Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode: What they mean for SMEs

Rapidly evolving AI capabilities are proving to be an ideal complement for traditional SEO for many SME businesses. Google’s latest updates - AI Overviews and AI Mode are reshaping how people find information online. 

For many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), this can mean fewer clicks and greater competition for visibility. However, there is a greater opportunity to bring customers more valuable and insightful information and increase discoverability for key products and services. 

What Are Google AI Overviews and AI Mode?

Almost all Google users will have experienced AI Overviews - the automatically generated summaries that appear at the very top of Google’s search results.

Instead of showing users the traditional list of blue links first, Google’s AI pulls information from multiple sources including websites, news outlets, and videos and presents a concise, conversational answer.

While convenient for users, these ‘instant answers’ often lead to what’s called a zero-click search: the user finds what they need in the summary and don’t actually click through to a website. Since their rollout began in May 2024, AI Overviews have caused drops in organic website traffic across many industries.

AI Mode takes the concept even further. Accessed via a separate tab in Google Search or directly at google.com/aimode, this version of search feels more like an AI chatbot like ChatGPT than a Google search results page.

Users can ask follow-up questions, upload images, or even speak their queries. The AI, powered by Google’s Gemini model, retains context and provides increasingly detailed answers, keeping users within Google’s ecosystem for longer periods.

How is this impacting SME’s?

Even top-ranking pages are seeing lower click-through rates (CTR). One study by Ahrefs found as much as a 34.5 per cent lower average CTR for position one results when an AI Overview was present.*

Knowledge-based industries, such as consultancies, advertising agencies, publishers, and training providers have been hit hardest so far. But local trades, service-based and ecommerce retailers aren’t immune: SEO specialists warn that the same trend will soon reach these businesses.

Proximity used to be the defining factor in local search rankings. Now, AI Overviews prioritise content quality and authority instead.

High-risk categories: Cleaning services (65 per cent AIO rate), personal injury lawyers (62 per cent), and wedding photographers (62 per cent) are among the most frequently replaced by AI answers**.

Prevalence: Around 40 per cent of local searches now feature AI Overviews.**

Ranking shift: Appearing in an AI summary depends more on relevance and reputation than on location alone.

Visibility is no longer just about being clicked, now it is also about being ‘cited’. When Google’s AI summarises an answer, it occasionally references its sources. If it is your business or content that is cited, then you gain trust and recognition, even if users don’t click through immediately.

In this new world, brand reputation and authority matter as much as traffic numbers.

How can SMEs adapt?

1, Develop Credible and Authoritative content

Google’s AI relies heavily on credible sources. Make sure that your content is easy to summarise and trustworthy for AI algorithms to cite:

Use clear structure: headings, bullet points, and concise summaries, ensure that your content has substance in its quality and quantity. 

Demonstrate experience, expertise, authority, and trust (E-E-A-T). These factors enable AI crawlers to see your content as important and worthy of being cited in AI results more often.

Publish original insights or data, expert commentary, and in-depth guides that AI systems see as authoritative and factual. Ensure that your facts and statistics are double checked for accuracy.

Use good quality, relevant imagery for your content, with graphical or illustrative content that supports the theme of your article or narrative. Ensure that you are the copyright owner for any such supporting imagery.

2, Manage Your AI Presence

Google’s AI pulls information from across the web, not just your website, so it’s important that relevant sources that include information about your business, its products and services are both accurate and relevant.

Correct inaccuracies using Google’s feedback tools. (The method for submitting feedback is by clicking the ‘thumbs down’ button on an AI Overview, and then clicking ‘Report a problem’ in the subsequent pop-up).

Strengthen your profile on trusted platforms such as LinkedIn, Wikipedia, Quora, Reddit and industry directories. This helps AI crawlers to get a better picture of your overall business and factors that can help it discover and cite your business with greater accuracy.

Avoid blocking AI crawlers - doing so could exclude your content from summaries altogether, check with your web developer or SEO company to ensure that these crawlers have access to your website where it’s needed.

3. Emphasise Local and Intent-Based Search

AI Overviews are less common for location-specific searches, i.e. for searches that include a local area such as; ‘bicycle spares in Bolton’, so putting more attention into what brings in more localised results can mean Google Overviews become less relevant, as it is not deployed for many of these types of searches, examples of tactics below:

Add place names to your SEO keywords (e.g., “electrician in Bristol”).

Optimise for high-intent queries like “book”, “buy”, or “contact”.

Create location-based ‘why’ content, such as “Why homeowners in Manchester need regular boiler servicing”.

4. Optimise for ChatGPT and other LLMs

To boost your presence and be found on more marketing channels, you need to ensure your content is highly compatible with ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs). Below are some practices to help your content get included in their algorithms:

Make sure your website states what your business does, where it is located, and who it serves. In direct, simple language, ChatGPT and other Large Language Models (LLMs) tend to favour sites that are clear about what they do and where they are located.

Since many users will ask ChatGPT queries like “Who are the best florists in Manchester?” or “What is a good electrician near Blackburn?”, you can create blog posts or FAQ pages that directly answer those questions. These become content that AI can draw from.

Make sure your name/address/phone contact details are consistent across your website and directory listings. Have good reviews, update your site regularly. AI-derived answers for ChatGPT and other LLMs favour credible sources.

Google’s AI-driven search is changing the rules of online visibility. While the full impact is still unfolding, SMEs that adapt early,  by strengthening authority, managing their reputation, and diversifying traffic sources will be far better placed to thrive in this new AI-centric search landscape.

Now is the time for SMEs to shift from just increasing traffic and clicks. to building their online credibility in a more holistic way. AI is with us to stay and businesses that adopt the new technologies and paradigm shift are the ones that will benefit most from the opportunities that Google Overviews and Google AI Mode, as well as other AI technologies present.

*Source: AHrefs blog

**Source: LocalFalcon Whitepaper