How to Prepare for AI Search Updates

↓ Google shared new guidance for site owners, publishers, and creators on how to perform well in its AI search experiences: ✅ Create unique, valuable content for people Focus on content that fulfills users' needs—not commodity content. This applies to both AI and classic blue link results. ✅ Provide a great page experience Make sure your pages load fast, are easy to navigate, and clearly display the main content. ✅ Ensure Google can access your content Check that your pages return a 200 status, aren’t blocked by robots.txt, and are indexable. ✅ Use preview controls to manage visibility Use tags like nosnippet, max-snippet, and noindex to control what appears in AI experiences. ✅ Match structured data to visible content Only include structured data that reflects what’s actually on the page—and validate your markup. ✅ Support multimodal search Include high-quality images and videos on your pages. Keep your Merchant Center and Business Profile updated. ✅ Focus on visit quality, not just clicks AI Overviews often send more engaged visitors. Measure success with metrics beyond click volume. ✅ Search keeps evolving AI Overviews and AI Mode are part of a larger shift. People are asking deeper, more specific questions and engaging more with results. Full details → https://lnkd.in/dZKSWz7K Would you add any other details based on your SEO experience? #SEO #GoogleSearch #AIOverviews #AIMode #SearchTips #ContentStrategy #TechnicalSEO #StructuredData #PageExperience

We interviewed Kevin Indig recently on how Google is shifting traffic to AI Overviews (AIOs) recently and the takeaway’s clear: AIOs are reshaping click-through rates, ranking factors, and long-tail visibility to the point that the old SEO playbook just won’t cut it. The ground is changing fast under our feet: → AI Overviews are dominating search. Correlation between ranking and AIO citations is 0.65—3x stronger than domain authority alone. → Click-through rates are dropping. → Long-tail queries are being answered directly by AI, skipping your links entirely. 30% of marketers report traffic loss as AI engines pull users away from classic search results. That’s why today winning teams are: 1. Publishing AI-optimized content in static HTML (avoid dynamic JS) 2. Delivering deep, owned insights that answer real user intent 3. Earning citations through original, high-authority content, often with proprietary first and 3rd party data One AirOps customer, previously hit hard by traffic decline, pivoted fast with an AI-focused strategy—and saw a 130% lift in CTR in just six weeks. The plan teams are using to stay ahead of the curve: → Audit your content for AI-readiness: clarity, depth, and structured answers → Use schema markup and formats built for AIOs and voice search → Prioritize unique POVs that are worth citing → Stay nimble—adaptation is the real moat We’re just scratching the surface of what AI search means for content visibility, ranking, and click-throughs. Drop a comment below if you’re seeing the same shift.

My Take on Google’s AI Overviews Update and Where I Think This is Headed Yesterday’s announcement wasn’t just another Google I/O demo. It confirmed what many of us in SEO have been preparing for: the transformation of traditional search into a query resolution engine powered by real-time LLMs, multimodal inputs, and personal context. What really stood out: - Google is no longer positioning AI Overviews as an experiment. It’s core to the future of search. - AI Mode is now baked into the UI and set up to handle deeper reasoning, personalized context, and even transaction workflows. - They’re essentially building a browsing assistant layered on top of Search, not just a summary generator. From an SEO perspective, this means a few things: 1. Less Clicks, More Skimming Expect continued decline in CTRs on top organic results for many query types. Even if links are present in AI Overviews, users are likely to get what they need without clicking, or they’ll only click the one link Google spoon-feeds as most “helpful.” 2. A Surge in Zero-Click Rewrites Google's ability to fan out queries, synthesize multiple pages, and stitch together a response means we’re looking at the largest-scale content remixing machine ever built. Google’s pulling from your site to answer the query, not to send users to you. 3. Content Relevance > Rankings Ranking #1 isn’t enough. If your content isn’t structured and contextually rich enough to inform an AI Overview, you’re invisible. Google’s “under-the-hood” query decomposition means your content has to satisfy subtopics, not just surface-level terms. 4. Topical Authority Still Matters, But in a Different Way The model will reward breadth and depth, but especially depth. Brands that build dense, structured, internally-linked hubs on core themes are more likely to be referenced as sources, even if they don’t appear first in traditional rankings. 5. EEAT Becomes Table Stakes If Google is citing your site as a trusted source in an answer it’s generating with real-time reasoning, that content better carries authority signals, real people, clear expertise, and trustworthy data. Thin affiliate-style sites are going to vanish from visibility. 6. A Shift Toward Source Optimization This is the beginning of a new category: optimizing your site not just to rank, but to be referenced in AI Overviews and agentic workflows. Think schema, structured data, and real-world credibility indicators like reviews, awards, and citations. 7. Search Intent is Fragmenting Further AI Mode introduces a layer of subjectivity. One person’s search will yield a different response based on prior activity and context, making targeting “the” keyword less useful. Future SEO is about understanding intent clusters and use cases. 🧵 continued https://lnkd.in/en6tSZ5W 

