The SE Ranking team is constantly monitoring thousands of keywords across various industries and sharing valuable insights with the global SEO community through their proprietary software that tracks AIO. Their recent focus has been on the relationship between AI Overviews and ads on Google. Here are some key points from their latest blog post on this research:
- Google has been gradually incorporating AIOs with ads, with 87% of AIO-inclusive desktop SERPs currently showing no ads for lower-value keywords to minimize profit losses.
- Industries like Pets, Healthcare, and Fashion & Beauty are most likely to trigger both AIOs and ads, and Google prioritizes popular niche keywords in its ad algorithms.
- Text ads typically appear after the AIO snippet, while shopping ads are usually displayed below the snippet, shaping how information is presented to potential buyers.
- Ecommerce sites face visibility challenges with AIO snippets, text ads, and shopping ads covering the first scroll of the SERP, with product cards inside the snippet favoring big players like Amazon.
- Paid search strategy is impacted by AIO-inclusive SERPs featuring multiple ads, particularly for specific query types like searches with 3-5 keyword phrases.
- Google introducing product cards in AI Overviews means ecommerce businesses should optimize their product listings through the Google Merchant Center.
- Mobile SERPs display AIOs and ads less frequently but with more variety, pushing organic results further down the page.
For more detailed insights, check out the full article ‘AI Overviews Research: Google Ads in the AIO-inclusive SERPs’ on their blog.
The integration of AI Overviews (AIOs) with ads presents significant challenges for ecommerce websites, particularly for smaller businesses. AIO snippets often appear alongside text and shopping ads, covering the first scroll of the search engine results page (SERP). This placement limits the visibility of smaller businesses, as the AIOs often feature product cards that prioritize large players like Amazon. This dominance of large retailers highlights the shift in user behavior towards prioritizing fast shipping and seamless ordering experiences, leaving smaller businesses struggling to compete.