If you’ve Googled anything lately you might’ve noticed a new format popping up in the results – Google Gemini AI Overviews.
What is Gemini AI?
Google’s Gemini AI is a powerful large language model (LLM) designed to understand natural language and generate responses. It fuels AI Overviews by pulling information from various sources then generating an original summary. It’s smarter, faster and far more comprehensive than the old-school search algorithms behind Featured Snippets.
These are Google’s AI generated summaries that now appear above Featured Snippets on Google search results pages. Powered by Google’s advanced Gemini AI Overviews gather and summarise information from multiple sources to provide fast, informative responses.
Featured Snippets on the other hand have been around since 2014 and typically pull one direct quote from a webpage to answer a question quickly. While they’ve lost their prized ‘position zero’ slot to AI Overviews they’re still very valuable. In fact Featured Snippets boast an impressive average click-through rate (CTR) of 42.9%, compared to 1.08% for being cited in an AI Overview.
Both features contribute to zero-click searches where users find their answer on the results page without clicking through. That said these features if you’re website is lucky enough to enjoy a mention still offers great opportunities for brand visibility and website traffic.
How AI Overviews are changing the SEO game
At GOOP Digital, we recommend targeting both. Why? Because the optimisation techniques overlap concise answers, simple language, schema markup, strong backlinks and internal links all improve your chances of getting featured.
As AI Overviews evolve they’re now showing up for all types of searches including commercial and transactional queries. This means businesses especially in competitive sectors can’t afford to ignore this shift.
Want to stay ahead in search? At GOOP Digital, we can help you optimise for both AI Overviews and Featured Snippets, ensuring your brand stands out in a crowded digital landscape. Ready to boost your visibility? Let’s chat.