Rise of artificial intelligence (AI) seems to be a game-changer. It has the capabilities of revolutionizing many industries and sectors including search engines. Google’s AI Overviews has gained popularity in the segment. it is a search engine feature that generates AI-written summaries for search queries. However, it has simultaneously invited a plethora of speculations too. Some predict it as a disruptive overhaul while many believe the changes might not be as radical as feared.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai described the advancements as significant and noted its disruptive potential. He said that AI Overviews are currently being tested in the U.S. and is offering AI-generated paragraphs in response to the search queries of users.
The changes are yet to reach in Europe. SEO professionals in Spain are waiting to witness how the updates will impact their work. SEO consultant David Carrasco said SEO has died several times in the past and the links are not disappearing altogether. However, Google still lists the sources of its AI-generated answers. It simultaneously maintains a separate web tab that features just the links.
Betlem Cardona, SEO director at an agency, points out that every search engine technology revolution has resulted in more evolutionary and not revolutionary changes. Meanwhile, it is rumored that ChatGPT is developing its own search engine. Microsoft has also integrated AI into Bing. All these have generated a lot of noise but little market shift.
SEO experts like Juan González Villa argue that any major changes in the search engines will take time. Google’s revenue heavily depends on advertising and so it is unlikely to make swift changes. AI Overviews are not applied to all search queries, but only to those which drive high advertising revenue.