As AI Answers Populate Search Results, SEO Remains Essential

Through 2024 the total number of AI-powered answers, or ‘Overviews’, at the top of Google has grown. As of the end of November these may encompass up to 33% of all search keywords! These answers replace traditional organic entries at the top of the page, and are powered by traditional organic search content which has been summarised by AI.

For certain types of industries, we see AI queries begin to grow significantly.

• B2B. The presence of AI Overviews increased 32% between May and Nov ‘24. Particularly around terms like security (+55%), data (+40%), development/dev ops (+42%), and infrastructure (+38%).
• Healthcare. Here we saw 15% change across the same time period. These AI Overviews more frequently cited medical clinics and research institutions

Note that these overviews are still powered by traditional Organic Search results, and even link out to websites.

How can marketers plan around this shift? To work around AI overviews, we can focus on optimising for featured snippets by structuring content with clear headings, concise answers, and question-based keywords. Overviews love this type of content. We can also shift attention to long-tail keywords, which target niche queries less likely to be dominated by AI. Additionally, creating in-depth, high-quality content that offers value beyond surface-level answers, lets us attract users who seek deeper information and expertise.