In the UK, Google Search is still the default for most adults, but the interface is becoming more “answer-first”. Ofcom’s latest research points to just how mainstream this is becoming: Google Search is used by 4 in 5 UK adults, there are around 3 billion searches a month, and roughly 30% of searches now show AI overviews (with 53% of adults saying they see these summaries often).
So if your current strategy is still built around “rank blue link, win click”, you’re not wrong — but you are playing on a pitch that’s being re-lined.
This article walks you through what’s changing in the SERPs, and how to adapt your content so you’re more likely to be cited, linked, and trusted in AI answers — while still driving commercial outcomes.
If you want the broader service context, start with SEO / Organic Marketing and treat this as the playbook that sits underneath it.
What AI Overviews are doing to the SERP (and why it matters)
AI Overviews are Google’s generated summaries that appear above traditional results for some queries. Google rolled them out widely in the US in May 2024, then expanded to more countries — including the UK in August 2024.
The important bit is not the name. It’s the behaviour change:
- The SERP often answers the question before you earn the click.
- Citations (the links shown inside or alongside the overview) become the “new top spot”.
- Users are nudged into follow-up questions rather than bouncing back to the results.
- Commercial intent is increasingly blended into the experience.
Google has also been clear that ads can appear in and around AI Overviews when certain conditions are met (commercial intent, relevance, and quality).
For UK brands, this means your visibility is no longer just about ranking. It’s about being a source that the system trusts enough to cite.
If you’ve already invested in fundamentals like Technical SEO agency support, you’re in a good place — but the content layer needs to catch up to how answers are being assembled.
The new reality: fewer clicks, more “in-SERP influence”
You’ll hear a lot of panic around “zero-click search”. Some of it is valid. If the overview satisfies the query, fewer people will click through — especially for simple definitions, quick comparisons, and basic how-tos.
But there’s another side to it:
- You can still win demand, just earlier in the journey.
- You can shape the language people repeat internally (“Google says…” is now a thing).
- You can become the default cited source across a cluster of related questions.
Think of it like this: your KPI isn’t only “sessions”. It’s “presence in the answer”.
That’s one reason we’re seeing more brands investing in Generative Engine Optimisation services alongside traditional SEO — not as a replacement, but as an expansion of what visibility means.
How Google decides what to include (in plain English)
From a site owner perspective, Google’s guidance is basically: focus on useful content, and you may be included in AI features the same way you may appear in other Search experiences.
So you don’t “optimise for AI Overviews” with a single trick.
You increase your odds by doing what strong SEO has always done — but with more emphasis on:
- Clear, extractable answers
- Strong evidence and trust signals
- Technical accessibility and consistency
- External validation (mentions, citations, reputable references)
That’s why an SEO audit agency approach is still step 1 — because if your content can’t be crawled, indexed, and understood cleanly, it can’t be reliably cited.
9 content strategy shifts that help you win citations in AI Overviews
1) Write for the “quotable” moment
AI answers often pull short chunks that resolve a sub-question. So you want more “clean answer blocks” throughout your pages.
Practical ways to do it:
- Add a 2–4 sentence summary under each H2 that answers the subtopic directly.
- Use short paragraphs that define terms once, clearly.
- Use bullet lists for steps, checks, pros/cons, and criteria.
- Use tables for comparisons (especially B2B, pricing models, specifications, or eligibility rules).
You’re not dumbing it down. You’re making it extractable.
If you want a systematic way to do this at scale, pair it with a Content SEO audit guide.
2) Match the new intent patterns (SERP journeys are getting longer)
AI Overviews often appear for queries that used to be “top funnel” — and then users refine their question inside the SERP.
So your strategy needs to cover:
- The broad explainer (what it is, why it matters)
- The decision layer (how to choose, what to compare)
- The execution layer (steps, timelines, pitfalls, templates)
- The proof layer (case studies, examples, outcomes)
This is where Insight and Strategy work pays off: mapping intent to content types, not just keywords.
3) Treat EEAT as a content format, not a slogan
If you want to be cited, you need to look like a source.
That means being explicit about:
- Who wrote it and why they’re qualified
- When it was last updated (and what changed)
- What you based it on (data sources, methodology, firsthand experience)
- How a reader can contact you (real business signals)
Even if the content is brilliant, “anonymous blog post with no accountability” is less likely to become the cited source.
If you need inspiration for how Totally Digital positions expertise, browse the Case studies and mirror that clarity in your editorial content.
4) Update content more aggressively (especially anything “evergreen”)
AI features make freshness more visible. The SERP is effectively saying: “Here’s the current answer.”
So your content refresh cadence matters more — particularly for:
- “Best” lists
- Pricing and cost estimates
- Tool comparisons
- Regulatory or policy-linked topics
- Anything involving platform changes (Google, Meta, Shopify, WordPress)
If a lead is worth £2,000–£10,000 to you (common in B2B services), leaving high-intent content stale is not a content problem — it’s revenue leakage.
5) Fix internal linking so Google can actually discover your “best answers”
If you have strong content that isn’t being surfaced, it’s often an internal linking problem.
