00:00Today on Forbes, How Small Business Can Survive Google's AI Overview
00:05For years, the formula for online business success was simple.
00:10Climb the search rankings in Google, and or shell out for ads on the dominant search site to drive traffic.
00:17But Google's AI Overviews, rolled out in May 2024, are dramatically cutting clicks to websites
00:23by delivering answers, instead of links, at the top of the search page.
00:28Knowledge-driven businesses, like consultancies, publishers, and e-learning platforms, have felt it first.
00:35Local outfits, think diners, plumbers, or carpenters, have mostly yet to feel the pain
00:40as their customers arrive through location-based searches.
00:44But time is running short for them, too, warn Search Engine Optimization, or SEO,
00:50consultants who work with small businesses.
00:51Internet veteran Andrew Shotland, who founded Local SEO Guide way back in 2006,
00:58says he's already seeing the hit on small businesses that have relied on educational content
01:03to bring prospective customers to their websites.
01:06He points to a law firm client that has traditionally gotten heavy traffic from queries like, quote,
01:11Is CarSex legal in Alabama?
01:14Google that question today, and you're likely to get an AI Overview that discusses public lewdness
01:19under Alabama Code Title 13A and Class C misdemeanors, with attribution, perhaps, to Fine Law and Justia Law.
01:27While that sort of overview doesn't produce much traffic for Fine Law and Justia,
01:32it has reduced the clicks Shotland's client is getting, even though it still turns up in the search results.
01:37Those missing clicks matter.
01:40Without them, businesses lose a direct connection with potential customers.
01:45No website visit means no opportunity to tell their story, build credibility, or make a pitch.
01:50Yet that decline can be easy to miss.
01:53That's because companies track impressions or web ranking.
01:57Perversely, both might look fine or even improve.
02:00In fact, Google AI Overviews can boost impressions, how often a site appears in search results.
02:07This happens when the AI generates a summary or snippet that includes the site's link, making it visible to users.
02:14Even if the AI pulls information from the site without users visiting it,
02:18the site's appearance in the AI Overview counts as an impression.
02:22However, clicks, the actual visits to a business's site,
02:26decline because users often find enough information in the AI summary and don't need to click through.
02:33The site still ranks, but users aren't clicking, which is what counts.
02:38Seer Interactive reports a 70% drop in organic click-through rates when AI Overviews appear.
02:44Pew Research Center found that users click traditional links at just half the rate when a search produces an AI summary,
02:51as when it doesn't,
02:52and that just 1% of Google searches that show an AI summary actually result in a click on a link embedded within that summary.
03:00Consultant Bain & Company puts it like this,
03:03quote,
03:03According to Bain, 80% of consumers are relying on so-called zero-click results at least 40% of the time.
03:14It's hard to overstate the importance of online searches for merchants.
03:18In 2022, research firm Forrester estimated that 59% of all retail transactions had a digital component,
03:26meaning the sale either happened online or the customer researched the product or company online first before buying at a physical location.
03:34That translated into $2.7 trillion in revenue.
03:38Forrester projects that figure will grow to $3.8 trillion by 2027.
03:43So far, the biggest hit from Google's AI Overview has been to news and information sites.
03:51Ben Fisher, who runs the SEO firm Steady Demand,
03:54echoes Shotland's assessment that most small businesses haven't seen much impact yet.
04:00Both say their clients, plumbers, local restaurants, and even lawyers,
04:03are still showing up in search and still getting leads,
04:07even if some sites, like those of lawyers who rely heavily on educational content,
04:11may already be getting fewer clicks.
04:14But they're also both urging clients to start taking steps now,
04:18and they're offering some surprising advice.
04:21Even though AI summaries don't directly lead to clicks, they say,
04:24it's important that companies show up in them,
04:27meaning that they need to up their site's educational content.
04:30Shotland explains the seeming contradiction this way.
04:33Research shows people increasingly trust AI summaries,
04:36and that can change how they eventually select businesses.
04:39For full coverage, check out Brandon Cocodin's piece on Forbes.com.
04:47This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.
04:49Thanks for tuning in.
04:51Thanks for tuning in.
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