Blue anchor text links in AI Overviews, five URLs from one site in AIOs, SearchGPT vs Google Ads poll, and more

The SE Ranking team is closely monitoring the latest trends in AI-powered search and sharing valuable insights with the SEO community. We’re also spotlighting some of the most talked-about SEO topics on social media. Here’s a look at the key conversations around AI Overviews and SearchGPT.

Let's see what the SEO community says about AIOs and SearchGPT!

Recently, Sachin Patel noticed a new update in AI Overviews: Google is testing real blue anchor text hyperlinks in its AI Overviews, replacing the paperclip icon.

Barry Schwartz confirmed this by replicating it in one of his browsers, observing the same results. You can view screenshots of this new Google feature on the X feeds of SEO enthusiasts.

Gagan Ghotra reflects on Google’s AIO expansion to 100+ countries and its implications for advertising:

 “Now Google expanding AI Overviews to 100+ countries but ads are only served in AIOs shown in US. I wonder how much if any Google is losing because of serving AI Overviews in many countries, which don't have ads in them”

What are your thoughts on this? How long do you think Google will keep this approach?

The next update is from Lily Ray, who watches international AIO search results closely. She spotted and shared an instance where five URLs from the same site appeared within a single snippet:

"Noticing some AI Overviews where the same site gets to appear multiple times, like how "Times of India" ranks with 5 URLs for this horoscope query.

I think Google is doing something to connect the citations to authoritative sources on the searched topic, even if means repeating multiple URLs from the same domain (including international/older variants)"

Adriaan Dekker shared a poll asking, "Will SearchGPT take traffic away from Google Ads?" on his LinkedIn feed. 

This topic has been trending over the past few days. This poll alone has gotten nearly 2,000 votes and 29 comments since being published. Check out the results below:

Yes: 66%

No: 34%

Thoughts?

Mathew Bojerski shared how to use ChatGPT with search to help enthusiasts organize their thoughts as they explore new SearchGPT patterns and algorithms. Here are the highlights:

“-You enter a query into ChatGPT. 

-SearchGPT browses the Bing browser for results. 

-SearchGPT scans headlines, descriptions, and excerpts to answer the query. 

-SearchGPT synthesizes the information and returns an answer to the query. 

-SearchGPT relays any sources being used to the user. 

So, why does this all matter? 

[CONFIRMED] SEO -> AI influenced answers. 

Why?

Because SEO means:

-Higher ranking positions = SearchGPT favored information. 

-Meta title/descriptions/snippets = SearchGPT considered information. 

-Better SEO = More frequent SearchGPT answers to your potential customers. “

That’s the latest on AI Overviews and SearchGPT. We’ll keep tabs on the conversation for further updates. Stay tuned for more!