Google AI overview ranking-AI-AI-webpage quoted in AI-generated answers-Google's “classic” is more unstable than organic search rankings. In addition, within two to three months, 70% of the AI observation rankings changed, according to a new analysis of an ecommerce SEO platform, authentus.
Ranking instability. The organic discovery of Google is unstable and for some time. However, based on this research, the AI overview appears even more unstable.
- AI observation ranking instability score: 0.68 (8 weeks), 0.73 (13 weeks)
- Google Search Organic Ranking Volatility Score: 0.49 (8 weeks), 0.55 (13 weeks)
Deep excavation. How unstable is Google ranking?
AI Overview vs. Organic Rankings. Ranking in the top 10 is not a guarantee that your content will rank in AI overview. AI observation and organic ranking systems are different and most of the time work freely to each other, analysis found:
- 60%of the time, the ranking page in the top 10 appears in the AI overview.
- 40% time, AI overview ranks a webpage that does not appear in the top 10 of Google Organic Search.
Lesson snipet volatility. Google's AI overview text snipets changed over time, even if some quoted sources were unchanged. Track whether the changes can give you some insight whether the user's intentions have changed, for example.
Why do we care? Google AI overview is not going away. The instability is high and the way material is ranked is different from traditional SEO. So it is important that you continuously monitor the AI overview for the keywords you care about – you have won and/or lost – and find out what has changed and why.
About the report. It saw the Google search results of 11,203 keywords based on three different dates (August and October 2024, January).
Report. SERP Organic and AI observation instability research