There was a lot of talk about SGE in the last year. Everyone, including me, was speculating when it will come and how it will look when it is finally rolled out.
A brief history of AI in search
Search Generative Experience (SGE) was tested by Google since March 2023, and was only accessible via Google Search Labs and SEOs around the world where testing, gathering data and making predictions about the impact it will have.
Some were saying it will destroy search, others that it is like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and some that it will never be rolled out.
But for a long time no one, not even the guys at Google, really knew much about how it will finally look. Why? Because they were testing to get the best result – if the best result means the best for Google, for publishers or for the user, is a question I leave open.
Google has to strike a balance between giving an AI generated answer on the one hand and not destroying their business model with paid search and not to disgruntled publishers too much that they stop putting content out. Without organic content and search results it would be only ads and AI results, and who would want that?
AI Overview is now here – OK not here in the UK but in the USA
Google has, not unexpectedly, chosen the big stage of this year’s Google I/O event to announce and roll out the new AI search to the general public. On the big Google event on May the 14th 2024 it was there.
With a lot of fanfare and “ohh look how good this shiny new thing is” it was announced that it is now named AI Overview and not SGE anymore and was rolled out in the USA immediately, with other countries to follow soon.
Unfortunately it was not disclosed which other countries or what soon means.
Here is the announcement written by Liz Read (VP, Head of Search at Google)
And for sure, there is a video that is not shy of promising a new world in search:
What does the new AI Overview mean for businesses in the UK?
AI in search will change a lot. So businesses and SEOs have to prepare. But it is not the doom and gloom that was earlier expected.
Some studies from early 2024 predicted that up to 86% of search results will show AI answers (the study is linked in my earlier article on SGE)
After the roll out this week, early data shows that there are far less AI answers in the search results. Only 0.55% on desktop and 0.81% on mobile.
(Data and image taken from Brodie Clark on LinkedIn)
AI Overview is not taking over all search results over night.
Also the AI Overview answer takes less real estate in the search results as early tests in SGE have.
But it is here, and it is here to say (and roll out further).
Does this mean now we can relax, sit back and have a nice cuppa?
Not in my opinion.
If your business website is targeting users in the USA it is highly likely that you will see changes in the search behaviour and an effect on your organic traffic.
If you are targeting users in the USA this will have no effect for now, but it will come, there is no doubt about. You should monitor how the search result pages in the US are changing and adapt your strategy accordingly.
For the UK and EU the roll out of AI overview might take longer than for other parts of the world, as it is not even available via search labs at this moment. But there is no question, change is going to come.
What to do to prepare for AI Overview?
I short, do a decent job.
Use unique content and visual elements to promote your business and products. Adhere to SEO best practices and use structured data to let the search engine understand your content, website and business.
If in doubt, contact an SEO expert (like yours truly) to discuss the changes, risks and opportunities, but be careful there are a lot of folks who paddle either fear or glory, which in most cases is completely exaggerated.
We are, as always tbh, in exciting times in the world of search and for the “flip knows how many times” since Richard Hoy in 1997 SEO is declared dead.
But people will continue to search, search engines will continue to provide answers and SEOs will help businesses to be present in the search results.
So as a business, prepare for change, get good advice and act on it. Google does approx. 5000 updates a year, that is more than 10 a day, so the game was always changing fast.
While this is more a seismic shift than an update, it is still the same game.