How AI Overviews are Changing SEO

My not-so-surprising SEO prediction for 2026 is that organic CTR will continue to decline. Google will continue to refine its AI overviews to appear for a broader range of search queries. Parallel to this, Gen AI models like ChatGPT will further evolve through advanced training. 

Users will have access to increasingly accurate and relevant answers via both AI Overviews and Gen AI. Even without technical advancements, the growing integration of AI tools into the user journey will, by itself, foster greater user trust and reliance over time, further contributing to the shift away from traditional SERPs. The combined effect is an increase in zero-click searches, and decrease in organic CTR. 

The obvious way to adapt for this change is to optimize for AIO and GEO, not just SEO. Following my previous post on LLM search optimization, this post discusses how AI Overviews will change the future of SEO. 

The Zero-Click Search

Although Google has previously claimed otherwise, the undeniable trend is that organic CTRs are hitting all-time lows, ever since the introduction of AI Overviews.

The above screenshot is a Google search for the query "text mining." The AI overview provides a basic high-level definition, followed by more detailed sections such as how it works, key techniques, and why it's important. Users seeking a basic definition of text mining would have gotten what they were looking for without ever leaving the SERPs, so we can see why the zero-click search is becoming more prevalent. While the AI overview sites authoritative sources such as IBM and Wikipedia, the CTR of those pages are likely diminished by the comprehensive AI Overview. According to Search Engine Land, data from 20,000+ queries showed that AI Overview citations consistently have low CTR, matching the performance of organic results ranked at Position 6 or lower.

The range of AI Overviews also continues to increase. In the early days, they mostly appeared for generic search queries like "text mining", but they are now appearing on transactional queries as well, where lead generation and conversions are concentrated.

How To “Rank” In AI Overviews

ahrefs did a study on what factors, especially rankings, affect whether a page gets cited in AI Overviews. Their findings revealed notable correlation between strong SEO and AI Overview visibility.

Pages ranking in the top 10 showed a moderate positive correlation (0.347) with appearing in AI Overviews citations. An even stronger correlation (0.445) was found between a page’s organic rank and its position within the AI Overview—indicating that higher-ranking pages are not only more likely to be cited, but also tend to be cited nearer at top.

This aligns closely with my real-life SEO experience: clients with strong SEO are consistently achieving greater AI Overview visibility compared to their competitors.

However, the relationship between organic rankings and AI Overviews is not a direct 1:1 correlation. AI Overviews factor in something beyond traditional SEO, most likely brand and web mentions across a wide range of authoritative sites, which are also strong signals for credibility and context.

I arrive at the same conclusion as in my previous post on LLM visibility. SEO still matters, now more than ever. Both traditional SEO and AI Overviews operate on the same Google platform, and there is a large overlap in the authority signals used. Continue to follow the SEO best practices and E-E-A-T, to future-proof your brand visibility across all of Google's services, from the classic blue hyperlinks to AI Overview's dynamic responses.