What are AI Overviews (Formerly SGE)?
AI Overviews (formerly SGE or Search Generative Experience) is the AI-generated summary displayed on Google search results pages. AI Overviews are typically displayed at the top of the Google search results page, although they can appear at other locations, including the People Also Ask field.
For example, this is AI Overviews at the topmost area of the Google search results page.
AI Overviews can also appear at other locations on the search results page. For instance, this one appears below the topmost-ranking organic result.
This AI Overview is displayed in the Ihmiset myös kysyvät field.
Google released AI Overviews as a response to the rise of generative AI. It is a competitor to generative AI products like Microsoft’s Copilot and OpenAI’s ChatGPT and is powered by the Gemini large language model (LLM), which is the same model that powers the Google Gemini chatbot.
The answers presented in the AI Overviews are extracted from the Google Knowledge Graph and related sites available on the web. Google only displays it when it determines it would be helpful to the visitor.
AI Overview Formats
Google displays AI Overviews in various formats. It is also introducing new formats and modifying existing ones, so the specific look will change over time. That said, here are a few AI overview formats you will encounter on Google’s results pages.
1 Paragraph Format
The paragraph format displays the AI Overview in a simple paragraph that provides a concise response to the hakusana.
2 Bullet List Format
The bullet list format displays the AI Overview as a bullet list. This bullet list will typically include one or more paragraphs alongside the list.
3 Numbered List Format
The numbered list format displays the AI Overview as a numbered list. The numbered list will typically contain one or more paragraphs and may be further broken into bullet lists.
4 Carousel Format
The carousel format displays the AI Overview as a carousel. That is, multiple relevant answers are displayed along a horizontal plane. The carousel format includes relevant images along with rich results and links to the site from which they were sourced.
History of AI Overviews
On May 10, 2023, Google published a blog post revealing that it would use AI to improve the results on its search results pages. Google said this would help to reduce the number of searches a visitor needs to find the answers that they seek.
For example, let us assume a family with a dog and kids under the age of three wanted to plan a tour of the Grand Canyon or Arches National Park.
Ideally, they would have to enter multiple search terms into Google to determine the best national park to visit and which one would be great for a dog and kids under three. However, with AI Overviews, they only need to do one search, and Google will return a relevant answer.
For instance, only AI Overviews returns a relevant answer when we search for "what’s better for a family with kids under 3 and a dog, grand canyon or arches”.
In the blog post, Google did not refer to its generative AI search as AI Overviews as we know it today. Instead, it called it the Search Generative Experience (SGE).
Google released the Search Generative Experience (SGE) to its Search Lab, which is a program that allows Google users to access and experiment with new features Google wants to introduce to search.
Google later released AI Overviews to users on May 14, 2024. This time, Google referred to it as “AI Overviews” and did not mention Search Generative Experience.
Benefits of AI Overviews
AI Overviews allow visitors to find relevant answers quickly. The answer is also displayed at a prominent position on the search results page, ensuring that visitors do not need to scroll excessively to find it.
AI Overviews can also provide visibility to the sites featured in the overview. The traffic from such clicks is also typically of higher quality, making such visitors more likely to interact with the page’s call to action and convert.
Drawbacks of AI Overviews
AI Overviews shares many of the same issues as other generative AI tools, along with its own unique challenges, particularly concerns from bloggers who view it as another Google Search feature diverting traffic away from their sites.
1 It Can Make Mistakes
AI Overviews has many of the same issues that are common with generative AI. For one, it can make errors and take on the bias of the content on which it was trained or rely on for information.
For example, at the time of release, AI Overviews suggested we mix pizza sauce with glue. This is clearly not healthy advice and can be dangerous.
Apparently, Google had gotten this information from a comment someone jokingly left on Reddit.
While such errors are common with generative AI, they can cause confusion and misdirect AI Overview users. This is also concerning, considering many visitors consider Google a trustworthy source of information and may only check the AI Overviews without reviewing the rest of the results.
2 It Causes Zero-Click Searches
Bloggers are concerned that AI Overviews will take their traffic. However, this fear is not unique to AI Overviews, as bloggers have repeatedly complained about the many search results features that provide visitors with the answers to their queries on the results page.
These features jointly contribute to zero-click searches, which refers to search journeys that terminate on the search results page. In such cases, visitors do not click on any result because Google already provided it to them on the search results page.
How to Get Your Site Featured in the AI Overview
Google uses content published on the web for AI Overviews. It also includes links to relevant sites. Interested visitors can click on these links, making them a new traffic source for bloggers.
However, AI Overviews do not have any unique settings or requirements. Just optimize your site, and Google will determine whether to consider it for AI Overviews.
How to Remove Your Content From AI Overviews
Add the nosnippet meta tag to the pages you do not want Google to consider or include as an AI Overview. You can also prevent Google from displaying or considering specific parts of your content in AI Overviews using the data-nosnippet attribute. Once done, request Google to recrawl the page.