Google AI Overviews more volatile than organic rankings: Report
The pages ranking in AI Overviews are often completely different than the pages ranking in the top 10 organic results, a new analysis finds.
Google AI Overview rankings – the webpages cited in the AI-generated answers – are more volatile than Google’s “classic” organic search rankings. Also, within two to three months, 70% of AI Overview rankings changed, according to a new analysis by Authoritas, an ecommerce SEO platform.
Ranking volatility. Google’s organic search is volatile and has been for a while. However, AI Overviews appear to be even more volatile, based on this research.
- AI Overview ranking volatility score: 0.68 (8 weeks), 0.73 (13 weeks)
- Google Search organic ranking volatility score: 0.49 (8 weeks), 0.55 (13 weeks)
Dig deeper. How volatile have Google rankings really been?
AI Overviews vs. organic ranking. Ranking in the top 10 is not a guarantee your content will rank in AI Overviews. AI Overview and organic ranking systems are different and work independently of each other most of the time, the analysis found:
- 60% of the time, pages ranking in the top 10 appear in AI Overviews.
- 40% of the time, AI Overviews rank a webpage that doesn’t appear in the top 10 of Google organic search.
Text snippet volatility. Google’s AI Overviews text snippets changed over time, even if some cited sources remain unchanged. Tracking what changes might give you some insights about whether there has been a shift in user intent, for example.
Why we care. Google AI Overviews aren’t going away. Volatility is high and the way content is ranked is different than doing traditional SEO. So it’s important to continually monitor AI Overviews for keywords you care about – those you’ve won and/or lost – and figure out what changed and why.
About the report. It looked at the Google search results of 11,203 keywords based on three different dates (August and October 2024, January).
The report. SERP Organic and AI Overview Volatility Research
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About the author
Goodwin has been editing and writing about the latest developments and trends in search and digital marketing since 2007. He previously was Executive Editor of Search Engine Journal (from 2017 to 2022), managing editor of Momentology (from 2014-2016) and editor of Search Engine Watch (from 2007 to 2014). He has spoken at many major search conferences and virtual events, and has been sourced for his expertise by a wide range of publications and podcasts.