Google officially launched AI Overviews in the U.S. on May 14, 2024. Three months later, they announced that AI Overviews was rolled out to six more countries: the UK, India, Japan, Indonesia, Mexico, and Brazil.

Is SEO dead and should you panic? Or is everything a big hoo-ha and there’s nothing to worry about?

Here’s everything we know about Google’s AI Overviews to date:

Google aims to answer the query directly within the SERPs, with links to webpages for further research. The easiest way to think about them is that they are featured snippets on steroids.

Originally named Search Generative Experience (SGE), AI Overviews is part of Google’s response to the accelerated rise of generative AI.

• 10 May 2023 — Google announces the Search Generative Experience (SGE) experiment
• 25 May 2023 — Google opens access to SGE for users who signed up for the waitlist.
• 22 March 2024 — Google starts testing AI Overviews in the main Google Search results, even if you had not opted into SGE.
• 14 May 2024 — Google officially launches AI Overviews for the U.S. Google also launches a new ‘Web’ filter for users who want only text-based webpages in search results.
• 24 May 2024 — AI Overviews come under fire for giving dangerous and wrong answers. For example, it recommended using non-toxic glue to give pizza sauce more tackiness, eating at least one small rock a day, and drinking urine to pass kidney stones quickly.
• 30 May 2024 — Google responds to the brouhaha by explaining how it intends to improve AI Overviews.
• 15 Aug 2024 — Google launches AI Overviews for the UK, India, Japan, Indonesia, Mexico, and Brazil. It also begins showing AI Overviews for Incognito mode and users who are not signed in. Additionally, it launches the ability to “save” a specific AI Overview and tests adding links to relevant web pages directly within the text of AI Overviews.
• 23 Aug 2024 — Google’s John Mueller confirms that AI Overviews are affected by core updates.

In September 2023, Google filed a patent for their AI Overview called “Generative summaries for search results”.

Thanks to Rich Sanger, who looked at the patent, we have an idea of how Google’s AI Overviews work:

1. Query submission: You enter a search query.
2. Understanding the query: Google uses a variety of LLMs to understand the context and intent of your query.
3. Gathering content: The system retrieves relevant documents, including web pages, articles, images, and videos related to your query.
4. Processing additional content: In addition to the immediate search results, Google considers content from related searches and information others found helpful under similar query circumstances.
5. Generating a summary: An LLM combines all this information to generate a helpful response to your query.
6. Dynamic and context-aware responses: The AI adapts its responses based on the specific context of each query submission. If queries are repeated or similar in different contexts, the AI adjusts the summaries it provides.
7. User interaction and learning: Google learns from how users interact with the search results. If certain responses are consistently overlooked in favor of others, or if user clicks suggest a preference, the AI modifies future responses to align more closely with user behavior.
8. Enhancing accuracy and relevance: The AI continually updates its understanding based on new information and interactions, which helps it to provide more accurate and contextually relevant responses over time.

The most important question, at least for SEOs, is how the system selects the sources. There are three main criteria:

1. Query-dependent measures: The system assesses how relevant each potential source document is to the specific query. This includes positional ranking and relevance to the query’s location and language.
2. Query-independent measures: It then assesses search result documents for things like selection rate across multiple queries, trustworthiness, overall popularity, and freshness.
3. User-dependent measures: The system also considers the user’s profile and past interactions including recent searches and recent non-query interactions.

I highly recommend reading Rich Sanger’s article on how AI Overviews work, as it goes into deep detail on the patent.

According to Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, AI has been transforming Google Search for years.

“When mobile came, we knew Google Search had to evolve a lot. We call it featured snippets, but for almost 10 years now you go to Google for many questions we kind of use AI to answer them. We call it web answers internally. … We’ve always answered questions where we can. But we always felt when people come and look for information. People, in certain cases, want answers but they also want the richness and the diversity of what’s out there in the world and it’s a good balance to be had and we’ve always I think struck that balance pretty well.”

Currently, Google still has the largest market share in the world. And the rise of other AI-based search engines has (so far) not made a dent on Google either.

The good news: You can block Google using the standard methods of noindexing your pages or using robots.txt. Bear in mind that this is a drastic measure, as it prevents Google from both showing your content in AI Overviews and the SERPs.

