Ask An SEO: How Should Ecommerce Stores Deal With The Arrival Of AI Overviews?

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In this variation of Ask An SEO, we’re addressing a question astir the interaction of AI Overviews connected hunt motor results pages, peculiarly for ecommerce store owners looking to enactment competitive:

“Do you deliberation that AI Overviews oregon AI volition disrupt SERPs with Google PLAs? And, arsenic idiosyncratic with a tiny ecommerce store selling clothing, what tin I bash to support up with the instauration of gen AI apps?”

That’s a large question! It’s an contented galore ecommerce tract owners person been grappling with since AI Overviews started rolling retired past May.

The large interest is that Google’s generative AI summaries – which look close astatine the apical of the SERPs – volition devour into your traffic.

If radical tin get answers to their questions without visiting your website, this could pb to a steep diminution successful customers.

However, portion this caller inclination mightiness astatine archetypal look worrying, I don’t deliberation the level of disruption volition beryllium arsenic large arsenic it archetypal appears, peculiarly for ecommerce stores. AI Overviews mightiness besides contiguous opportunities to ascent up the rankings, too.

Do enactment that the representation is simply a spot little wide with the likes of ChatGPT oregon Microsoft’s Copilot – these apps don’t yet supply links to sources successful their answers, but they besides aren’t used for hunt anyplace adjacent arsenic overmuch arsenic Google.

Will AI Disrupt SERPs With Google PLAs?

Generative AI is intelligibly 1 of the astir disruptive technologies to look successful years, and determination are astir regular breakthroughs.

So, I’ve tried to reply the questions raised, but there’s evidently a large caveat: Things are changing fast, and we can’t marque immoderate predictions with certainty.

But to respond to the archetypal portion of the question astir whether AI volition disrupt SERPs, my instinct would be: “Not that overmuch (probably!).”

First things first, research from BrightEdge (as reported successful Search Engine Journal successful November) recovered that AI Overviews are becoming much unchangeable and aligning much intimately with integrated hunt results.

The citation links that look alongside AI Overviews progressively amusement links to websites that besides look successful the apical 10 results.

For example, if you were searching [how agelong to cook a loaf of bread], AI Overviews would typically synthesize answers from baking websites that already look connected leafage one.

As good arsenic listing the websites successful the SERP, AI Overviews volition supply links to those pages successful the “citation” area, too.

Screenshot from hunt for [how agelong to cook a loaf of bread], Google, February 2025

What does this mean? Essentially, Google continues to reward sites that produce high-quality, relevant, and reliable content.

The quality of AI Overviews astatine the apical of the leafage has altered the look and consciousness of the hunt experience. But since Google inactive provides links to applicable pages successful its answers, the underlying principles of ranking haven’t really changed.

The effect of AI Overviews connected Product Listing Ads (PLAs) was besides asked. For the archetypal fewer months aft AI Overviews came out, this was a spot unclear. However, arsenic of past October, we present person a amended thought of however it’ll work.

Google announced it would statesman injecting ads into AI Overviews (typically arsenic a carousel beneath the text). At the clip of writing, this doesn’t look to person been afloat rolled out.

But the illustration Google gave was of a searcher asking, [how bash I get a writer stain retired of jeans?]. Below the AI Overview, a carousel shows a fig of related writer stain removal products.

Screenshot from blog.google, February 2025

If you wage for PLAs, past it’s apt that they volition commencement to look successful these kinds of responses.

AI Overviews Aren’t ‘Competing’ With Ecommerce Stores

The inquirer besides mentioned they tally a tiny ecommerce store selling clothing. They whitethorn good beryllium acrophobic astir what AI Overviews mean for their existing ads and merchandise pages.

Well, research from Ahrefs suggests the benignant of contented they apt person connected their website astir apt isn’t competing with AI Overviews.

Ahrefs studied hundreds of thousands of searches that produced an AI Overview.

The immense bulk of searches that returned an overview were informational searches (who, where, when, why, etc.) – little than 6% were commercialized successful nature, and little than 5% were transactional.

This suggests that a constricted proportionality of hunt intent that gets answered by AI Overviews is related to the kinds of things sold connected the site.

Basically, AI Overviews answers longer process questions similar [how to benignant a bucket hat].

But if idiosyncratic conscionable searches [bucket hat], they’ll beryllium shown PLAs and integrated SERP results – not a generative AI response.

AI Overviews Could Help You Leapfrog Competitors

As I mentioned above, AI Overviews supply citation links to websites that besides fertile successful the apical 10 integrated results.

However, an investigation from Surfer SEO suggests this lone happens 52% of the time. For the different 48% of sources, websites further down the rankings (some of which whitethorn beryllium rather obscure) tin get a nexus close astatine the apical of the SERPs if their contented helps pass Google’s AI.

This means that, adjacent if your website doesn’t presently fertile connected leafage one, you could inactive get leafage 1 levels of postulation if your contented is referred to by Google.

What Can You Do To Stay Ahead As AI Becomes More Widespread?

With the aforesaid caveats mentioned supra regarding the gait of alteration successful this field, I deliberation determination are a fistful of things you tin bash to support getting postulation to an ecommerce store.

My archetypal extremity is simply to support pursuing the best practices. Sorry, I cognize it’s not precise exciting! But the information is, creating useful, original, accurate, and reliable contented – successful enactment with Google’s Helpful Content Update – is inactive the mode to go.

Given that implicit fractional of the sources cited successful AI Overviews besides look organically successful the apical 10 results of SERPs, this tells america that producing prime contented remains the champion mode of ranking.

I’m guessing the inquirer has a manner niche. If so, providing personalized styling ideas, seasonal manner tips, guides to choosing the close hat/jacket/dress/jeans, etc., volition each assistance summation the chances of winning traffic.

Another unexciting (but inactive reliable) extremity is to travel bully ecommerce “hygiene.”

Keep the product schema up to day and accurate, and supply elaborate property tables that archer Google and different hunt engines what the tract is about. I know, it’s hardly groundbreaking stuff. But it volition assistance provender the algorithm and marque the website much apt to look successful searches.

For product item pages (PDPs), I’d besides urge focusing connected unsocial merchandise descriptions (like highlighting things astir the design, the fabric, oregon however to benignant it). These are things that AI can’t fig retired yet, and which the competitors whitethorn not person written about.

On that note, I’d besides powerfully urge human curation erstwhile penning content.

As awesome arsenic ChatGPT and others are, they tin lone regurgitate accusation that already exists.

To picture caller products, features, oregon styles, you request a quality to bash it. Of course, generative AI tin surely assistance get the shot rolling if you’re staring astatine a blank page, but it needs your adept touch, too.

I anticipation this helped. Clearly, hunt is going done a play of monolithic change.

But ultimately, by pursuing the champion practices and focusing connected quality, adjuvant content, you’ll proceed to springiness yourself the champion chances of attracting postulation and converting customers.

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Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal