The concept of peak AI Overview (AIO) has sparked conversations among business owners and entrepreneurs over the past few years. Are these summaries, generated by advanced algorithms, still the dominant feature of Google’s search results, or has their prevalence started to decline? From my perspective as a European entrepreneur in tech and education, understanding this shift is essential for refining digital strategies and maintaining visibility in search engines.
Google’s AI Overviews became a central feature in search results by mid-2025, quickly overshadowing organic listings for many informational queries. But recent data suggests that while AIOs are prevalent, their position and presence are undergoing changes. According to research published by Moz in a recent Whiteboard Friday session, AIOs no longer dominate the first position in search results as they once did. Approximately 13% of smartphone queries and 15% of desktop searches now have AIOs below the first position. This kind of information allows us, as entrepreneurs, to reassess our approach to SEO and content creation.
Let’s explore the core lessons from this decline, outline practical measures to adapt, and highlight common errors to avoid.
Why AIOs are becoming less dominant: key reasons
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Navigational search intent: Google increasingly prioritizes direct links to brand websites or specific pages when the user’s query demonstrates clear intent. For example, queries like “Spotify login” or “Air France customer service” bypass AIO summaries to prioritize actual brand results.
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User preferences: Feedback from users invariably shapes search engine algorithms. While AIOs provide solid overviews, many users find them insufficient for complex queries and prefer a richer set of results.
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Diversifying SERP features: New modules, such as Google's Web Guides, have introduced a hybrid layout blending organic links and AI-generated summaries. These modifications reflect a growing recognition of varied user needs.
How should founders respond to this AIO adjustment?
As tools evolve, so must our strategies. This guide offers actionable steps to thrive in post-peak AIO search engines:
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Focus on relevance: Google's algorithm ranks content partly based on relevancy for AI summaries. Writing customized, audience-specific content is non-negotiable.
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Strengthen SEO for branded inquiries: Optimize for clear navigational queries to ensure your brand listings rank above AIO overviews.
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Incorporate multimedia content: Google’s AI algorithms appear to favor pages with expert quotes, visuals, and verified statistics. High-quality content improves visibility in organic placements as opposed to relying solely on query summaries.
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Analyze keyword alignment: Check your Google Search Console. Sometimes what ranks in AI results differs from what your content targets. Regular keyword audits are essential.
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Diversify traffic sources: Sole reliance on organic search is increasingly risky as AIOs influence click-through rates. Consider strengthening multi-channel strategies including newsletters, partnerships, and paid marketing.
Mistakes you can’t afford in 2026
With competition on a steady rise within SEO-driven industries, avoiding common errors becomes a critical factor. Based on both my experience and emerging data from platforms like STAT by Moz, here are pitfalls to watch for:
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Over-optimizing for AI algorithms: While relevance matters, direct search rankings, especially for branded keywords, require traditional SEO continuity.
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Ignoring structured data: Rich snippets and structured metadata improve organic ranking efficiency and visibility against AIO-dominated spaces.
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Neglecting authority-building projects: Most SMEs fail to forge strong questions and answers directly connected to trending AIO queries, missing the opportunity to place themselves within AI summaries.
Future-oriented insights: Staying competitive
As someone who has integrated advanced AI solutions into multiple projects, my takeaway is simple. While tools like Moz and keyword tracking platforms provide insights, adaptability remains paramount. Search features will keep fluctuating, and as founders, we’re always recalibrating. The decrease in AIO dominance might appear trivial, but it offers entrepreneurs opportunities to reassert their presence throughout digital channels.
More importantly, Google's experimentation with hybrid SERP modules such as Web Guides indicates a possible balance between organic results and AI summaries. Those hybrid systems could better cater to broad user intents while reshuffling ranking compositions. For startups focusing heavily on SEO, this shift means new spaces to carve meaningful traffic.
Conclusion
As we move into 2026, these changes underline how fast technologies like AI and search algorithms evolve. Google's AI Overviews might no longer be at their peak, but they still hold significant influence. Entrepreneurs must actively monitor shifts in search algorithms, refine their SEO approach, and diversify traffic sources to weather future changes. Adapting quickly ensures we stay relevant in an environment as unpredictable as the digital ecosystem, a lesson I take to heart daily as a startup founder navigating these trends.
