Are AI Overviews Worth Pursuing?

When it comes to making strategic decisions about your content strategy, it pays to consider multiple factors and data points before making any drastic changes. And although I hate to be a cliche, the classic answer to whether you should change your strategy based on the presence of AIOs really is: It depends.

The reality is, AI Overviews will impact your traffic. Their implementation has resulted in a significant decline in clicks from SERPs where they are included. Even if you are featured as a source in the AIO itself, users are still less likely to click through to your website. This means we need to reframe how we measure success and consider when (and where) we may be able to accept that loss in traffic.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself when assessing the impact of AIOs on your business and whether or not you should pursue them:

What keywords are driving traffic to my website, and are those visitors converting?

It helps to know where we’re starting before we decide where we’re going and how we’ll get there. So, before making any big changes, assess what keywords are driving traffic to your site and how many of those visits are converting.

In addition to looking at which keywords are driving traffic, take a look at where you’re gaining the most impressions. Are there keywords where you have a lot of impressions but very few clicks? Should they be driving traffic to your site?