Here's a stat that should change how you think about SEO.
Only 38% of pages cited in Google's AI Overviews also rank in the traditional top 10 search results.
Seven months ago, that figure was 76%. Google's AI is rapidly expanding the pool of sources it draws from, and the websites it cites look less and less like the websites that dominate the blue links below.
Source: Ahrefs / ALM Corp citation overlap analysis. The trend is clear: AI citation and traditional ranking are becoming separate games.
What this means in practice
If your SEO strategy is built entirely around getting to page one, you're playing by rules that are becoming less relevant by the month. The sites being cited in AI Overviews share a different set of qualities than the sites ranking in the top 10.
They tend to have structured data that helps AI systems understand the content. They have topical depth, covering subjects thoroughly rather than skimming the surface. And they use clear, direct language that AI models can extract and paraphrase confidently.
None of this is about keyword density or backlink volume. It's about making your content machine-readable and authoritative.
| What traditional SEO rewards | What AI citation rewards |
|---|---|
| High domain authority | Specific, detailed answers |
| Many backlinks | Clear, structured content |
| Keyword density | Topical depth and expertise |
| Page-one ranking | Machine-readable schema markup |
| Site age | Recency and freshness |
| Site speed (basic) | AI-parseable architecture |
The opportunity for small businesses
This is actually good news if you run a small business. The old SEO game was expensive. Competing for page-one rankings against businesses with bigger budgets and more content was an uphill battle for most SMEs.
AI citation doesn't work the same way. Google's AI doesn't rank sources by domain authority the way traditional search does. It looks for the most relevant, most structured, most clearly authoritative answer to a specific question. A well-built page from a small business can be cited alongside, or instead of, content from a major publisher.
What you can do right now
Your AI visibility quick-start checklist
Where GEO fits in
This is the problem Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is designed to solve. Where traditional SEO focuses on ranking in search results, GEO focuses on getting your business cited by AI systems. It's a different set of practices: structured data, topical authority, content architecture that AI crawlers can parse, and ongoing monitoring of how your business appears across AI platforms.
At Sonder Digital, we build GEO into every website from day one. If your site was built before AI Overviews existed, it almost certainly isn't optimised for them.
Sources
- Ahrefs / ALM Corp: AI Overview citation overlap analysis (2026)
- Semrush: AI Overview tracking data (2025-2026)
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