FAQ on Peak AI Overviews and SEO Strategies
1. What are AI Overviews (AIOs) in Google search results?
AI Overviews are AI-generated summaries that Google displays in search results to provide quick answers to user queries. These summaries became particularly common for informational searches starting in mid-2025. Explore more about AI Overviews
2. Why are AI Overviews becoming less dominant in Google search results?
AIOs are less dominant due to evolving user preferences, Google's prioritization of navigational search intent, and the introduction of hybrid SERP features like Web Guides that balance organic links and AI-generated summaries. Learn about the decline of AIOs
3. How should entrepreneurs adapt to the decline in AIO dominance?
Entrepreneurs can adapt by focusing on relevance in content, optimizing for branded inquiries, using structured data for improved visibility, and diversifying traffic sources beyond organic search. Check out tips for adapting to AIO shifts
4. What is Google Search Labs experimenting with regarding AIOs?
Google Search Labs is testing AIO layouts that show AI-generated summaries in lower positions within SERPs, sometimes integrating them with organic links through hybrid modules like Web Guides. Learn about Google’s Search Labs experiments
5. How can structured data improve SEO against AIOs?
Structured data boosts organic rankings and ensures rich snippets in SERPs, which enhances visibility against AI-dominated spaces. Explore structured data and SEO
6. What are common mistakes entrepreneurs should avoid in 2026?
Entrepreneurs should avoid exclusively optimizing for AI algorithms, neglecting multimedia content, and failing to diversify traffic sources to mitigate the impact of AIO dominance. Discover pitfalls in SEO
7. Why is diversifying traffic sources important?
Sole reliance on organic search traffic is risky with fluctuating search algorithm trends. Multi-channel strategies like newsletters, partnerships, and paid marketing can mitigate the impact of changing AI features. Find out how to diversify traffic sources
8. Are branded searches still a priority in Google's algorithm?
Yes, Google prioritizes direct links to brand-specific pages for clear navigational queries, placing them above AIO summaries. This demonstrates the importance of strengthening SEO for branded inquiries. Read more about branded SEO strategies
9. How has user feedback influenced Google's handling of AIOs?
User feedback suggests that while AIOs are helpful for quick summaries, they often lack depth for complex queries, pushing Google to provide richer organic results and diversify SERP features. Learn how user feedback shapes AIO evolution
10. Will AIOs remain a dominant search feature in the future?
While AIOs are still influential, the decline in dominance and rise of hybrid search features indicate a shift toward balancing AI summaries with organic results to better cater to diverse user needs. Find out what the future holds for AIOs
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
Violetta Bonenkamp's expertise in CAD sector, IP protection and blockchain
Violetta Bonenkamp is recognized as a multidisciplinary expert with significant achievements in the CAD sector, intellectual property (IP) protection, and blockchain technology.
CAD Sector:
- Violetta is the CEO and co-founder of CADChain, a deep tech startup focused on developing IP management software specifically for CAD (Computer-Aided Design) data. CADChain addresses the lack of industry standards for CAD data protection and sharing, using innovative technology to secure and manage design data.
- She has led the company since its inception in 2018, overseeing R&D, PR, and business development, and driving the creation of products for platforms such as Autodesk Inventor, Blender, and SolidWorks.
- Her leadership has been instrumental in scaling CADChain from a small team to a significant player in the deeptech space, with a diverse, international team.
IP Protection:
- Violetta has built deep expertise in intellectual property, combining academic training with practical startup experience. She has taken specialized courses in IP from institutions like WIPO and the EU IPO.
- She is known for sharing actionable strategies for startup IP protection, leveraging both legal and technological approaches, and has published guides and content on this topic for the entrepreneurial community.
- Her work at CADChain directly addresses the need for robust IP protection in the engineering and design industries, integrating cybersecurity and compliance measures to safeguard digital assets.
Blockchain:
- Violetta’s entry into the blockchain sector began with the founding of CADChain, which uses blockchain as a core technology for securing and managing CAD data.
- She holds several certifications in blockchain and has participated in major hackathons and policy forums, such as the OECD Global Blockchain Policy Forum.
- Her expertise extends to applying blockchain for IP management, ensuring data integrity, traceability, and secure sharing in the CAD industry.
Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).
She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the "gamepreneurship" methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond, launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks and is building MELA AI to help local restaurants in Malta get more visibility online.
For the past several years Violetta has been living between the Netherlands and Malta, while also regularly traveling to different destinations around the globe, usually due to her entrepreneurial activities. This has led her to start writing about different locations and amenities from the POV of an entrepreneur. Here’s her recent article about the best hotels in Italy to work from.