead of giving them a concise, final answer, like what Google AI Overviews is doing.
- There is some concern AI Mode might reduce traffic to websites by summarizing content. However, Google’s Robby Stein has said they’re tweaking AI Mode to “create new opportunities for sites to rank.”
Grow With Google Search and AI Overviews
Tracking the latest updates to Google Search and optimizing your website for new features like AI Mode is a tall order if you don’t have a dedicated team. Coalition Technologies is an award-winning digital marketing agency working at the forefront of AI with a world-class team of SEO experts. Find out what we can do for your business today with a free consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Google AI Overviews?
Google’s AI Overviews are a new feature that answers customer queries by generating a summary, powered by relevant sources. This leads to no-click searches, where users can potentially get answers to their questions without ever clicking on a link.
Can I optimize my content for AI Overviews?
Absolutely! As a business, you can target conversational language and more specific, long-tail keywords for content creation. AI Overviews seem to prioritize original, authoritative content above all else, so that should be your top priority. A top-rated SEO agency can help you find the best way to optimize your content for AI search.
What is Google AI Mode? Is it different from AI Overviews?
Google’s AI Mode is an experimental feature that takes AI Overviews to new heights. This is a more multimodal search experience that allows users to ask follow-up questions after their initial queries, similar to ChatGPT.