However, Google does provide an alternative method: ‘preview controls’, which are a way to tell Google not to provide a snippet in the SERPs or limit the amount of content that can be used.

Glenn Gabe ran an experiment to test whether Google would respect this.

The result? It did, but it took some time (and even a ping to Google’s John Mueller) for it to finally work. Regardless, it is an option if you want to opt out of AI Overviews.

Though there are ‘consequences’ (i.e. no search snippet), as Glenn Gabe discovered:

• AI Overviews continue to be volatile — A study from BrightEdge showed that the visibility of AI Overviews increased to 12% in July, only for it to fall to 7% by the end of the month.
• Informational keywords were most likely to have AI Overviews — A study from Flow Agency showed that for HR and workforce management keywords, top-of-the-funnel (TOFU) keywords were the most likely to have AI Overviews appear (24%). Comparatively, transactional keywords had AIOs appear only 5% of the time. This is corroborated by research done by SEOClarity.
• You’re more likely to be linked in an AI Overview if you rank high for the query — A study by Rich Sanger and Authoritas showed that 46.3% of the documents linked in the summaries were from the top organic search results for the exact match query. When related queries were added to the direct match queries, the percentage of links from both the direct match and related queries in the top search results increased to 60.4%. It also showed that a link ranked first has a 53% chance of being featured, while content ranked tenth has a 36.9% chance. This is in contrast to what we saw in January 2024, where Google often showed sources outside the top 10 search results.

Unfortunately for all of us, Google will not distinguish between AI Overviews and organic search in Google Search Console. They will lump all the impressions and clicks together.

So, if you’d like to track the visibility of AI Overviews for important queries, you’ll have to use third-party tools like ZipTie.

Bear in mind that AI Overviews are still volatile, appearing and disappearing for different keywords. Third-party tools may also struggle to keep up, considering that search queries will become more conversational and long-tailed.

Finally, the purpose of AI Overviews is to provide personalized summaries. This element will be missing when it comes to tracking, especially regarding linked sources.

Considering that Google seems to be aligning AI Overviews with organic results, your best bet is to continue following SEO best practices and aim to rank high on Google itself.

In fact, if we look at Rich Sanger’s recommendations from his latest study on AIOs, you’d find that it is essentially SEO basics:

In short, even though Google has now introduced AI Overviews, the fundamentals of SEO are still the same. You need to:

• Do keyword research
• Make content users want to see by matching search intent
• Ensure the content is comprehensive and fulfills E-E-A-T
• Build links

However, given that the overlap is still not 100%, it could suggest a potential avenue for ‘information gain’ to be rewarded. To put it in layman’s terms, Google wants to reward new information, not copycat content.

In fact, when Rich Sanger analyzed the patent, it suggested that Google was indeed looking for diversity:

“But understand that the AI Overview doesn’t only provide documents from the top sources for that query. It seeks out diversity. If the top-ranked content for that query is homogenous, it will move on to closely related queries. Earning top page rankings along with visibility in the AI Overview for targeted queries is the best case scenario.”

How can you add ‘information gain’ to your content? There are three ways:

• Experimentation — Go into the real world, test ideas, and collect data that no one else has.
• Experience — Actually experience the thing you’re making content about.
• Effort — Go beyond others and make better things or things that are more than words on a page.

Our Director of Content Marketing Ryan Law expands on each concept in his article on standing out from AI content. I highly recommend reading it.

Final thoughts

Did I miss anything? Let me know on X or LinkedIn. 

Here’s what they said:

Authors: Stephan Spencer, Eric Enge, Jessica Stricchiola

First published: 6 November 2009

Recommended by: Aleyda Solis

Here’s why Aleyda recommended this book:

“I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn SEO from scratch or gain insights into any specific SEO area. It’s the most complete SEO book out there!”

Author: Eli Schwartz

First published: 27 April 2021

Recommended by: Gus Pelogia, Philipp Götza, Patrick Stox

Here’s why Gus recommended this book:

“I read Product-Led SEO sometime before starting to work in Product Development, and now I’m reading it again. This book takes you out of the SEO shell, and it’s about strategy and approach to SEO vs tactics.

It’ll take you out of the usual SEO approach (e.g., we need more keywords) and give examples of how companies can approach SEO as a holistic strategy. It’s also an easy and quick read, I was nodding along as I read it.”

