AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and the Future of Search Visibility

Diane · 2025-09-04T15:40:53Z

So, apparently Google still rules the search world. The following information is from an interesting article I recently read and is summarized to capture the main points. Google sends hundreds of times more traffic to sites than AI search tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity. But here’s the twist: those AI tools don’t simply recycle Google’s winners. In fact, most of the sources they cite don’t even show up in Google’s top results. AI seems to value freshness, pulling in content that’s newer than what ranks in organic search. So if your blog is up-to-date, you might find AI more likely to notice you than Google does. Google’s AI Overviews are where things get really interesting—and frankly a bit grim for site owners. They’re already reaching over a billion people a month, and when they show up in search, clicks to websites drop by more than a third. To make matters worse, those citations aren’t evenly spread. A small handful of brands hog the majority of mentions, while more than a quarter of companies don’t get cited at all. And when Google does cite sources, it leans heavily toward platforms like Reddit, Quora, and YouTube. That might explain why marketers suddenly care so much about what’s happening on Reddit. ChatGPT, meanwhile, has become the surprise traffic driver. It now sends more traffic to websites than Reddit or LinkedIn. Still, the overlap with Google’s top results is tiny. It doesn’t matter if you’re ranking number one on Google; ChatGPT might still ignore you and cite something newer. The pattern seems clear: AI search engines are building their own ecosystems, not just mirroring Google. Behind the scenes, AI bots are crawling the web like ants at a picnic. OpenAI’s GPTBot is the most blocked crawler, but overall, AI bots now account for a quarter of all web requests. That’s a huge shift, and it shows how aggressively these models are sucking up data. On the content side, the numbers are staggering. Nearly three-quarters of new web content now has AI baked into it. Purely human-written pieces are rare, and even rarer at the top of search results. Interestingly, AI-assisted content doesn’t seem to perform worse than human work—it actually dominates the top 20 Google results. Marketers have jumped in with both feet. About 87% use AI for some part of their workflow, whether it’s drafting blog posts, brainstorming, or updating old content. It’s cheaper and faster, and teams that adopt it publish more often. Still, most companies insist on a human check before hitting publish. Almost none admit they’re using AI, though. Traffic from AI search is still tiny—just a fraction of a percent compared to traditional search—but it’s growing fast. And while those visitors may not click around much, they’re surprisingly valuable. The big takeaway? AI isn’t replacing search overnight, but it’s already changing the game. If you care about visibility, you can’t just chase Google rankings anymore. You have to think about how AI systems discover and cite content, how your brand shows up in conversations, and whether your material looks fresh and trustworthy. The landscape is messy, but ignoring AI isn’t an option.

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RohanM

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Sep 07, 2025 9:03 pm

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Joined: 1 year ago

Hey Lizzy ... they just keep twisting the knife, hey?

I wonder how long it will be before ads are plastered all over 'AI Mode' ... they'll probably go for 'In-line content' ads too.

Oh man.

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Ohnoo_not_her

(@ohnoo_not_her)

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Sep 07, 2025 9:18 pm

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RohanM

@rohanm for sure Rohan! Just when I was getting my hopes up. Doing that will get it down again I'm sure, ugh!
Oh, but in my niche, there are already ads plastered everywhere hahaha! But still, big brands reach out to me with free products, I even had to say no to a few, can't assemble all those DIY kits , and my nephew is tired of them too hahahaha.
So that means I'm still ranking very well, just that I have to kind of fight against myself in AI overview, where they use my pictures. (so that's several clicks further to my site instead of straight up ). It's madness.

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AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and the Future of Search Visibility

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