By Bruno Rodriguez, Head of Organic, Orange Line
Soon Google will begin testing its AI overviews in Australia, and marketers are eager to see how it will shake up the search landscape. After being trialled and rolled out in other markets, including the U.S. and UK, Australians will experience this feature for the first time.
Having worked with global and US brands like Skyscanner, ClassPass, AWS, and Clio over the last two years, I’ve seen first-hand the impact of AI overviews.
Here’s what I wish I had known before they launched.
A rocky rollout
When Google first rolled out its AI overviews in the U.S., it was rocky. From offering strange recommendations like telling users to eat glue, to providing confusing answers, Google struggled to deliver the level of accuracy and clarity expected from a company handling 8.5 billion searches daily. They also failed to anticipate the intense scrutiny from the SEO and publishing industries, both sectors wasting no time in highlighting AI’s most disastrous missteps.
Google’s AI overhaul
After those initial issues, Google scaled back AI overviews to a single-digit percentage of queries. Ultimately, they changed how AI snippets work: they now overlap almost entirely with first-page results, often just paraphrasing what’s already there. In this way, AI overviews aren’t that different from existing formats like featured snippets. This also means that if you want to perform well in AI overviews, you need to rank well in organic SEO.
One consequence of Google’s more cautious approach is that AI overviews are now primarily seen in informational queries—when users are seeking general knowledge, how-to guides, or insights. They appear much less frequently in topics like news, politics, finance, and health. This trend will likely be replicated in Australia, meaning the finance, news, and health industries won’t need to worry about AI overviews for now.
SEO is still king
In the world of SEO, there’s an old adage that everything changes, but everything stays the same. While AI overviews may increase the number of zero-click searches (which is already at 60%), they’re not about to rewrite the entire playbook. Organic search is still the biggest driver of website traffic.
What AI overviews do introduce are fresh elements on the interface and a new battleground for brands to compete in. But ultimately, the formula for success will still come down to ranking well organically—through the tried-and-true principles of good content, authority, and user experience.
How can Australian brands prepare?
• SEO is still a brand’s top priority: Brands that don’t perform well in SEO won’t perform well in AI overviews. There are no shortcuts here.
• Start tracking AI-driven traffic: Brands should ensure they are tracking traffic from AI, chatbots, and LLMs. Australian brands have been generating traffic, leads, and sales from these for some time now. There are easy guides available to help you set up tracking.
• Content should serve brand narrative: Informational content is most valuable when it aligns with the brand’s narrative, not when it exists just for the sake of it. If it doesn’t tell a story, it won’t stick.
• Be part of the conversation: Third parties are already part of the conversation about brands or industries. From listicles and rankings to Reddit and Quora, discussions, influencing these spaces will allow brands to shape the content that LLMs use for training.
Stay agile, stay ahead
While the upcoming launch of Google AI overviews in Australia offers new opportunities, it also demands that brands remain agile and alert to shifts in search behaviour. Brands that can stay agile, focus on a robust organic search strategy, and adapt to new AI features will be the ones that thrive.
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Top image: Bruno Rodriguez