Google’s AI Overviews: Friend or Foe for Product Leaders?
Six things you’ll get from TWIP today
We address the elephant in the room for all business leaders - AI Overviews and how it affects discoverability for your products and services in Google Search🧭.
Free Masterclass on Pricing Strategies for E-Commerce🏷️
Google’s nightmares continue - 14000 search ranking parameters leaked🤯
How can healthcare providers and payers work together to deliver better value for patients?🤝
Product news from around the world🌏
🔍Analyzing Google’s AI Overviews with a Product Lens
Google’s AI Overviews is making international headlines - but not for the reasons the company hoped for. After a nightmarish week post the product product launch, Google hastily pulled back the feature and issued a clarification.
But I strongly believe AI Overviews will return as a permanent fixture of future search experiences.
So, our focus today in TWIP is the impact of AI-generated overviews on businesses selling products and services that rely on search results for content discoverability and user engagement.
🤖What is Google’s AI Overview?
Announced at Google I/O on May 14, Google’s AI Overviews are the next evolution of Google’s Search Generative Experience. AI Overviews use Google's Gemini model to generate short, natural-sounding answers to search queries.💬
Users can type in any query and Google’s search engine will ruffle through data across the internet from blogs, news, social media, etc., to generate an answer.
Here are three key things to know about AI overview results
Generative AI provides answers to search queries.
Google shows links to selected websites that show related info.
Google also shows drop-down links to websites that corroborate the information in each part of the answer
🤔But today, the question on everyone’s mind is why should a user scroll down and click on the link to your published content in Google results? They’ve already got the answer to what they asked for at the top from Google AI Overviews.
The media and publishing industry especially is red with anger😡 as AI Overviews are a direct threat to their brittle business model which depends on revenue from ads driven by website traffic. If users get their news from AI summaries, publishers lose revenue.
What’s the impact of AI Overviews on your business?
Looking at the broader picture, most businesses today are content-driven businesses. I’m sure if you go to your analytics dashboard today, traffic driven to your platform from Google Search would rank in the top 3.
If content listed on Google Search fuels your platform’s discovery, then Google’s AI Overviews impacts your business too.
🏋️The Challenge
AI Overviews in Google Search presents a fascinating challenge from a product perspective. Let's analyze the situation through the lens of the users.
The User's Journey:
🕵️♂️Information Seeker: Imagine a user with a specific question. They type it into Google Search.
📄AI Overview: Google presents an AI-generated summary, potentially answering their query directly.
🚧Friction Point: This creates a potential problem. Users might not explore deeper, hindering content discovery for valuable resources like yours.
Understanding User Needs:
⚡Efficiency: Micro-interactions are the norm now and Users crave quick answers.
📚Depth: But sometimes, they need comprehensive information.
✔️Credibility: They want trustworthy sources.
So, your platform’s content must have an interplay of efficiency, depth, and credibility to win this game.🏆
🛠️Here’s what I think works
While we can't directly manipulate Google's Search interface, we can optimize our product and content to address user needs and encourage them to delve deeper.
Leverage user behavior data📊. Analyze user search queries and craft content that anticipates the needs of users who require depth in content, beyond the information presented in the AI Overview.
Structured data optimization🗂️. Focus on optimizing your product's schema markup to ensure crawlers accurately glean key information and translate it into comprehensive summaries for AI Overviews.
Optimize for user search intent🤓. AI overviews are good at summarizing existing content. Go beyond traditional keyword stuffing. Analyze user search intent and craft content that anticipates users' deeper needs and questions.
Focus on differentiation🎨. Think beyond blogs. What sets your content apart? Invest in unique formats (interviews, data visualizations) and user engagement features (polls, Q&A) that can't be replicated by AI summaries and pique user interest. It motivates them to visit your website directly.
Personalize content with AI🤖. Take a leaf out of Google’s playbook and build a mini GenAI overview within your website that shows generated search results for user queries using data from your own blogs and content. This fosters a more engaging user experience, keeping users within your product ecosystem.
Become a trusted authority🥇. Build brand credibility and establish yourself as a thought leader in your domain by publishing original research and actively participating in online communities. Google prioritizes EAT (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) when ranking content.
Think beyond Google📢. Diversify your discoverability strategy. Explore content distribution through social media and niche groups relevant to your target audience.
Foster a strong user community for your platform👥. This creates a sense of loyalty and encourages users to visit your platform regardless of how they discover it.
Technical SEO best practices remain crucial🛠️. Conduct keyword research, optimize page titles and meta descriptions, and build a strong internal linking structure to make your content easily discoverable by search engines, even with AI summaries.
While content is certainly affected, AI Overviews could reshape user behavior across different platforms. The onus is on us to clearly communicate our unique value proposition. What makes using our platform essential, even after an AI Overview?
💡By taking a proactive approach, product leaders can prepare for AI Overviews and turn this potential threat into an opportunity to strengthen your platform.
