Google AI Overviews: A Threat to SEO, but what impact on E-commerce sites?

The most severely impacted are publishers of “informal” or “generic” content: travel blogs, recipe tutorials, DIY guides, media websites… Their content is often directly included in the AI Overviews, removing the need for users to visit the original website.

• The travel blog The Planet D lost 90% of its traffic, resulting in staff redundancies.

Below is a chart (over a two-year period) showing the dramatic fall in The Planet D’s traffic.

The Sun; Significant Drop in Digital Audience

• Impact: In September 2023, The Sun recorded a 40% decrease in monthly unique users, dropping from 134 million to 80 million.
• Context: This drop coincided with changes Google made to its search results, notably the introduction of AI Overviews. These AI-generated summaries provide direct answers to users, reducing the need to click through to publisher websites.
• Consequence: The decline in traffic contributed to lower digital advertising revenues for The Sun and other News UK brands.

Another telling example of the consequences of Google’s AI Overviews is Chegg, a US-based company specialising in online education. In 2024, following the integration of AI-generated answers by Google, Chegg experienced a significant drop in its organic traffic. This had a direct impact on its finances: revenue fell by 24% in Q4 to $143.5 million, and the company posted a net loss of $6.1 million.

More alarming still, its market capitalisation plummeted by over 90%, from $2.18 billion to just $110 million. Subscriber numbers also dropped by 14%, affecting future growth prospects.

Chegg blamed the decline on Google using its content to generate summaries directly in search results, depriving the company of essential traffic. In response, Chegg filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing it of unfair competition and using its resources without compensation.

The year-on-year comparison of organic traffic on Chegg.com

These cases illustrate a radical shift: Google no longer redirects users, it serves them the answer directly.

But not all websites are impacted in the same way.

Good news: online retailers are, for the most part, spared, at least for now. Why?

• “Transactional” search intent remains dominant. Users want to buy a product, compare prices, read reviews. This still involves visiting a website or marketplace.
• AI Overviews do not (yet) replace the shopping experience. Google doesn’t sell products. It can advise and guide, but it does not eliminate the need to go through a retailer.

As a result, e-commerce sites face less dramatic traffic losses than publishers of informational content.

Officially, AI Overviews are still in a testing phase, currently available mainly in the United States via the Search Labs programme. Rollouts have extended to other countries (Canada, the United States, Mexico, Japan, India, Australia, and the United Kingdom), but as of April 2025, France, Germany, and Spain are not yet affected.

That said, global rollout appears inevitable, and publishers should start preparing now.

AI Overviews force a fundamental rethink of SEO strategies. Creating generic content to answer basic questions is no longer sufficient. The era of “easy clicks” is over.

The rules of the game are changing, and the new approach might include:

• Content that AI cannot easily replace

• • Personal testimonials, experience-based storytelling
  • Original data, proprietary studies
  • Bold positioning within a specific niche
    

• Diversify your acquisition channels:

• • Podcasts, YouTube videos, community newsletters
  • Social commerce, influencer collaborations, interactive content
    

• Optimise for the AI itself:

• • Platforms like YouTube, Reddit, and Quora are already appearing in AI-generated results.
    Being visible on these platforms is becoming just as important as optimising your own site.

Example:
HubSpot, despite suffering an 80% drop in organic traffic, had anticipated the shift. The company heavily invested in multimedia content, influencers, newsletters, and formats designed with algorithms in mind.

Here’s what a search result looks like with Google AI Overviews.

The arrival of AI Overviews is far from neutral. It allows Google to keep users on its platform longer, increasing session duration, and thus advertising potential.

As a result, brands may be encouraged to increase their investment in paid media, especially since ads still appear above AI Overviews (in line with Google’s current monetisation model), including shopping campaigns, product extensions, or video formats.

• Keep producing content, but with a different approach:
  • Highly targeted buying guides
  • Rich product content combining text, visuals, and UGC
  • SEO and UX-optimised category and product pages

• Anticipate the wider rollout of AI Overviews by closely monitoring your organic performance and traffic sources

• Focus on branding and emotional resonance.
  • A strong brand is less vulnerable to a drop in clicks.
  • Build trust, community, and customer loyalty.

AI Overviews are profoundly changing the way content is consumed. For e-commerce sites, the threat may not be immediate—but the opportunity is very real: the chance to stand out through experience, human connection, and added value.

SEO isn’t dead BUT generic SEO is.