Author: Andreas Voniatis

First published: 25th March 2023

Recommended by: James Flint

Here’s why James recommended this book:

“It’s a great book if you already know a little bit of Python and want to improve your SEO skills, it dives straight into it with no messing about. Andreas has done a great job merging these two fields and provides a great hands on approach throughout.”

Author: James Victore

First published: 5 March 2019

Recommended by: Dan Taylor

Here’s why Dan recommended this book:

“Feck Perfuction, for me, is a must-read for anyone looking to be reinvigorated and open to breaking things and standing out. It’s thought-provoking, and I’ve found it helps better understand the flaws in things and turn them into inverse weaknesses, as well as better communicating complex SEO topics and not just defaulting to “it depends.”

It’s not a step-by-step, but Victore promotes a mindset shift that promotes creating marketing that resonates with your audiences.”

Author: Jason Barnard

First published: 11 January 2022

Recommended by: Michal Pecánek

Here’s why Michal recommended this book:

“I believe that proper integration of SEO with brand management got to a whole new level of importance with the widespread adoption of generative AI tools. Do you want ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google’s AIOs to regularly showcase your brand and products? You better focus on reputation management, entity SEO, and building a strong brand.

Jason’s pseudonym is The Brand SERP Guy–that says it all. I like that his book is useful for SEOs of all levels, as this is an often overlooked discipline. If you’re a pro, you can just go straight to the insights and tips. I read most of the book because it’s a quick read anyway. This should be a must-read for anyone serious about building their online presence.”

Author: Ryan Stewart

First published: 26 February 2020

Recommended by: Joshua Hardwick

Here’s why Joshua recommended this book:

“My favorite thing about this book is how actionable it is. Ryan shows you how to actually manage an SEO project for clients (or your own website) and gives you the spreadsheets/processes he uses for free so you can follow along. It could probably use an update as it was last updated in 2020, but it’s still an amazing book for anyone wanting to learn how to actually do SEO and not just drown themselves in theory.”

Author: Chet Holmes

First published: 27 May 2008

Recommended by: Glen Allsopp

Here’s why Glen recommended this book:

“There’s lots to love about the book, but I particularly fell in love with a concept Chet calls the ‘Dream 100’. The idea is to build relationships with the Dream 100 people who could impact your business, whether that’s potential clients, people who could promote your creation, etc.

Giving value to people up front – even if they aren’t likely to have any impact on what I’m doing online – is something I’ve always tried to do and believed in so that’s why I related to it the most. 

Chet helped me think about systemizing that process and making it a proactive thing rather than reactive and in the moment. The relationships I’ve built have been key for a number of businesses I work on, and I love how the book gives a number of specific examples of how Chet himself used it on his journey.”

Author: Tim Soulo, Joshua Hardwick, Patrick Stox

First published: January 1, 2023

Recommended by: Patrick Stox

Here’s why Patrick recommended this book:

“The Ahrefs SEO book for beginners is the perfect read for new SEOs. It’s straightforward and has all the actionable information you need to be successful.”

Author: Tim Soulo, Sam Oh

First published: 2023

Recommended by: Theo Haines, age 3 ¼

Here’s why Theo recommended White Haired SEO:

“It’s a lovely book because it’s got the bluebirds in it—that’s my favorite. I like the bit where she’s scaring the bluebirds away…I like the book flying into the library!”

Author: Paddy Moogan

First published: 2013

Recommended by: Chris Haines

Here’s why I recommended this book:

“As a junior SEO, I found this book useful in 2013 to help me do my job. At the time, there wasn’t any book that told you everything you needed to know about link building, but this book filled the gap.

As it’s recently been updated and put online for free here, I found myself returning to the book over ten years later and still finding useful nuggets of information that got me thinking about link building in different ways again.”

Author: Dixon Jones

First published: 1st September 2021

Recommended by: Louise Linehan

Here’s why Louise recommended this book:

“Even though I have known (and written) about entities and semantic SEO for a number of years now, I still learned a lot from this book. Dixon Jones gives a thorough historical explanation of how search engines came to decipher entities, which must have taken a ton of time to research. One of the things I was especially surprised to learn was how much Google relies on Wikipedia data and human input to identify and categorize entities. I knew Wikipedia played a part in this, but I didn’t realize the full extent. 

