In early 2024, Google rolled out a generative search experience (GSE) change to its search engine results page (SERP), which was essentially a response to the Microsoft Prometheus project of injecting artificial intelligence into search results. GSE received negative press coverage for its AI hallucinations about adding glue to homemade pizza recipes and eating rocks for digestive health. A few months later, Google changed the name of GSE to AI Overviews, which now consists of a predictive summary with “grounding links.”
According to a March 2025 report from Adobe Intelligence, the Google AI Overviews (AIO) change to the SERP generated 1,950 percent of referrals to e-commerce websites between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The Adobe report also suggests AIO referrals improved bounce rates by 23 percent, and 12 percent of visitors viewed at least one more page compared to the “ten blue links” of the traditional SERP experience.
What Google Has Said about AIO and SEO
Based on the Adobe report, what would the impact of AIO on search engine optimization (SEO) be? It’s too early to guess because this is a relatively new SERP change. The 1,950 percent jump in traffic may sound significant, but this is a novel development. During the Search Central Live NYC conference in March 2025, Google Search spokesman Danny Sullivan was vague about how and why AIO results change for different users. He mentioned predictive summaries are generated from grounding links, which searchers don’t see unless they click on the tiny chain link icons at the end of the AIO paragraphs.
Sullivan stated the AIO algorithm somehow looks for SEO-worthy pages that adhere to the Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) of digital content publishing. He added that SEO specialists and publishers, such as San Diego SEO service providers, shouldn’t change their core SEO strategies because of AIO.
The bottom line, at least as of March 2025, is that AIO, ChatGPT Search, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity, and all other AI search platforms are still too recent to justify changes to the SEO process. Moreover, AIO doesn’t appear for all queries. For example, “What are basketball shoes?” will generate a predictive summary, but “best basketball shoes 2025” will display a “popular from sources across the web” snippet at the top.
If you need help keeping up with Google’s changes or any other aspect of online marketing, reach out to Saba SEO, an industry-leading SEO company in San Diego. We’ve been in the SEO and digital marketing business for more than 20 years, and we have the know-how to help businesses get the online traffic they’re looking for. To speak with one of our friendly and knowledgeable internet marketing experts, call us today.