โ Google has confirmed: The first tests of AI Overviews – i.e. AI-generated answers directly in the search results – are currently underway in Germany and Switzerland. Users from Italy and Spain are also reporting sightings. According to Google, the test affects “a small percentage of traffic”. An official launch date for Europe? Still open.
๐ What at first glance appears to be just another AI feature could massively change the search landscape. This is because the search engine is becoming an answer engine. Users receive direct answers – and click less often on websites. For publishers, shops and creators, this means less visibility and less traffic.
โ๏ธ This is already causing a dispute in the USA. The learning platform Chegg has sued Google – due to a lack of traffic from AI Overviews. Once worth 14 billion dollars, Chegg’s market capitalisation is now less than 100 million ๐ธ. The German Association of Digital Publishers (BDZV) is also sounding the alarm: in a survey, 100% of the media companies surveyed expect traffic to continue to fall.
๐ซ If you don’t want to be there, you can use a nosnippet tag to prevent content from appearing in the overviews. However, this may cause them to disappear completely from Google’s field of vision. The choice: less visibility – or none at all?
๐ The extent to which click rates are really affected is unclear. Studies show different results: Some measure strong declines, others even find more clicks for certain search types than for featured snippets. It is striking that AI overviews appear primarily in informational searches – for example in the health sector๐ฅ.
๐ก What to do now? Sistrix founder Johannes Beus recommends:
-๐งโ๐ฌDelivering real expert knowledge
โ ๐ธ Own, authentic content (photos, videos, opinions)
โ ๐ท๏ธ Building a brand
This is because Google will show fewer links in future – and more well-known names, companies and personalities instead.
๐ Is that enough to remain visible in the age of AI – or do we need completely new strategies? Discussion welcomeย ๐
