We have a client with tradesmen nationwide in the UK who have a well-established online presence and a unique brand name. Despite having a strong domain and good search engine rankings, Google's AI overview does not reference their website when queried specifically about them. The AI overview pulls information from social media channels or other sites mentioning them, but never from their actual website. Although their results rank in featured snippets for certain queries, the AI overview does not include them. It seems as though their domain may be blacklisted for AI overview results. Has anyone else encountered this issue and successfully resolved it for their clients?
It is possible that the client’s website is not being indexed by Google’s AI overview system due to technical issues or a lack of sufficient high-quality content. There are several reasons why this might be happening:
- Technical issues: The website may have technical errors that prevent Google’s crawlers from accessing and indexing the content properly. These errors can include broken links, slow loading times, or issues with the website’s structure and code.
- Lack of relevant and high-quality content: Google’s AI overview relies on high-quality content that is relevant to the client’s industry and target audience. The website may not have enough content, or the content may not be informative, engaging, or optimized for search engines.
- Insufficient backlinks: Backlinks from reputable websites can help improve a website’s ranking in search results, including AI overview results. The client’s website may not have enough backlinks, or the backlinks may not be from high-quality sources.
- Spammy practices: If the client has engaged in spammy practices, such as keyword stuffing or link building from low-quality websites, it could be penalized by Google’s algorithms, preventing it from being included in AI overview results.
To resolve this issue, it’s important to conduct a thorough audit of the website’s technical aspects and content quality. This may include:
- Technical SEO audit: Identify and fix any technical errors that might be preventing Google from crawling and indexing the website.
- Content audit: Evaluate the quality and relevance of the existing content and identify areas for improvement.
- Link building strategy: Develop a strategy to acquire high-quality backlinks from reputable websites.
- Search console analysis: Review the Google Search Console data to identify any issues or warnings related to the website’s indexing and crawling.
By addressing these issues, the client can improve their website’s visibility and ranking in Google’s AI overview results.