Dan Hinckley recently pointed out to me this study from Ahrefs that analyzed which factors might influence AI Overviews that most. While correlation isn't causation, this is an actual data study that we can use to see how SEOs need to adapt their strategies for AI Overviews (and likely AI Mode). Some key insights were:
1. Web Brand Mentions were the most correlated factor (0.664). Google grounds the results from the index, then runs an LLM over top of the results. If the LLM consistently sees your brand name appear - it's most likely to return it in the output.
2. The top three correlated factors were all brand-related. While Brand Mentions were the most correlated factor, "Branded Anchors" (0.527) and "Branded Search Volume" (0.392) were two and three respectively.
3. Link metrics were in the middle of the pack. Factors such as Domain Rating (0.326) and Number of Referring Domains (0.295) were four and five beneath the branded factors. It's possible that linking efforts are most helpful for getting your brand co-cited on other sites.
4. Fortunately, Paid Media related efforts had extremely low correlations. Not surprising, but definitely worth checking given all that's come out about Google in the past couple of years.
I don't think this only applies to AI Overviews - but also Google's upcoming AI Mode. While more sophisticated than AIOs - there's a lot of overlap in how marketers can influence it.
This is going to mark a new opportunity for SEOs to improve their skillsets. Part of SEO will become a more web-based PR type of role that's centered around getting your brand mentioned in other prominent sources. To influence the LLMs, you have to change the sources in which they ground from or create new ones. Content and outreach strategies will need to adapt to this.
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