Search “best way to waterproof a deck” and the first thing you see is probably not a list of websites. It is an AI Overview, an answer written by Google’s AI and stitched together from several sources. For many people, that answer is where the search ends. 

This is the new shape of search, and it changes what being “visible” means for a brand. 

Fewer clicks, more answers 

The data is now hard to argue with. In a July 2025 study tracking real browsing behaviour, Pew Research Center found that people clicked a traditional search result in 8% of visits when an AI summary appeared, versus 15% when it didn’t. Only around 1% of visits involved a click on a link inside the summary itself. 

The effect is sharpest at the top.  Ahrefs’ December 2025 update found that an AI Overview now correlates with a 58% lower click-through rate for the page ranked number one. And AI summaries are most likely to appear on longer, conversational questions. Pew found more than half of searches of ten words or more triggered one. 

AI Overview: A summary generated by Google’s AI that appears at the top of some search results, drawing on and linking to several web sources. 

In other words, ranking first is no longer the same as being seen first. 

This hits hardest for brands that rely on informational content, such as guides, how-tos and FAQs, because those are exactly the questions AI summaries handle best. And it isn’t only Google. People increasingly put the same questions to ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini, which also summarise and cite rather than list. The brands that turn up in those answers tend to be the ones mentioned consistently and credibly across the web. 

What hasn’t changed in SEO for AI search 

Here is the part that gets lost in the panic. Google’s own guidance says there are no extra requirements or special optimisations needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. You don’t need new AI text files or special markup. These features are built on the same ranking and quality systems as regular search. 

Google doubled down on this in its May 2026 guide to generative AI features, which states plainly that unique, engaging, helpful content will matter more over time than any other tactic. 

So the fundamentals still win. What has changed is the standard for meeting them. 

How brands stay visible in AI Overviews and AI Mode 

Be the source, not the summary. AI can compress generic advice in a sentence. It cannot invent your original data, your case studies or your expert point of view. Content with something only you can say is what gets cited, and what gives people a reason to click through. 

Answer the real question. Structure pages around how people actually ask: clear headings, direct answers near the top, then depth. If an AI is going to quote someone, make it easy to quote you. 

Get the technical basics right. Google’s guidance still points to crawlable pages, strong internal linking, structured data that matches what’s on the page, and good images and video. A beautiful site that search engines can’t read is invisible to both people and machines. 

Keep your business data current. For local and retail brands, Google says up-to-date Business Profile and Merchant Center information feeds these features directly. Wrong hours or stale prices now get repeated back to customers by an AI. 

Build a brand people search for by name. When fewer clicks come from generic queries, brand demand does more of the work. That is built through design, social and paid media working together, not SEO alone. 

Show up beyond your own website. AI answers draw on far more than your pages. Reviews, directory listings, partner sites, media coverage, podcasts and video all shape what gets said about you. A consistent, accurate presence across those places makes your brand easier for both people and machines to trust. 

Measure what matters now. Rankings and raw traffic tell a smaller part of the story. Track impressions, branded search growth, and conversions from the visitors who do arrive, who are often more qualified because the AI has already answered their basic questions. 

The opportunity 

Search hasn’t stopped working. It has raised the bar. Brands that publish generic content will keep losing clicks to a summary. Brands that are genuinely useful, technically sound and recognisable will be the ones the summary points to. 

The practical first step is an honest audit. Which of your priority searches now show an AI Overview? Which sources get cited, and are you one of them? That picture usually reveals quick wins, like a key service page that buries its answer, alongside longer plays such as original research worth citing. 

That is where design, development, content and SEO stop being separate services, and start being one strategy. 

Want to know where your brand stands in AI search? 
Explore how Colony helps brands audit their AI Overview visibility and build the content, technical and brand foundations that get cited.