AI Overviews and ChatGPT: what changes for your SEO

Google AI Overviews now sit at the top of many searches in most major markets, and more people ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity before they ever open a search engine. The normal results are still there, but they sit lower, under an answer that arrives before anyone scrolls. That changes how many clicks you get and which pages get them.

Most advice about this is either panic or denial. The truth is simpler: some kinds of search changed, we know fairly well what gets cited, and most of the work is good SEO you should be doing anyway.

Which searches changed

Questions and comparisons changed the most: "what is", "how much does", "best X for Y" and "X or Y". Searches with clear buying intent changed the least. Someone searching for a product name and model number still gets ordinary links.

So before you change anything, sort your top pages by the kind of search that brings people in. If most of your traffic comes from buying searches and your own brand name, you are far less exposed than the headlines suggest.

What gets cited

AI answers quote pages that are easy to read, from brands they can identify, that answer the question early. In practice that means four things:

• Clear brand facts. Your site says who you are, what you do and where, the same way on every page, with matching structured data.
• Answers at the top. Put the direct answer in the first paragraph under each question. It is often the single best edit you can make, and it is free.
• Clean structure. Real headings, real lists and tables, and structured data that matches what is on the page.
• Something worth quoting. A number, a price range, a comparison or your own data. Pages that repeat what everyone else says get summarised, not credited.

Check the technical basics

AI crawlers need to reach your content. Pages that only load with JavaScript, content behind pop-ups or consent walls, and strict bot blocking can all hide your site. Bot blocking is the most common problem, because a security setting often blocks the newer AI crawlers without anyone in marketing knowing. Check your firewall and CDN settings.

An llms.txt file can help point AI tools to your key pages, but it is not a ranking factor. Be wary of anyone selling it as one.

How to measure it

Search Console does not show AI Overview traffic separately, so use three simple checks together:

• Watch impressions and clicks on your question pages. If impressions hold but clicks fall, AI answers are likely taking the click.
• Track the click rate of your top 20 question searches. A drop while your position stays the same is the same signal.
• Once a month, ask your 20 most valuable questions in Google and in two AI assistants, and note whether you are cited. It takes about half an hour.

What not to do

Do not delete helpful articles just because they do not sell directly. They are often what makes you worth citing. Do not rewrite your whole site as questions and answers. And do not buy an "AI search package" that is a plugin and an invoice.

Most of all, do not treat this as separate from SEO. Good SEO and AI visibility reward the same clear structure, which is why we build AI search into every SEO plan from day one.

The short version

If your site is technically clean, clearly about one brand and says something worth quoting, you are most of the way there. If not, AI answers did not create a new problem. They made an old one more expensive.

A worked example

Imagine an accounting firm with a popular article on "what is VAT". That page used to bring thousands of visits a month. Now the answer appears at the top of Google and in ChatGPT, and visits drop. The firm's enquiries, though, barely move, because the people who hire accountants search for things like "VAT registration help for a small business", and those searches still lead to sites.

The fix is not to chase the lost clicks. It is to make the pages that bring buyers stronger: clear answers at the top, the price or the next step visible, real names behind the advice and proof from real clients.

A checklist for being cited

• Answer the question in the first two sentences, then explain.
• Use headings that match how people ask: "How much does it cost", "How long does it take".
• Show who wrote the page and why they know the subject.
• Keep facts, prices and dates current. Old numbers get skipped.
• Make sure AI crawlers are not blocked in robots.txt unless you mean it.
• Use structured data for your organisation, articles and FAQs where they are real.

Common mistakes

• Writing for robots. Pages stuffed with phrases read badly to people and to AI tools alike.
• Hiding the answer. Long introductions before the point get passed over.
• Panicking about traffic. Falling visits on simple questions can sit alongside rising enquiries.

Questions we hear

Is SEO dead because of AI answers?

No. AI tools build their answers from web pages, and they favour clear, trusted sources. The basics of good SEO are what get you cited.

Can we see when ChatGPT mentions us?

Not fully. You can test the questions your buyers ask in each tool, record whether you appear and repeat it monthly. Some referral traffic from AI tools also shows in analytics.

Should we block AI crawlers?

Only if your content is the product, such as paid research. For most businesses, being cited is free visibility.