Instead of individual blue links, we are now in an era of summaries for many informational queries.

Large language models know only what we’ve given them. They don’t understand common sense, humor or emotional intelligence, but they are good at summarizing the information they’ve been given.

3. Zero-click searches will continue to rise for informational queries.

AI-generated answers in search results are testing marketers who want their website to maintain a healthy click-through rate. As AI Overviews (alongside featured snippets, which haven’t gone away) satisfy many people’s queries directly in the search results, it’s becoming harder to earn a click. Content must be compelling enough to entice users to visit the page.

This is especially true for query types that AI can answer, such as informational searches. Marketers will likely be increasingly challenged to create deep, personal and unique content if they expect to rank for informational content that is still worthy of a click.

As AI becomes better at creating robust responses that satisfy queries, removing users’ need to click through to a page, firsthand experiences will become more important than ever.

But maybe this isn’t bad news all around. When Google introduced featured snippets, some experts predicted these short excerpts would keep users from visiting the highlighted websites. Today, however, the featured snippet is one of the most coveted organic positions, capturing approximately 35% of the total click share for a given query. While ranking for a featured snippet can often result in fewer clicks for informational queries (zero-click content), it offers significant benefits in increased brand visibility and authority from search engines and users.

While it’s still critical to create content that adds value beyond what AI-generated overviews can provide, know that appearing in AI Overviews is also based on relevance factors. This means search engines use complex algorithms to determine what content is most relevant and valuable for a given query, such as:

• How well the content matches the intent and context of the search query

• How well the content addresses the topic and provides comprehensive information

• The website’s overall authority and credibility

• How the information aligns with other authoritative sources on the topic

• How well the content is organized and marked up for easy interpretation by search engines

Search engine algorithms continually refine these factors to ensure that AI Overviews presents the most accurate and helpful information. We still urge clients to improve their content’s overall quality and its value to users, rather than specifically optimizing for search engines or AIO. That’s a basic (and frequently misunderstood) principle of SEO, and I don’t see it changing anytime soon.

So, while pages featured in AI Overviews may receive fewer direct clicks than if they earned a high position on a page without these AI-generated results, creating informative content that goes beyond the basics can still give your pages a solid chance of being featured in the overview and potentially capturing clicks from users seeking more in-depth information.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Liz Reid, head of Google Search, said AI Overviews should ultimately help website owners who are doing the right things. “In reality, people do want to click to the web, even when they have an AI overview,” she said. “They start with the AI overview and then they want to dig in deeper. We will continue to innovate on the AI overview and also on how do we send the most useful traffic to the web.”

4. Constant change is (still) the reality.

Search “ai” now and filter by news, and you’ll see hundreds of results from major publications, all published within the last 24 hours, covering every high and low of AI. Through the testing and tweaks, peaks and valleys, marketers will have to play some of the wait-and-see game, giving these changes time to evolve.

We’re living and working through the introduction of AI on a massive scale. As one speaker suggested at MozCon last month, it’s gonna get weird. In the face of these changes, I’m determined to keep it in perspective, living by one of my favorite mantras: Improvise, adapt, overcome. It might seem silly or even inappropriate to use this unofficial slogan of the U.S. Marines in a marketing context. But its genius gives it many applications, and marketing in the age of AI is no exception.

I think it’s important to remember that we are in a unique time where marketers are figuring AI out together. Look at some of these examples where even the biggest names in the U.S. are testing and recalling AI-fueled initiatives.

The rules of AI are still under construction. Like most AI developments, no one knows if AI Overviews will keep their current form, become less invasive or even disappear altogether. All of this is happening in real time. And while much of the future is still unclear, I can say one thing for certain: If you want your website and business to thrive in the age of AI, adapt your approach to deliver value beyond what AI can offer.

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