The new top of the page
Google AI Overviews are no longer a test — they appear on roughly 60% of UK informational queries and a growing share of commercial ones. Studies from Ahrefs and Semrush in early 2026 show a 27–34% drop in organic CTR for queries where an Overview appears, even for sites still ranking #1.
The good news: there is a new game to play, and it has structure.
How AI Overviews choose their sources
Three factors dominate. First, semantic match between the query intent and chunks of your page. Second, perceived authority — backlinks, brand mentions, expertise signals. Third, structural clarity — pages with clear headings, scannable answers, schema markup and concise paragraphs win disproportionately.
The "answer-block" rewrite
For every page targeting an informational query, add a 40–60 word direct answer in the first paragraph under your H1. Google's extractor strongly favours this pattern. Then expand with nuance, examples and your unique angle below.
Schema is not optional anymore
FAQ, HowTo, Article, Product, Review and Organization schema all measurably increase Overview citation rates. Most UK sites still skip these. Adding them is a one-day job for a developer with permanent rewards.
Brand mentions beat backlinks
Overviews disproportionately cite brands they have "seen before" in training data. Get your brand and founder names mentioned across reputable UK publications, podcasts and LinkedIn. Digital PR is back, and it is the single highest-leverage activity in 2026.
Track citations, not rankings
Position 1 means less. Track instead: citation rate in AI Overviews for your target queries, brand mentions per month, traffic-per-impression. Tools like SE Ranking, Profound and AlsoAsked now report on these natively.
What still works (and works better)
Long-form, genuinely original content with first-hand experience, video, original data and clear point-of-view. Google's helpful-content signals pull these to the front. Generic, AI-spun content is being demoted faster than ever.
Key Takeaway
AI Overviews did not kill SEO — they reshaped it. Win by being the source the AI cites: structured, authoritative, brand-strong. The CTR you lose to Overviews you make up in citations, brand recall and direct traffic.