Understanding the Impact of AI Overviews on CTR
Google’s AI Overviews and the rollout of AI Mode represent one of the most significant shifts in search behavior in the last decade. As these features expand, SEOs and content teams face a new challenge: how to maintain organic visibility and click-through rates (CTR) when users are increasingly served summarized answers directly in the SERP.
Leveraging Google Search Console for AI Optimization
The solution isn’t to fight the AI, but to optimize with it. This means adapting both your technical and content strategies to support dual visibility: ranking well in classic blue-link search, while also being eligible for AI Overview inclusion. If you want a deep dive on how to do this with Google Search Console data, check out our >Google search console course — it walks you through optimizing for both formats using live GSC metrics.
Formatting Content for AI Visibility
To start, content formatting matters more than ever. Structured sections with clear headers, semantic HTML, and a concise summary at the top of the page make it easier for Google to extract information cleanly. Think in terms of answer-first writing: summaries, bullet points, key facts — all formatted in a way that can be lifted into an AI Overview.
Strengthening Traditional SEO Signals
At the same time, don’t abandon traditional SEO tactics. Your title tags and meta descriptions still influence CTR in classic listings. But now, they also help reinforce the topical relevance for AI interpretation. A well-crafted title that mirrors the user’s intent (“How to X in 2025” or “Best tools for Y”) can increase your odds of being referenced by the model and clicked on by users who want deeper context beyond the AI snippet.
Controlling Snippets to Influence AI Behavior
To balance visibility and CTR, you’ll also want to test snippet control tags like max-snippet and nosnippet. These let you limit how much Google can show in summaries — useful if you’re seeing high impressions but fewer clicks. Use Google Search Console to identify these patterns by comparing impression and CTR trends over time, especially for informational queries.
Building Internal Links for AI Context
Internal linking remains crucial in the AI era. AI Overviews often pull context from pages that are strongly interconnected and well-structured. Make sure your supporting articles point back to cornerstone content, and use descriptive anchor text that reinforces the topic. This not only improves user navigation but also trains Google’s systems to better understand how your content clusters.
Enhancing UX and Technical Readiness
And don’t forget speed and UX. Core Web Vitals, mobile usability, and schema markup still influence how well your site is crawled and interpreted. A fast, responsive layout ensures your content isn’t just indexed — it’s eligible for enhanced features like AI summaries, carousels, or FAQ rich results.
Future-Proofing SEO in the Age of AI Search
Ultimately, success in the age of AI search means thinking beyond rankings. It’s about being seen and clicked, whether by human readers or language models. The best SEO strategies in 2025 will optimize for visibility, clarity, and authority — across every layer of the SERP.
I’ve been involved in SEO since 2016. I gained my experience by successfully running optimization campaigns across various industries, with three of my projects reaching the finals of the Search Awards competitions. My passion for big data and working with large datasets naturally led me to specialize in technical SEO. Outside of work, I’m a mountain enthusiast and literature lover.
