Professional using a laptop to review an AI-generated search response about web services for a small hotel.

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Internet search: now you also need to convince AI

Internet search is changing quickly. More and more people are asking AI and expecting a direct answer. This means we need to rethink how we present information on our websites.

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For years, searching the internet meant typing a few words into Google, scanning a list of results and opening several websites. That is changing.

Today, we can ask things like “what company can build me a simple website for a small hotel, and roughly how much would it cost?” and receive a direct answer generated by artificial intelligence.

Google says that, since the arrival of its AI features, people have been asking longer and more complex questions. In July 2025, the company said AI Overviews had surpassed 2 billion monthly users across more than 200 countries and territories.

The change also affects the traffic websites receive.

An independent Pew Research Center study analyzed almost 69,000 Google searches. When an AI-generated summary appeared, users clicked a traditional search result on roughly 8% of visits. When no AI summary appeared, they did so on 15%.

And only around 1% clicked directly on one of the links included in the AI-generated answer.

This means that appearing among the top results is still important, but it no longer always guarantees that someone will visit our website.

So, what should we change on our website?

The answer is not to fill a page with strange words or install some supposed “code for ChatGPT”.

In fact, Google explicitly states that there are no additional technical requirements or special markup required to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode.

What matters is much simpler: making sure our website clearly explains who we are, what we offer and which questions we can answer.

Content should be original, specific and grounded in real experience. A business that explains its services, indicative prices, the areas it serves, examples, processes and answers to common questions provides far more useful information than one that simply repeats generic phrases.

How the website is built also matters. It should work properly on mobile devices, load quickly, organize information clearly and make its content easy for search engines and AI systems to access. Google’s guidance for AI features in Search emphasizes these same foundations and the importance of offering useful content that is different from what could be found on any other website.

The goal is changing

For years, the question was:

Now we need to add another:

Sources (4)
  1. Google — Alphabet Q2 2025 earnings call: CEO’s remarks
  2. Google Search Central — AI features and your website
  3. Pew Research Center — Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results
  4. Reuters Institute — Generative AI and news report 2025

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