AI Overviews reward sources that are:
- easy to crawl
- clearly structured
- supported by a coherent topical cluster
Start here: Internal linking audit guide
Then apply a simple rule: your best citation-worthy pages should never be more than a few clicks from a high-authority hub (homepage, category page, major service page).
6) Make technical performance part of “content quality”
Slow pages don’t just hurt conversions — they can waste crawl, reduce consistent indexing, and limit how confidently your pages are used.
If you’re serious about long-term visibility, you should be looking at speed and stability alongside content upgrades. This is the kind of work covered in the Page speed audit guide.
And if you want to see what Googlebot is actually doing (not what you hope it’s doing), you’ll get a lot of mileage from the Log file analysis guide.
7) Measure “citation visibility”, not just rankings
You still track rankings. But you also need to track:
- which queries trigger AI Overviews in your niche
- whether your pages are being cited
- whether impressions are rising while clicks fall (classic AI Overview pattern)
- whether assisted conversions are increasing even when organic sessions dip
A good place to start is the GA4 and Search Console SEO audit guide, and make sure your tracking is clean with Google Tag Manager support.
For the wider measurement setup, use Data and Analytics as your foundation.
8) Invest in “third-party proof” like it’s part of SEO (because it now is)
One of the biggest practical shifts with AI answers is that they don’t only lean on your website.
They lean on the wider web.
That means digital PR, partnerships, reputable listings, and genuine mentions matter more — because they create external confirmation that you’re a real authority, not just a page that says it is.
This is also why GEO work is often half technical, half distribution: Generative Engine Optimisation services.
9) Stop treating migrations and redesigns as “just a dev project”
AI-driven SERPs increase the cost of disruption. If you drop pages, break internal linking, or botch redirects, you don’t just lose rankings — you can lose the “trusted source” status you’ve built.
If you want a reminder of how brutal this can be, read SEO migration failures examples.
A simple checklist you can apply this month
If you want a practical starting point, run this as a 30-day sprint:
- Identify 20 queries that frequently trigger AI Overviews in your category
- Upgrade 5 “citation candidate” pages with clean answer blocks under each H2
- Add 1 strong comparison table where it fits naturally
- Strengthen author and trust signals (bios, update dates, references)
- Improve internal linking to those pages from your main hubs
- Fix speed issues on the templates those pages use
- Track changes in impressions, clicks, and assisted conversions
- Build 3 pieces of third-party proof (guest mention, partnership quote, credible listing)
If you need a broader benchmark, work through the 15-point SEO audit checklist for 2025.
FAQs
Do AI Overviews replace traditional SEO?
No. They change how SEO value shows up. You still need your technical foundations, indexation, relevance, and authority — but you’re now optimising for “being included in the answer” as well as being ranked underneath it. Google’s own documentation frames AI features as part of Search experiences that still rely on content inclusion systems.
How do you increase the chances of being cited in an AI Overview?
You make your pages easier to extract and trust. That means clear answer blocks, strong headings, structured lists, up-to-date information, and credible proof signals. You also improve discoverability with internal linking and clean technical SEO so Google can reliably crawl and understand your content.
Will AI Overviews reduce my organic traffic?
For some query types, yes — especially basic informational searches where the overview satisfies the user. But that doesn’t automatically mean lost revenue. You may see impressions rise while clicks soften, with conversions staying stable because the traffic you do get is more qualified. The key is measuring outcomes, not just sessions.
Should you write content specifically “for AI”?
You should write content that answers questions cleanly for humans — in a format AI systems can quote without rewriting. The safest approach is still “helpful content first”, but packaged in a way that makes the best parts easy to cite.
Do ads appear in AI Overviews in the UK?
Google has confirmed ads can appear in and around AI Overviews when certain conditions are met, and has expanded how it blends commercial experiences into these surfaces over time.
How do you track AI Overview impact properly?
Start in Search Console and GA4: monitor impression and click patterns, isolate query groups that trigger AI Overviews, and track assisted conversions. Make sure conversion tracking is accurate (Tag Manager and event setup matter), then review content performance page-by-page to spot where you’re gaining visibility but losing clicks — and decide whether the page needs better “next step” intent.
Is this only relevant for big brands?
No. Smaller UK brands can win citations by being the clearest, most trustworthy answer in a niche. In many categories, the cited sources are not the biggest names — they’re the most usable sources for a specific question.
Want help adapting your content strategy for AI Overviews?
If you want a practical, UK-focused plan for earning citations, protecting organic performance, and turning AI-era visibility into leads and revenue, start with an audit and a prioritised roadmap.
Explore SEO / Organic Marketing, or get in touch via Contact Totally Digital to talk through what’s changing in your SERPs and what to fix first.
If you’re tired of traffic that doesn’t convert, Totally Digital is here to help. Start with technical seo and a detailed seo audit to fix performance issues, indexing problems, and lost visibility. Next, scale sustainably with organic marketing and accelerate results with targeted paid ads. Get in touch today and we’ll show you where the quickest wins are.