AI Overviews & Place Marketing: What to Expect

Jun 3

You may have heard: Google recently rolled out AI Overviews, formerly known as Search Generative Experience, to the U.S. market. Now, whenever more complex questions are searched on Google, these AI-powered answers provide a few snippets of an answer based on its understanding of queries and the content it found on the topic across the web.

As people were starting to use other tools like ChatGPT for complex search queries, it posed a threat to Google’s business model over the long-haul. AI Overviews attempts to keep Google as highly relevant as ever by combining the best of traditional search with new-age AI services. Smart!

The new experience is not for all searches, but is focused on those where Google thinks AI input will add value for the user. And while it has been rolled out to the U.S. first, Google has launched this feature in over 120+ countries with many more to come, including pilot tests in the U.K.

How will AI Overviews impact IPA/EDO traffic?

Since these new AI Overviews allow users to consume information without having to visit websites, some estimates say this could reduce organic traffic to publishers' sites by 20% - 60%. The same article says only about 47% of the top 10 traditional web results appear as sources powering the overview generation, while the rest will still be based on search queries and SEO.

Let’s wait and see, as initial estimates on AI impacts have been all over the place the last several years and future regulation may have something to say about this. But there is a strong chance this new roll-out will reduce traffic quite significantly as it rolls out worldwide. And as many EDOs from around the world target the U.S. market, this may impact numbers sooner than later.

Zero click content has been in force for some time across search and social media as Big Tech tries to keep more users in its own environment to monetize them. This will only play further into that trend.

The counterpoint is that increasingly relevant search responses drive more usage of these platforms since the answers are better. As such, this ends up leading to additional searches that keep total volumes high, even if the market share of traditional search declines.

How can European IPAs/EDOs prepare for AI Overviews?

Generative AI is getting smarter fast, but the vast search engine economy is still playing catch up. While there are early trend-setters aiming to take advantage of loopholes in the system reminiscent of the early days of search engine marketing, those loopholes are likely to be closed fast and tend to favor high-volume industries (which FDI and talent attraction is not).

That said, let’s take look at the early advice for staying ahead:

1. Structuring Content in a Q&A Format

AI Overviews aim to answer queries directly, so optimizing content in a Q&A format might increase the chances of being picked up by Google’s model. This is an excellent opportunity to address specific questions your target audience might have about your region, something about which your sales team could have insight.

For instance, a query like “Why is the {insert} region best suited for business?” could prompt AI search results to summarize the region’s strengths, thereby building user confidence and encouraging them to search more and visit your website.

2. Implement Technical SEO to Improve On-Page Crawling

Like traditional search-engine web crawlers, Google’s AI models still rely on crawling a site’s content. Ensuring optimal technical SEO for crawlers to access and render on-page content is vital for surfacing in AI Overviews.

One idea many investment promotion agencies buy into is restricting information to force interested audiences to contact them. This is already an outdated strategy and likely results in many more opportunities being lost.

In the age of AI, it is especially risky as people get answers faster and potentially from other sources. If your location’s practical information for investment or living and working cannot be found online, it may never be found.

3. Focus on High Search Volume Queries Exhibiting AI Overviews

Identify queries that currently trigger AI Overviews to reveal content gaps and optimisation opportunities. For FDI, this will not result in that many queries, but it’s important to own the right ones. For talent attraction, the number of queries should be higher.

Prioritize page and content optimisation efforts around high-value terms and topics that Google already enhances with AI results to improve your chances of getting picked up. As they say, it’s better to be in the game than on the sidelines. IPAs, EDOs and other place marketing organizations tend to rate low on their “discoverability,” so being smart about this new technology can help.

Search trends and paid advertising are evolving drastically with AI enhancements. These changes not only represent a shift in technology, but also in content creation, moving from search intent to Q&A intent. Plenty of opportunity ahead…here’s to a brave new world of digital discoverability.