Google’s AI Overviews, which use generative AI to offer a single, definitive answer to search queries, were launched in the United States during Google’s I/O developer conference in mid-May.

Despite a notoriously disastrous start in which various answers were found to reproduce satirical or outright wrong information, AI Overviews have since been rolled out to six additional countries – Brazil, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, and the UK – as well as to non-logged-in users in the US.

During a presentation at HubSpot’s Inbound 2024 conference this month, Dale Bertrand, Founder and President of Boston-based SEO and content marketing agency Fire&Spark, predicted that the presence of AI Overviews would continue to increase because, for most users, AI Overviews present a better experience by virtue of delivering a direct answer.

“We know that humans are going to choose the lazy option … and the lazy option is an immediate answer that might be wrong,” stated Bertrand.

In his talk, Bertrand explained how the introduction of Google’s AI Overviews is changing the search customer journey by pushing searchers further along the marketing funnel, how this changes the opportunity for marketers, and how marketers should adapt their content in response.

Responding to the generative AI search opportunity with mid-funnel content

Bertrand pointed out that the types of educational blog articles that content marketers traditionally create to rank in search – intended to deliver a searcher to the brand’s website and push them further along the funnel – are now ranking for the exact same queries that typically trigger an AI Overview.

Bertrand acknowledged that AI Overviews are unquestionably “problematic for marketers”, who are losing traffic to Overviews, but argued that AI-augmented searches deliver higher-quality visitors to a brand’s website. “They’ve already been educated by AI – maybe Google’s AI Overviews, maybe ChatGPT,” he said.

We know that humans are going to choose the lazy option … and the lazy option is an immediate answer that might be wrong.

Instead of creating top-of-the-funnel educational content to target searchers who may be reading a generative AI summary with the same information (and who, despite the links back to the source, aren’t necessarily going to click on the original), Bertrand posited that marketers should create mid-funnel content that targets users who are now further along on their journey from initial search to potential purchase.

“[This content] looks like comparison pages. Or interactive tools that can help your customers make a decision. Or a very focused, very helpful, visual buying guide,” he said.

“[It’s about] recognising that the new technology is not just technology – it’s how your customers are making decisions differently, and how that journey is going to look different going forward.”

Bertrand used the example of a customer who has a broken door lock to illustrate how a search can evolve and trigger different types of content depending on where the customer is in the funnel:

  • The initial problem (“My door lock is broken”) would lead to a problem-focused search (door lock repair), which would trigger how-to guides and informational content
  • After researching options, the customer might conduct a solution-focused search (smart locks), which would return comparison pages and buyer’s guides
  • After further research, the customer might settle on a product and conduct a brand-focused search (Google Nest lock), receiving product pages, service pages and sales pages.

Five ways to adapt to AI Overviews

Bertrand laid out five ways that marketers can adapt their approach to SEO and content marketing, as well as the types of content they produce, to the changed opportunities presented by Google’s AI Overviews.

1) Diversify content formats

Bertrand recommended building “zero-click immunity” not only by creating mid-funnel content that is less likely to compete with AI Overviews, but also by diversifying into content types that are difficult for LLMs to ingest and reproduce, such as:

  • Guides and worksheets that present complex information
  • Custom tools that help your customer make a purchase decision
  • Templates and checklists that can be offered as resources on a download landing page
  • Video, which is more discoverable (and increasingly favoured by consumers) “and your competitors are probably not very good at it”

Bertrand recalled conversations with one potential client, a major mortgage provider, who wanted to gear their strategy around creating educational content – but was ignoring the interactive tools and widgets on their website that were gaining better results.

“The CTAs and conversion tactics that were actually working on their site were things like an interactive tool – a mortgage calculator to calculate your payment. After your website visitor puts some information into it, they get their payment number, and it dumps them right into the [mortgage] application.

“Easy-breezy; that elevates conversion rates.”

2) Update existing content

Most SEOs and content marketers will be familiar with the principle of timeless ‘evergreen’ content that drives reliable traffic and can be refreshed every few years to ensure it’s not glaringly out of date.

Bertrand noted that Fire&Spark spends more resources on updating content than creating it wholesale – even going so far as to hire a dedicated ‘Content Updater’ whose skillset involves crafting CTAs, visual design, data analysis, competitor research, and implementing SEO strategy.

He also recommended adding trust factors when content is updated to satisfy Google’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness), such as:

  • Author credentials
  • An author bio showcasing expertise
  • Citations
  • Links and references back to authoritative sources

3) Focus on freshness

While the recency of content is not the be-all and end-all of ranking in search (after all, Google values authority, which takes time to build), Google will evaluate the importance of freshness for the intent behind every search in order to understand which searches require a timely result.

For example, a user searching for “who is next hosting the Olympics” probably doesn’t want a list that was last updated in 2010.

Bertrand noted that Google cares about dates – using factors such as the URL, headline, content body and date stamp to calculate how recent a piece of content is. While some of these (such as the URL) can’t be easily updated, those that can are important not to overlook.

Bertrand recommended evaluating your best-performing pages by traffic, conversion, and revenue and reviewing those pages for freshness. Updates with new developments, such as new industry practices or regulation, can be added to those pages – not every single page on your site, but the highest-performing pages.

4) Create unique content

“Google doesn’t need ‘me-too’ content that’s already being published by one of your competitors,” Bertrand said. Instead, content marketers should look to create unique content – which doesn’t have to be on a topic that’s never been covered before in any form, but could be a perspective that only the author can offer.

Writing from a distinctive viewpoint also helps to cater to E-E-A-T as the author has the opportunity to demonstrate their personal experience, expertise, authority or trustworthiness.

One major rule of thumb when creating unique content, in Bertrand’s view, is not to write it with generative AI. “Using AI to write content doesn’t work because [AI is] designed to create average content that Google doesn’t need,” he noted – but added that generative AI can be used instead to calculate the uniqueness of content, or content ideas.

For example, ChatGPT can be given a list of topics and asked to assign each a ‘novelty score’ with an explanation as to why each rating was chosen.

5) Invest wisely

Bertrand recommends investing first and foremost in your most valuable content, which can be updated and repositioned as outlined in the previous sections. Understanding how potential clients found you can also give an excellent insight into where to focus your efforts.

Bertrand noted that, “How did you find us?” is a good question, but an even better question would be, “How did you search for an SEO agency?” (or whatever type of business you run) – which can shed light on the search tactics used by prospective customers.

Finally, educating SEO stakeholders from the CEO (who is responsible for the business model, staffing and budgets) and CMO (who is responsible for customer journeys, multi-channel marketing, and multi-platform SEO) on down to the content writer (who is responsible for search behaviour, information gain, and freshness) and web developer (who handles page templates, interactive content, and Schema markup) will ensure a joined-up search strategy across the whole business, and not just those parts of the business dedicated to SEO (or content).