By Terence Walsh | TWDA Design | Northumberland web design
Reading time: ~6 minutes | Category: Business Tips
Last week Google announced it is adding more links to AI Overviews and AI Mode, the AI-written answers that now sit at the top of many search results. Links to websites will appear higher up in those answers and more often, and Google is testing a new section that points people to one or two “official” sites for a task.
Google has framed this as sending more visitors to websites. That may be true at the edges, but as TJ Robertson pointed out on Instagram, there’s a bigger picture worth understanding if you run a business that relies on being found online.
“Google wants AI answers to be the whole search experience.
Your website’s job is shifting from ‘rank on page one’ to ‘be the business Google’s AI recommends’.”
Since Google I/O in May, Google has been clear that it sees Search as AI search, top to bottom. The obstacle has been simple: a lot of the time, people go to Google just to reach a website. They type the name of a local B&B or “Hexham dentist” and want the link, not a paragraph of AI text.
Putting the obvious link right at the top of the AI answer removes that frustration. It makes the AI answer usable for every kind of search, which in turn makes it much easier for Google to keep the AI answer as the main event. More links in the short term; a fully AI results page in the long term.
We covered the wider shift in more detail in our earlier post, Google’s biggest search shake-up in 25 years.
If your income comes directly from visits, such as advertising revenue or affiliate commission, this is a real shift. Fewer people will need to click through, and you may need to rethink how the site makes money.
For most of the businesses we work with across Northumberland, from hotels, pubs and holiday lets to shops, schools and charities, website traffic was never the goal. Bookings, sales and enquiries were.
If someone asks Google for “dog-friendly pub near Kielder” and the AI answer recommends you, with a link, that is arguably worth more than ranking first in a list of ten blue links. The visitor arrives already half-sold.
Google’s own guidance is reassuring here too. Its page on AI features and your website says there are no special tricks needed to appear in AI Overviews. The fundamentals of good SEO still apply.
The other change to plan for is who, or what, visits your website. Increasingly, AI assistants will read your pages on a customer’s behalf: checking availability, comparing prices, pulling out opening hours. That means your site has to work for software as well as people. Clear headings, real text rather than words baked into images, and booking or contact details that don’t hide behind awkward pop-ups all help.
If your website was built a few years ago, it may well have been designed for a search landscape that no longer exists. That’s not a crisis, but it is worth a look.
We’ll look at your website and Google Business Profile and tell you, in plain English, what’s helping and what’s holding you back. No jargon, no obligation. Or explore our website design services, and keep an eye on our Latest News for more practical guides.
