How Google AI Overviews Will Change SEO in 2024

Google AI Overviews are already live for most search queries — and they're killing traditional click-through rates. If your SEO strategy still assumes users will scroll past an AI-generated answer to click your link, you're about to lose traffic. Here's what the data shows and exactly how to adapt before your organic revenue disappears.

What Google AI Overviews Actually Are

Google AI Overviews (formerly called Search Generative Experience or SGE) are AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of search results. Instead of showing ten blue links, Google now uses large language models to synthesize information from multiple sources and present a direct answer — with citations.

They're not experimental anymore. As of late 2023, AI Overviews appear for most informational and commercial queries. If you search "best running shoes for flat feet" or "how to optimize for AI search," you'll see an AI-generated block before the traditional organic results.

The format looks like this:

• A 150-300 word AI-generated summary
• 3-6 cited sources (linked inline)
• Follow-up question suggestions
• Traditional organic results below

This is how Google is responding to ChatGPT Search and Perplexity AI — by turning search results into conversations. The problem for SEOs? Most users don't scroll past the AI Overview. That means your organic listing at position 1 is now functionally position 2 (or lower).

If you're running an e-commerce brand or managing SEO for a Shopify store, this shift is already affecting your traffic. The question isn't whether AI Overviews will impact your rankings — it's whether you're optimizing to get cited within them. That's the new game.

How AI Overviews Are Affecting Organic Traffic

The data is early but consistent: AI Overviews reduce click-through rates for traditional organic results.

Here's what we're seeing across client accounts at Founding Engine, the agency behind BloggedAI:

• Informational queries (how-to, what is, best practices) see the biggest CTR drops — sometimes 40-50% for position 1
• Commercial queries (product comparisons, reviews) still get clicks, but users are spending more time reading the AI Overview first
• Transactional queries (buy, shop, near me) are less affected — AI Overviews rarely appear for high-intent commercial searches

But here's the flip side: sites that get cited within the AI Overview see traffic increases. If your content is structured correctly and Google's AI pulls from your page, you get a featured link inside the AI-generated block. That's better visibility than a traditional snippet.

One of our e-commerce clients went from $20K/mo to $80K/mo in organic revenue after we restructured their blog content to target AI Overview citations. They weren't ranking higher — they were being cited more often. That's the shift.

The takeaway: how Google AI Overviews are going to affect SEO depends entirely on whether your content is optimized to be cited. If you're still writing for traditional rankings only, you're losing ground to competitors who understand AEO (Answer Engine Optimization).

What This Means for Your SEO Strategy

Traditional SEO isn't dead — but it's no longer sufficient. You need to optimize for two discovery paths:

1. Traditional organic rankings — still critical for transactional queries and brand searches
2. AI Overview citations — now the primary discovery mechanism for informational and educational content

This means your content strategy needs to shift from "rank for keywords" to "rank for keywords and get cited by AI." The technical requirements overlap, but the format is different.

Here's what changes:

• Schema markup is now mandatory — AI Overviews heavily favor content with structured data (FAQ, HowTo, Article schemas)
• Content structure matters more than length — AI models parse H2/H3 hierarchies and pull answers from clearly labeled sections
• Direct answers win — if your blog post takes 400 words to answer a question, you won't get cited. AI Overviews pull concise, authoritative answers.
• Domain authority still matters — Google's AI prioritizes citations from high-DA sites, just like traditional rankings

If you're managing SEO for an e-commerce brand, this is where AI-powered SEO services become critical. You can't manually optimize 50+ blog posts for both traditional SEO and AI citations. You need automation that builds schema markup, structures content correctly, and targets DA-appropriate keywords.

That's why we built BloggedAI — to generate schema-rich, AI-optimized blog posts at scale ($10/post vs. $150 for a freelancer). But if you need a fully tailored strategy that integrates content, technical SEO, and AI discovery optimization, talk to our team at Founding Engine.

How to Optimize for AI Overviews (4 Tactics That Work)

Here's what actually moves the needle — based on testing across 1,000+ blog posts and client accounts generating 695% organic traffic increases.

1. Add FAQ Schema to Every Blog Post

AI Overviews pull heavily from FAQ sections. If your blog has a structured FAQ with FAQPage schema markup, Google's AI can extract Q&A pairs directly into the Overview.

Example: A blog post titled "How to optimize product pages for SEO" should include an FAQ section with questions like:

• What is product page SEO?
• How do I write product descriptions for SEO?
• What schema markup should I use on product pages?

