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Half of Google searches now show an AI overview. Being recommended there is about as valuable as ranking #1 organically — and AI visits convert 4-20x better...
AI is quickly replacing Google search results, and it looks like we've just about hit the halfway Mark. So I want to talk about what I mean by that, what I think Google search results will look like going forward, and what this means for anyone with a business or a website.
Roughly half of Google searches now trigger an AI overview, which is the AI summary at the top of the search results page. Every time Google integrates a new Gemini model, these results get a little better. People trust them a little more, and they interact with them more.
Early on, it was a running joke how bad these AI summaries were. Then they started slowly eating away at organic website traffic, that trend still continuing with no end in sight.
When I say we're at the halfway point, I mean that for the average search, it's about equally as valuable to be recommended by the AI overview as it is to be rank one organically. Now, admittedly, it is very hard to measure the exact value of a recommendation in Google's AI overviews. Most people aren't going to click through to the website, so you can't actually measure the visit.
However, visits from AI do convert at four to 20 times the rate, depending on the industry compared to organic visits. People just tend to trust the recommendations from AI more than they trust the website that happens to be ranking at the top. Of Google.
While most people aren't gonna click through to your website, it's not uncommon after you've been recommended in an AI overview for the person to search specifically for your brand, so those visits also can't be accurately measured. However, it's someone who is closely following this for about 40 brands right now.
I would say that if the average business could choose between being rank one organically for all their main keywords, or being the top recommended brand in all the AI results, that would be a really tough decision.
Right now I think they're about equally as valuable. However, of course, this is only moving in one direction. It should be very clear by now that getting recommended in the AI response is just more important than ranking in traditional search.
With that in mind, tomorrow I'll do a video on exactly how you should adjust your SEO strategy.
The creator argues that for an average search, being recommended in an AI Overview is already about as valuable as ranking first organically.
Track AI Overview recommendations separately from classic rankings and watch branded-search lift as an indirect signal.
This source is connected to AI Overviews value, AI referral conversion.
AI is quickly replacing Google search results, and it looks like we've just about hit the halfway Mark. So I want to talk about what I mean by that, what I think Google search results will look like going forward, and what this means for anyone with a business or a website...