In many informational searches, the search results will list an AI Search Summary at the top of the results. This means that before you even click on a link to a website, you will have received an answer to your question. In many cases, the answer to your question will be received without even having to click on any links to websites. This new development in search results means that in order to receive visibility for informational searches, the normal fundamentals of SEO still apply.
1. What’s actually changed
Google’s SEO guidance notes that there is no change in fundamentals of good SEO practices, which are summarised in the diagram above (adapted from Google’s SEO Guidance). AI Search summaries are created from the same search index as were earlier search results. Thus, in addition to ranking highly in a list of search results, the source cited in an AI Search summary also needs to rank high. There are many factors that influence ranking high on a search results list as well as being cited in a summary. But in summary, useful, timely, consistent, high-quality content is still the cornerstone of effective SEO.
2. Why some content disappears and other content gets cited
An AI summary can read and summarise a large amount of ‘shallowness’ but cannot read and summarise ‘depth’ in the form of detail, examples, answers to questions that require further explanation, etc. In other words, it is much easier for an AI to read and summarise content that only answers a simple question, rather than content that goes in depth.
3. Structure genuinely helps
There are many ways to write a piece of content, but to ensure that your content will be extracted and referenced by an AI search overview, you should attempt to answer the question as directly as possible and as early as possible. This should form the bulk of the first couple of sentences of your piece of content after the title. The title of your piece of content should also form a question that mirrors a search query and will therefore be easier for an AI Search Overview to reference. Use short paragraphs and lists where appropriate to make your content scannable.
4. Schema markup is useful, not magic
Online advice for SEO in AI search results sometimes implies that there is a lot of special structured data required to appear in AI-generated results. However, according to Google’s documentation for AI Overviews, no special schema is required. If you have structured data on your website then search engines can use that to better understand a page. But using that to give a poor website with poor quality content an advantage over better quality content is not the right way to go about things. And make sure that any schema you use actually matches the content on the page in question.
5. Local businesses have a specific angle
For local, decision-stage searches the summary will often consist of Google Business Profile (GBP) data. This means that for such searches local businesses will find value in ensuring that their Google Business Profile is up-to-date, complete and accurate. In fact, it relates to local search visibility in general and not just to summaries generated by AI for search queries.
6. What this doesn’t mean
None of this means that SEO is dead and that you will have to be a GEO or AEO expert within a short period of time. But you will have to change your content strategy if it only contains thin content that answers simple questions. However, businesses with thin content already will have to change quickly.
7. What’s actually worth doing
Write good content that will answer questions clearly and early in the piece, but then go on to provide more detail than a single line of answer. Make sure your pages are technically sound and fast. Keep your time-sensitive material up to date rather than allowing it to go stale. Treat this as you would any other parts of your marketing activity – build first for the genuine usefulness of your content, then visibility in AI-generated summaries is a natural consequence.