What is an AI overview?
AI Overview – introduced by Google as an advanced search feature.
It employs ‘AI’ to summarize information instantly. It appears on the top of traditional search results.
Google uses its custom AI. Also known as its own LLM – ‘Gemini AI‘ to perform this task.
What is Google AI’s task?
The task is to respond to a user query instantly by fetching information from multiple indexed pages.
It replicates the behavior of what a traditional user does on google search.
Take a writer as an example.
What writers do on google is – they search for a topic. Go through multiple web pages, collect and curates information.
Eventually they form a perception and write a fresh piece of content.
That’s what AI overview is doing, reducing the mundane tasks for its users.
Since it is powered by Google’s LLM, it can comprehend complex queries too.
In simple words, AI Overview is an advanced search feature designed to give direct answers.
What are AI citations?
AI citations – feature the original sources where AI fetch the information from.
The purpose is to provide users with the original sources and the context.
Which platforms have AI citations?
AI citations appear on the following platforms:
- Google AI overviews
- Google AI mode
- Perplexity AI search engine
- Gemini AI
- ChatGPT
When do AI citations appear?
When the AI’s knowledge is limited to its training data, and when the questions are beyond its syllabus, AI rely on web. So they point back to the original pages in the form of links aka citations.
Let’s look at the possibilities of each platform displaying AI citations.
- Google AI overview: It fetches information from already indexed pages on Google so it points to the original source as a reference.
- Google AI mode: It is an exclusive AI feature on google. It provides a detailed explanation and points back to the original sources.
- Perplexity: It is a search engine powered by AI. It uses its advanced AI to fetch information from real-time web. So it provide links and display citations too.
- Gemini: A large language model. Also a Googles own product. It has both training data and Google search engine at its disposal. When a question requires verifiable information, Gemini may provide citations.
- ChatGPT: The answers mostly depend on the model’s training data. If the questions goes beyond its knowledge cutoff, ChatGPT uses its latest integrated web plugin. In such case, ChatGPT provide citations.
Where do AI citations appear?
It is different for different platforms. Also it depends on the device.
If you are using mobile device, they show up at the bottom.
If you are using a desktop, they show up on the top right side.
Conclusion:
AI Overviews and AI Citations have redefined the entire search experience. This is just the beginning. Other platforms may follow the same path.
SEO in the age of AI doesn’t belong to just one platform. We are entering an exciting phase where the user experience itself is going to change in a big way.