Each answer should be 50-100 words — concise, direct, and citeable. BloggedAI automatically generates FAQ sections with proper schema on every post. If you're writing manually, use Google's FAQ schema documentation to format it correctly.

2. Structure Content with Clear H2/H3 Hierarchies

AI models parse headings to understand content structure. If your blog is a wall of text with vague subheadings, it won't get cited.

Instead, use descriptive H2s that answer specific questions:

• Bad: "Getting Started"
• Good: "How to Set Up Google Search Console for E-commerce Sites"

This makes it easy for Google's AI to extract the relevant section and cite your content as the source. It's the same principle behind traditional featured snippets — but now it's powering AI Overviews across millions of queries.

For more on content structure, see our guide to on-page SEO for e-commerce.

3. Target DA-Appropriate Keywords

This is where most brands waste budget. If your domain authority is 25 and you're targeting "best CRM software" (dominated by sites with DA 70+), you won't rank — and you definitely won't get cited in an AI Overview.

Instead, target long-tail keywords that match your DA. Example:

• DA 70+: "best CRM software"
• DA 40-60: "best CRM for small e-commerce brands"
• DA 20-40: "how to choose a CRM for Shopify stores under 500 orders/month"

The more specific the query, the easier it is to rank and get cited. BloggedAI's keyword engine automatically matches keywords to your domain authority — so you're targeting queries you can actually win. For brands that need a custom keyword strategy, schedule a call with Founding Engine.

4. Publish Volume — Consistently

One blog post won't move the needle. AI Overviews pull from a wide range of sources, and Google's algorithm favors sites with topical authority — meaning you've published multiple high-quality posts on related topics.

Our clients publishing 30-60 blogs per month see 4x organic revenue growth because they're dominating both traditional search and AI citations. That's not realistic if you're paying a freelancer $150/post. It is realistic at $10/post with BloggedAI.

For a full breakdown of how to structure an SEO content calendar, see our e-commerce SEO strategy guide.

Why Schema Markup Is Now Non-Negotiable

Schema markup has always been a ranking factor — but it was optional. You could rank without it if your content was strong enough.

Not anymore.

AI Overviews rely on structured data to parse and cite content. If your blog doesn't have Article schema, FAQPage schema, or HowTo schema, Google's AI will skip it in favor of a competitor who does.

Here's what you need on every blog post:

• Article schema — headline, author, datePublished, publisher
• BreadcrumbList schema — helps AI understand site hierarchy
• FAQPage schema — makes your Q&A sections citeable
• HowTo schema (if applicable) — for step-by-step guides

Most CMS platforms (Shopify, WordPress, Webflow) don't add this automatically. You either need a developer, a plugin, or a tool like BloggedAI that generates schema-rich HTML for every post.

For e-commerce brands, product page schema is equally critical. If you're not using Product, Offer, and Review schemas, you're invisible to AI search engines.

Need help auditing your schema implementation? Run an e-commerce SEO audit or book a strategy call with our team.

The Future: SEO + AEO + GEO

Here's where this is headed: traditional SEO is merging with AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization).

SEO = optimizing for Google's traditional organic index (backlinks, keywords, technical health)

AEO = optimizing for AI-generated answers (Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity)

GEO = optimizing for large language model citations (real-time web scraping, API integrations)

The overlap is significant. Content that ranks well in traditional SEO and gets cited by AI engines shares the same characteristics:

• High domain authority
• Schema markup
• Clear structure (H2/H3 hierarchies)
• Authoritative backlinks
• Direct, concise answers

But the distribution strategy is different. Traditional SEO assumes users will click through to your site. AEO assumes they'll read the AI-generated answer and might click a citation. GEO assumes they'll never visit your site — they'll consume your content inside ChatGPT or Perplexity.

That's why modern SEO strategy must include:

1. Content optimization — schema-rich blog posts targeting DA-appropriate keywords
2. Distribution — syndicating content to DR 90+ platforms (Blogger, Medium, Tumblr) to build backlinks and AI discoverability
3. AI discovery monitoring — tracking citations in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews

If you're a DIY brand owner, you can handle this with BloggedAI — our Growth and Dominate plans include distribution, backlinks, and AI discovery tracking. If you need a fully managed strategy, Founding Engine's AI search optimization service builds custom AEO + GEO strategies for e-commerce brands.

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