⏰Free Masterclass: Decoding E-Commerce Pricing Strategies
Did you know why modern e-tailers change prices multiple times a week?
ProdWrks, our product community is hosting a free webinar on Decoding E-Commerce Pricing Strategies with Sulakshana Sarathy, a distinguished e-commerce leader with 15 years of experience leading teams at Flipkart and Myntra.
Date: June 8th
Time: 11 am IST
In this webinar, you'll learn:
1. Pricing strategies that make business sense.
2. From rule-based pricing to dynamic pricing - the role of digital products in pricing.
3. How current regulations affect pricing and profits.
4. Impact of pricing strategies on brand and consumer.
Who is this webinar for?
This masterclass is a must-attend for all e-commerce business owners and managers, marketing and sales professionals, Product managers, and aspiring entrepreneurs considering launching an e-commerce business
About the Speaker
Sulakshana is an e-commerce business leader with ~15 years of experience. In her recent stint at Flipkart, she led sales for mobiles and was responsible for a $7 billion revenue inflow. In her previous role at Myntra, she led sales for all categories to deliver revenue of $2.5 Billion. Sulakshana has gained significant experience in revenue planning, day-to-day pricing, and pricing product development.
🤯Google’s nightmarish month continues - 14000 search ranking parameters leaked
After the fiasco with AI overviews for search which generated comic results asking users to eat rocks and add glue to pizza, Google suffered another nightmarish scare.
Certain API documents which contained 14,000 Google Search Ranking Factors were leaked by an anonymous source to Rand Fishkin, co-founder of Moz, SparkToro, and all-round SEO legend.
Here’s the video with the details and actionable insights from Rand Fishkin who explores the implications of the leak and how it impacts our understanding of search ranking aglorithms.
🤓You must also read…
Rand Fishkin’s in-depth analysis of the leak
📰How Can American Healthcare Providers & Payers Work Together to Deliver Better Value for Patients?
It’s open knowledge that healthcare providers are tired of a fragmented healthcare landscape hindering patient care. This arises due to siloed systems used by the three key healthcare stakeholders - payers, providers, and patients.
This article dives into a critical question: how can US healthcare providers and payers collaborate to achieve a win-win for patients and the bottom line?
Discover data-driven strategies for:
Improving patient outcomes through coordinated care.
Optimizing costs with value-based payment models.
Leveraging technology to streamline communication and data exchange.
This isn't just about better care, it's about building a sustainable healthcare system. Click through to learn how to break down barriers and deliver the future of patient-centric value. Click here to read the full article.
📰News that matter for product leaders
🧑💻Meta Makes a Play for Gen Z: In an effort to stay relevant, Meta is launching a new product push aimed at attracting young adults (aged 18-29) to Facebook. They're focusing on features like Facebook Marketplace, Groups, and Reels. This comes after a decline in Facebook usage among teens, with only 32% using it monthly compared to 80% for Instagram.
🎨Can Canva Take the Fight to Adobe? Design platform Canva is making a move into the enterprise market, potentially disrupting Adobe's dominance. With AI features in Magic Studio, a new user experience, and better collaborative features, Canva is attracting businesses looking for a more accessible design solution. This could force Adobe to adapt and innovate to compete.
🔒Apple Prioritizes Privacy with AI Black Box: Apple is reportedly developing AI tools to enhance user privacy on its devices. This could involve features that allow users more control over their data and how it's used, without compromising functionality. This aligns with Apple's long-standing focus on user privacy and could set a precedent for the industry.
🫀AI for Early Heart Disease Detection: Researchers are exploring the use of AI to analyze medical data and detect heart disease risks earlier. This could lead to preventative measures and improved patient outcomes. Product leaders in the healthcare space should stay informed about the potential of AI in diagnostics and treatment.
📦Amazon Leverages AI for Quality Control: Amazon is implementing an AI tool called "Project P.I." (Private Investigator) to minimize product returns. Project P.I. utilizes a combination of generative AI and computer vision to identify defects like damaged goods, incorrect colors, or wrong sizes. This reduces returns and pinpoints the root cause of issues, allowing Amazon to take preventative measures.
⚠️India Warns on Checkpoint Gateways: The Indian government has issued a high-risk warning on certain checkpoint gateway products, citing security vulnerabilities. This could impact product leaders who rely on these tools for network security.
💡Industry seeks Deeptech Direction from New Govt: The upcoming Indian budget is expected to introduce a policy specifically for deeptech startups. With AI and new-age technologies set to drive transformation agenda across sectors, India’s new government soon to be announced would need to steer ahead with unwavering focus on tech and digital innovation to sustain robust growth and to realise ambitions of a 'Viksit Bharat' by 2047, experts say.
I hope you enjoyed this week's curated stories and resources. Check your inbox again next week, or read previous editions of this newsletter for more insights. To get instant updates, connect with me on LinkedIn.
Cheers!
Khuze Siam
Founder: Siam Computing & ProdWrks