As you’ve probably experienced, Google has begun providing “AI Overviews,” on its search engine results pages (SERPs). These overviews combine Google’s traditional search results with generative AI to provide a summary “answer” at the top of search results before displaying relevant links to web pages that satisfy the search query. 

While unsurprising, this change raises concerns about potential drops in search traffic. After all, if Google can “do the Googling for you” and provide users answers on its platform, will website traffic plummet? Moreover, the question we’ve received from several clients and friends is, What should mission-driven organizations already fighting for engagements do about it?

Your mission-driven organization’s SEO strategy needs to brace for change

Google says they remain focused on “sending valuable traffic to publishers and creators”, and so far we haven’t seen huge drops in traffic to clients’ websites. They’ve also had to adjust and slow down the rollout. It may be too soon to tell, and in fact, the changes could be good for mission-driven organizations with nuanced and complicated stories to tell.

Tell your organization’s story, or AI will do it for you

As more users build the muscle of going to Google and getting an answer without having to click through to a webpage, the more we may see the impact on search traffic. 

However, this user behavior began even before AI Overviews. A 2022 study by Semrush found that more than half of users didn’t leave Google after conducting a search. AI answers may become more prevalent and over time may have longer-term impacts.  

No matter the reason, relying on clickthrough from Google’s critical that you deliver your messages with high-quality content across channels. Google’s AI Overviews will only be as good as the data that trains it, and the more you can develop high-quality content, the better Google’s AI model will be able to articulate your issues, stories, and brand. In fact, the AI needs you to deliver more! Additional high-quality data is required for models to keep advancing, and research institute Epoch AI has estimated that AI companies could confront a shortage of high-quality textual training data as early as 2026. 

Further, even as we may see some larger impacts on traffic, people still don’t fully trust AI to give them what they need – especially on important issues like education, health, or equity. Those who are seeking valuable information will look to sources with authority, most especially our mission-driven organizations and leaders. 

Focus on building one-to-one relationships beyond your website

The ongoing evolution of Google’s AI Overview represents a significant shift in how visitors are pulled into websites. As our clients and partners experience this shift, it will become more important to cultivate individual relationships through email, social, and other platforms. People will also be seeking out trusted voices as more and more content becomes driven by AI, and to break through that noise, you’ll need to have direct access.