“Should we be worried about Google’s new AI Mode?” “Are websites (gasp) dead? 💀 ” Good questions. And people are asking them because it’s GOOGLE. AI-driven search has been around for a while now. ChatGPT, Perplexity, and others have been reshaping how we find information for a hot minute. But it feels more immediate when Google brings it to the main stage. TL;DR: No need to panic. But yes, it’s time to stop, collaborate, and listen. Wait. I mean stop, breathe, learn, and adjust. At Aha Media Group, we’ve been preparing for this for a while. A lot of the “AI Mode SEO” advice that’s circulating now? We’ve already been helping clients build it into their strategies because the signs were there early on. Here’s what we’re recommending right now: 1. Pay attention to what’s changing. You’ll probably see top-of-funnel organic traffic continue to dip as more AI-generated answers surface in search results. But healthcare decisions are complicated. Patients still turn to trusted websites when they’re in the middle of the process or ready to act. 2. Double down on what matters. Structured, trustworthy content is still critical. AI engines rely on it to shape their answers. Your website’s role is evolving, but it’s not going away. Bottom line: AI models RELY ON YOUR CONTENT 📣 to generate answers. You need content. Period. 3. Adapt your SEO and channel marketing strategy. ⚪ Structure content for AI-driven search ⚪ Focus on middle- and bottom-funnel content that answers actual patient questions ⚪ Make sure your website is frictionless — AI agents may be booking appointments directly before long ⚪ Look to other channels for ways to fill the search-traffic void. Get creative with paid, email, digital PR, or even social media 4. Rethink what success looks like. Traffic volume alone won’t tell the whole story anymore. Start looking at impressions, branded search, engagement, appointments booked, and appointments kept. Google’s AI Mode is a big shift. But for healthcare marketers who have been focused on high-quality, audience-first, well-structured content, it’s an evolution, not a revolution. We’re tracking it closely and helping clients adapt with clarity (and without drama). If you’re thinking through how to adjust your strategy, happy to have a conversation. (Also, many resources on our website. I'll link some below. )

Yesterday I flagged how Google’s AI Overviews were a lifeline for niche and small sites. Today—Google confirmed it’s doubling down with the official launch of “AI Mode.” Google rolled out AI Mode—a chatty, Gemini 2.5-powered search interface for all U.S. users—at Google I/O on May 20. It breaks down your query into dozens of micro-searches (“query fan‑out”), synthesizes answers, shows relevant links, and even supports follow-up chats, visual search and soon shopping agents—all without leaving the page. What this means for you: Google is becoming an answer engine first—and your content needs to be engineered for AI consumption. Quick Changes You Can Make Right Now: 1. Structure your content like a dialed-in AI prompt Lead with a direct answer in 1–2 sentences, followed by concise bullets or numbered steps. Make it “AI-snippet ready.” 2. Use descriptive subheadings and schema markup H2s like “How this works,” “Results,” “Next steps” help AI Mode chunk answers. Apply FAQ, HowTo or Q&A schema for clarity. 3. Test your site with AI prompts Try querying Gemini or AI Mode directly with questions your audience would ask (e.g. “how to choose an SEO agency for small law firms”). See what it pulls, and optimize based on gaps.