Why AI Overviews are stealing your search traffic—and how to get your brand back in the conversation.
Something strange is happening in your analytics dashboard.
Traffic from organic search is dipping. Your top-ranking blog posts? They’re suddenly underperforming. Conversions from SEO are less predictable, and the playbook that worked for years now feels… off.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not imagining things—and you’re not alone.
The culprit? AI-generated answers—especially Google’s AI Overviews (AIOs).
These summaries now appear above traditional search results in roughly 1 out of 3 Google searches, answering questions so completely that users never bother to scroll or click. Think of them as the digital equivalent of a conversation-ending mic drop.
Unless your brand is mentioned inside that AI-generated answer box, you don’t just rank lower…
You vanish.
🧭 Welcome to the Era of “Answer-Based Search”
This isn’t a slow evolution—it’s a full-on revolution in how search works. According to OtterlyAI’s 2025 AI Search Study:
- 33.38% of Google searches now show an AI Overview.
- ChatGPT and Perplexity offer brand visibility, but links? Not so much.
- AI answers cite domains like Reddit, Wikipedia, YouTube, and official brand sites far more than ecommerce platforms like Amazon.
- Brands in content-heavy industries are already seeing organic traffic drops up to 40%.
The search landscape is being rewritten—and fast. Search used to be about rankings. Now? It’s about representation in AI-generated content.
What Are Google AI Overviews (And Why Should You Care)?
AI Overviews are part of Google’s new “Search Generative Experience,” powered by its Gemini LLM. Instead of showing a list of links, it generates a direct answer at the top of the search results—pulling from a blend of web content, citations, and structured knowledge.
These answers:
- Prioritize high-authority sources (like Reddit, Wikipedia, and YouTube)
- Often bypass branded sites
- Dramatically reduce click-through rates for both organic and paid listings
In short: AI Overviews give users what they need upfront. No clicks required.
That’s great for users. It’s terrifying for marketers. Unless you’re in the overview, you don’t get seen.
Enter GEO: Generative Engine Optimization
To thrive in this new landscape, brands must adopt a new kind of search strategy: GEO.
So what is GEO?
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the practice of getting your brand, product, or content included in AI-generated answers—like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT search results, or Perplexity responses.
Where SEO aimed to get you ranked, GEO aims to get you mentioned.
This is about more than traffic. It’s about brand survival.
How to Rank in AI Overviews: Your Step-by-Step GEO Playbook
Here’s how to make sure your brand doesn’t get ghosted by AI search.
1. Get Mentioned on Trusted, High-Authority Sources
AI models are picky about where they pull answers from. OtterlyAI’s study found that the top-cited domains in AI-generated content were:
- YouTube
- Wikipedia
- Forbes
- Amazon
Source: AI Search Study: Top 5 website citations on Google AI Overviews
That’s right: Reddit outranks Amazon in AI citations. Forums and UGC-rich platforms dominate the AI web.
✅ YOUR ACTION:
- Engage in Reddit threads authentically related to your industry.
- Contribute to Wikipedia, following editorial standards and citing third-party sources.
- Secure earned media placements with publications known to be AI sources.
- Seed product reviews and tutorials on YouTube.
You’re not just building backlinks anymore—you’re building trust signals for LLMs.
2. Think in Entities, Not Keywords
Traditional SEO is built on keywords. GEO is built on entities—concepts that AI understands as distinct ideas or brands. For example, “OtterlyAI” isn’t just a word—it’s an entity associated with:
- AI search optimization
- GEO tools
- Brand visibility in LLMs
Search engines like Google (and AI platforms) map the relationships between entities to determine what’s relevant to include in answers.
✅ ACTION:
- Use tools like Google’s Natural Language API or InLinks to audit how your brand is perceived.
- Explicitly connect your brand to related topics and categories in your content.
- Use internal linking to reinforce entity relationships across your site.
This helps AI models associate your brand with the right queries—even if your name isn’t in the prompt.
3. Quotes & Stats Are AI Candy
AI loves objective, citable content. If you want your content to be included in an answer, it helps to include:
- Expert quotes
- Proprietary data
- Clear citations
- Snippets that feel like they could be “lifted” into a summary
In fact, one study cited by OtterlyAI found that including quotes and statistics boosted visibility in AI-generated responses by 30–40%.
✅ ACTION:
- Add a stat or quote to every post—especially near the top.
- Publish your own studies, reports, or surveys (AI loves primary data).
- Include source URLs in a clean, credible format.
Want to win citations? Write like you’re building the source material for an AI answer.
4. Optimize for Prompts, Not Just Keywords
AI Overviews aren’t typically triggered by short, transactional keywords. They’re triggered by longer, intent-rich questions—what OtterlyAI calls “search prompts.”
These are:
- Natural language (like you’d speak to a chatbot)
- Specific (“best CRM for solopreneurs” vs. “CRM software”)
- Often structured as full sentences
✅ ACTION:
- Use tools like AlsoAsked, AnswerThePublic, or Otterly.AI’s AI Keyword Research tool to discover conversational queries.
- Reformat your H2s and FAQs to match real user phrasing.
- Include more “Who, What, Why, and How” in your content titles.
If your content matches how people speak (and how AI understands), it’s far more likely to show up.
5. Traditional SEO Still Matters (But It’s Not Enough)
The good news? Your existing SEO efforts still matter.
OtterlyAI’s data shows a 0.65 correlation between organic rankings and mentions in LLM outputs.
So yes, keep optimizing for:
- Page speed
- Internal links
- Meta descriptions
- Keyword-rich titles
But know this: SEO alone doesn’t guarantee inclusion in AI answers.
✅ ACTION:
- Layer GEO tactics onto your top-performing SEO content.
- Monitor which SEO pages are also being cited by AI.
- Update cornerstone content to include quotes, stats, and prompt-aligned language.
6. Monitor Your Brand’s AI Visibility
Here’s the hard part: Google doesn’t tell you if your site is in an AI Overview. ChatGPT doesn’t send referral traffic alerts. Without visibility into where and how your brand shows up in AI, you’re flying blind.
That’s where tools like Otterly.AI come in.
✅ ACTION: Set up AI Search Monitoring with Otterly.AI to:
- Track brand mentions across Google AIO, Perplexity, and ChatGPT
- Monitor which prompts trigger citations
- Benchmark against competitors
This turns GEO from guesswork into a measurable growth channel. And with our latest GEO Auditing tool, you can audit your own brand and website and get actionable recommendations on how to improve your own visibility on AI Search.
🧠 But What If You’re Not a Big Brand?
Here’s the opportunity: AI search doesn’t just favor big brands—it favors relevance.
That means smaller brands can compete—if they’re smart about content structure, distribution, and presence on high-authority platforms.
The “Wild West” phase of AI search is still unfolding. Now is the time to move.
Final Thought: If You’re Not in the Answer, You’re Not in the Game
We’re witnessing the biggest shift in search since the rise of Google itself.
In the past, visibility meant being on page one.
Today, visibility means being inside the answer.
GEO isn’t a future strategy. It’s the reality of search in 2025.
So the question is no longer:
“How do I get more traffic?”
It’s:
“How do I make AI trust me enough to speak on my behalf?”
🚀 Ready to See If Your Brand Is Showing Up?
Try Otterly.AI for free and find out where your brand stands in the AI search landscape.
🟢 Track brand mentions in AI Overviews
🟢 Monitor prompt-level visibility
🟢 Discover competitor citations
🟢 Turn GEO into your next growth channel
Because in AI search, if you’re not in the answer…
You’re out of the conversation.