The book also reminded me of the importance of entity SEO in building an authoritative brand, and I picked up some great practical tips, like using Google’s Knowledge Graph and Structured Data tools to research (and replicate) the entities of top competitors – a tactic I’d never considered before. The detailed historical context, paired with useful, practical advice, definitely made this a worthwhile read.”

Final thoughts

If you want to learn SEO from scratch, you can randomly pick from thousands of articles online, or you can pick a single book from this list—like our SEO book for beginners. Both ways will teach you about SEO, but in my opinion, an SEO book is usually the best place to start if you want a decent grounding in SEO or are looking for more depth of opinion on a particular topic.

Once you’ve grasped the basics, you can start absorbing the regular SEO updates online or read more specialized books from your favorite SEOs in this list.

Want to share what SEO books you’re reading? Let me know on LinkedIn.

At the “Made on YouTube” event, which was held at Pier 57 on Sept. 18, 2024, CEO Neal Mohan, product executives, and top creators introduced nine new features and tools aimed at helping creators express their creativity, build communities, and grow their businesses.

Here is a quick overview of the announcements:

• Veo for Dream Screen: Dream Screen, which allows creators to generate backgrounds in YouTube Shorts, will soon be enhanced with Google’s DeepMind technology, bringing more realistic backgrounds and standalone video clips.
• Inspiration Tab: The upgraded Inspiration tab in YouTube Studio helps creators turn curated suggestions into full projects, with AI refining ideas, titles, and thumbnails to fit their style.
• Communities: A new feature that allows creators to create spaces on their channel pages where both they and their fans can post art, share ideas, and engage with each other.
• Community Hub: This new space in the YouTube Studio app helps creators engage more effectively with their audiences, with AI-powered suggestions for replies to comments.
• Auto Dubbing: Soon to be available to more creators, auto dubbing will allow creators to add audio tracks in different languages, making their content more accessible globally.
• Hype: A new way for viewers to support smaller creators by “hyping” their videos to help them appear on a weekly leaderboard, which increases visibility and audience reach.
• YouTube Shopping: YouTube’s shopping program is expanding to creators in Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam, following its success in the U.S. and South Korea.
• Gifts Powered by Jewels: This feature allows viewers to engage with live streams on vertical video formats, giving creators another way to earn revenue.
• Big Screen Experience: Creators will soon be able to structure their content into seasons and episodes, improving the TV viewing experience. Additionally, autoplay features for channel pages will help engage viewers from the start.

For more details, you can read about the “Made On YouTube” event here and watch the New YouTube Features — Explained! video below.

In the video, YouTube’s Chief Product Officer, Johanna Voolich, says, “On YouTube, success isn’t one-size-fits-all.” It is as distinctive as the video platform’s talented creators and artists.

Whether it is about expressing yourself, building a community, or achieving financial independence, YouTube aims to provide lasting opportunities for creators to chart their own path to success.

Dream Screen With Google DeepMind’s Veo

The most eye-catching announcement at this week’s “Made on YouTube” event was Google DeepMind’s Veo.

Last year, YouTube launched Dream Screen, which allows creators to generate limitless backgrounds for YouTube Shorts.

While millions of creators are already using Dream Screen, YouTube announced its plans to integrate Google DeepMind’s advanced video-generating model, Veo, into YouTube Shorts later this year.

With Veo, creators will be able to produce even more immersive backgrounds.

For example, BookTubers could immerse themselves in the world of the classic novel, The Secret Garden, or a fashion designer could instantly bring creative and playful design ideas to life to present to their audience.

This means creators will soon be able to generate standalone six-second video clips for their YouTube Shorts using Veo.

For instance, if you are reviewing your footage and sense that something is needed to bring it all together, you can easily create a single clip that seamlessly integrates with the content you have already filmed.

These creations will include a SynthID watermark, along with a label that clearly informs viewers they were generated using AI.

Inspiration Tab Also Gets A Makeover

YouTube also unveiled an Inspiration Tab makeover.

Screenshot from blog.google, September 2024

As 20.4 million YouTube creators worldwide already know all too well, generating fresh ideas can be tough.

So, the Inspiration Tab in YouTube Studio is getting a makeover, creating a brainstorming buddy that is powered by generative AI.

