SEO & AI: What Do You Need To Do To Rank?

By now, you’ve probably seen the headlines: Google is changing. Again. This time, it’s all about AI Overviews, Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE), and what it means for how your content appears in the search results.

But before you panic, take a breath. Because here’s the truth: everything Google is doing with AI is rooted in the same core principles it’s always followed. If you’re already investing in quality content, sound SEO practices, and user-first thinking, you’re ahead of the game.

Let’s break it down.

What Is Google’s AI Overview?

AI Overviews are part of Google’s evolving generative search experience. They’re designed to summarise answers to complex search queries directly in the results page, using a combination of generative AI and traditional web links. Think of it as Google giving users a starting point for exploration, not the final destination.

Crucially, AI Overviews don’t replace organic results; they complement them. And yes, your site can still appear within or just below these overviews, often with high visibility. But only if your content earns its place.

Google’s Guidance: No Drastic Changes Required

Here’s where the industry tends to overcomplicate things. When Google introduces something new, it’s easy to assume the rulebook has changed. But the guidance for content creators is reassuringly familiar:

• Focus on people-first content.
• Demonstrate E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness).
• Stick to high-quality, useful information.

Sound familiar? That’s because it is familiar. Google isn’t reinventing how it evaluates content, it’s just applying the same standards to a new format.

If you’ve been producing well-structured, helpful content that genuinely answers user queries, you’re not starting from scratch. You’re already aligned with what Google’s AI is looking for.

SEO Best Practices Still Matter

Google makes it clear: You don’t need to “optimise for AI Overviews.” There’s no special markup or hidden setting that magically gets your content included. But that doesn’t mean SEO fundamentals are any less important. In fact, they’re more critical than ever.

Here’s what Google still expects:

• Crawlability: Make sure your site isn’t accidentally blocking bots in robots.txt, via CDNs, or hosting platforms.
• Findability: Help users (and Google) navigate your site through solid internal linking structures.
• User experience: Page load speed, mobile friendliness, and clarity still play a major role.
• Textual clarity: Ensure that key content appears as readable, accessible text: Not just images or embedded media.
• Multimedia support: Where applicable, complement your text with high-quality images or videos to enhance engagement.
• Accurate structured data: Don’t just use schema markup, make sure it matches what users actually see on the page.
• Up-to-date business info: Keep Merchant Centre and Google Business Profile data accurate, especially if you’re in eCommerce or local services.

It’s the same SEO toolkit you’ve hopefully already been using, with just a little bit more emphasis on getting it right.

A Final Word: Don’t Chase the Algorithm

The temptation to optimise for AI is real. But history tells us that chasing the algorithm rarely works long-term. The smartest move you can make right now is to double down on what’s always worked:

• Understand your audience.
• Create content that solves their problems.
• Make your website technically excellent.

Google’s AI isn’t a black box. It’s an extension of the same quality-focused principles we’ve been working with for years. So, if you’ve been doing things the right way, keep going.

If you haven’t, now’s the perfect time to start.

If you need help with your SEO strategy, our specialists are prepped and ready! Get in touch today.