It will assist in generating suggestions that you can develop into complete projects, including video ideas, titles, thumbnails, and outlines that align with your style.

Next year, YouTube will roll out a new shortcut that will take you directly to the Inspiration Tab from any source of inspiration, such as your top comments, other videos, or even your own content library.

Four New Features To Build Stronger Connections

YouTube understands that the bond between creators and their loyal fans is special. So, they introduced four new tools to build even stronger connections:

1. Communities

Creators can think of this feature as their own space on their channel to discuss videos, share fan art, and connect with others.

Communities are live on select channels, with wider access planned for early 2025.

2. Hype

A new feature to spotlight emerging creators. Fans can “hype” a video, boosting its chances of being discovered.

Hype has already been tested in Brazil, Türkiye, and Taiwan, and will soon roll out to other countries.

3. Auto Dubbing

YouTube’s automatic dubbing tool allows creators to generate translated audio tracks, making content accessible in multiple languages.

Soon, it will support even more languages, and they are testing a feature that will replicate tone and ambiance for a more natural listening experience.

4. Comments Tab

YouTube is reimagining the Comments tab in the YouTube Studio app, turning it into a “Community” hub for deeper engagement.

Responding to comments can be overwhelming for creators, so YouTube is introducing AI-powered suggestions to help creators craft responses faster, along with tools like community spotlights and audience metrics.

Three New Ways To Support The Creator Economy

YouTube’s creative ecosystem contributed more than $35 billion to the U.S. GDP in 2022, which supported over 390,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the country, according to a report by Oxford Economics.

“Today, YouTube is the only platform that shares revenue with creators at scale, across multiple formats. Our YouTube Partner Program pays out more than any other creator monetization platform, and we’ve paid $70 billion to creators, artists, and media companies over the last three years,” notes Voolich.

YouTube has also unveiled three new features to reinforce their support for the Creator Economy:

1. Jewels And Gifts

YouTube launched digital items designed to boost real-time fan interaction and provide a new way for creators to earn.

Initially, this will roll out in the U.S. for vertical livestreams, making it simpler for viewers to engage, show excitement, and participate actively, enhancing the live experience.

2. YouTube Shopping Expansion

YouTube Shopping now has over 250,000 creators! The affiliate program is available in the U.S. and South Korea, and YouTube is expanding to Indonesia through a partnership with Shopee.

Soon, YouTube will bring the program to Thailand and Vietnam, allowing more creators to promote products and grow their businesses globally.

3. Access To Living Rooms

Creators are increasingly creating content specifically for the big screen, with TV revenue growing over 30% year over year.

To support this, YouTube introduced features like organizing content into seasons and episodes, making it easier for viewers to follow their favorite shows.

Additionally, YouTube enhances the TV experience with immersive content from creators’ channels, better subscription management, and easier access to links in descriptions.

The Biggest Splash For YouTube Since Brandcast

The annual YouTube event did not fail to deliver. By unveiling nine new features at Made on YouTube 2024, the platform made its biggest splash since Brandcast back in May.

What does this mean for YouTube?

Creators are central to YouTube’s success. They are the ones who bring their ideas, stories, and visions to the platform. And they are uploading more than 500 hours of content to YouTube every minute.

What does this mean for brands and their agencies?

Well, creators have turned YouTube into the second-most visited website in the world, after Google Search.

As of September 2024, YouTube had more than 2.5 billion monthly users, who collectively watch more than 1 billion hours of videos every day. And YouTube Shorts is now averaging over 70 billion daily views from billions of monthly logged-in users.

So, brands and their agencies can reach potential customers while they’re searching, browsing, or watching YouTube videos.

At Brandcast back in May, YouTube unveiled new ad offerings, touted creator influence, and shared strong viewership metrics. At Made on YouTube this week, it announced a lot of new products and updated features that aim to give creators the opportunity to build engaging communities, drive sustainable businesses, and express creativity on their platform.

And as any fan of the movie Ghostbusters (1984) can tell you, that makes this “the biggest interdimensional cross rip since the Tunguska Blast of 1909.”

More resources:

Featured Image: YouTube CEO Neal Mohan speaks onstage at Made on YouTube at Pier 57 on September 18, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Made on YouTube 2024)