{"id":186581,"date":"2025-03-25T10:41:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T15:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?p=186581"},"modified":"2025-04-17T10:36:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T15:36:55","slug":"google-looking-out-for-number-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-looking-out-for-number-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Is Looking Out for #1. It\u2019s Time You Do,&nbsp;Too"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"intro-txt\">There\u2019s a major competitor in your search results: Google.<\/div>\n<p>The other day, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/feed\/update\/urn:li:activity:7299870705251213312?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_updateV2%3A%28urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7299870705251213312%2CFEED_DETAIL%2CEMPTY%2CDEFAULT%2Cfalse%29\">Lily Ray<\/a> (Vice President of SEO Strategy &amp; Research&nbsp;at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amsive.com\/\">Amsive<\/a>) noticed Google had begun surfacing its own storefront for some competitive \u201cYour Money or Your Life\u201d searches.<\/p>\n<p>By Google\u2019s own admission, these kinds of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/eeat-seo\/\">E-E-A-T<\/a>\u201d sensitive queries should be reserved for only the most authoritative and knowledgeable health sites.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, they\u2019re being claimed by Google-owned advertorials, touting the benefits of its Pixel&nbsp;Watch.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/feed\/update\/urn:li:activity:7299870705251213312?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_updateV2%3A%28urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7299870705251213312%2CFEED_DETAIL%2CEMPTY%2CDEFAULT%2Cfalse%29\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-186582\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-1.png\" alt=\"A LinkedIn post from Lily Ray showing a Google ad promoting the Pixel Watch 3, showing that Google is the top-ranking site for competitive keywords like lunges, lose weight fast, how can I lose weight fast and so on.\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-1.png 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-1-680x407.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-1-768x459.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-1-1536x919.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"Google's self-referential SERPs \" data-section=\"google-self-referential-serps\">\n<h2>Google\u2019s self-referential SERPs<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>I did some digging in <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\">Ahrefs\u2019 Site Explorer<\/a>, and noted that 12% of Google Store\u2019s pages have claimed an AI Overview in the last&nbsp;year.<\/p>\n<p>That is no small&nbsp;thing.<\/p>\n<p>For comparison, here are some similarly aligned ecommerce sites, and their respective AI Overview share:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Samsung: <strong>3.5% <\/strong>AI Overview share<\/li>\n<li>Apple: <strong>2%<\/strong> AI Overview share<\/li>\n<li>Amazon: <strong>0.4%<\/strong> AI Overview share<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Google\u2019s Store is taking <strong>more than double<\/strong> the AI overview real estate of their closest competitors, <strong>combined.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Google Store AI Overview share:<strong> 12%<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Google Store competitors\u2019 AI Overview share: <strong>5.9%<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And the number of Google Store pages appearing in AI Overviews is on the&nbsp;up.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-186583\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-2.jpg\" alt=\"Ahrefs top pages graph showing organic page performance for Google Store over time, with a blue line indicating growth in organic pages from March 2024 to February 2025.\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1317\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-2.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-2-661x425.jpg 661w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-2-260x166.jpg 260w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-2-768x494.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-2-1536x988.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/p>\n<p>Google is also steering flight searches toward its own product, Google Flights, as spotted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/feed\/update\/urn:li:activity:7302630054742634498\/\">Carl Hendy<\/a>&nbsp;(Founder of <a href=\"http:\/\/audits.com\/\">Audits.com)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-186584\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-3.jpg\" alt=\"LinkedIn post by Carl Hendy with performance graphs showing Google's optimization of flight search pages and organic traffic growth.\" width=\"1374\" height=\"1826\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-3.jpg 1374w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-3-320x425.jpg 320w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-3-768x1021.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-3-1156x1536.jpg 1156w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1374px) 100vw, 1374px\"><\/p>\n<p>To get to the bottom of just <em>how<\/em> self-referential Google\u2019s SERPs are, I went back to Ahrefs Site Explorer data to explore the organic traffic growth of 57 Google properties over the last two years. Here\u2019s what I&nbsp;found:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>50 Google properties have seen positive growth<\/li>\n<li>Only 7 have seen negative growth<\/li>\n<li>On average, Google\u2019s properties have grown by 168% organically<\/li>\n<li>Google\u2019s median organic traffic growth came in at&nbsp;94%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-186585\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-4.jpg\" alt=\"Data from Ahrefs. A horizontal bar chart shows organic traffic growth and decline for 57 Google properties between April 2023 and March 2025, with most properties showing positive growth, particularly google.com\/travel\/flights at 2,006%.\" width=\"892\" height=\"2048\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-4.jpg 892w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-4-185x425.jpg 185w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-4-768x1763.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-4-669x1536.jpg 669w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 892px) 100vw, 892px\"><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"post-186581-_9pydjci9xiwx\"><\/a> <\/p><div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"It\u2019s time we looked out for ourselves\" data-section=\"its-time-we-looked-out-for-ourselves\">\n<h2>It\u2019s time we looked out for ourselves<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>In Q3 2024, Google\u2019s revenue from search advertising reached $49.39 billion, signaling a 12% <a href=\"https:\/\/www.investors.com\/news\/technology\/google-stock-google-earnings-ad-search-growth-q32024\/\">YoY increase<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s thanks, in large part, to AI Overviews.<\/p>\n<p>Google not only runs ads above and below AI Overviews, it now <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.google\/products\/ads-commerce\/google-lens-ai-overviews-ads-marketers\/\">weaves them in natively<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.investors.com\/news\/technology\/google-stock-google-earnings-ad-search-growth-q32024\/\">analyst Doug Anmuth<\/a> from JP Morgan, \u201cAI Overviews are monetizing at roughly the same rate as non-AI searches.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And Google\u2019s \u201cAI mode\u201d\u2014essentially an AI chat interface\u2014will likely <a href=\"https:\/\/www.adweek.com\/media\/google-will-explore-ads-in-ai-mode-taking-cues-from-ads-in-ai-overviews\/\">throttle paid advertising<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In short, AI overviews are boosting user engagement and satisfaction, opening up new ad space opportunities, and earning Google a pretty penny.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, we have recently found that <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-overviews-reduce-clicks\/\">AI Overviews reduce SERP clickthrough rate<\/a><strong> by a staggering 34%, <\/strong>while a smaller-scale study from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seerinteractive.com\/insights\/how-ai-overviews-are-impacting-ctr-5-initial-takeaways\">Seer Interactive<\/a> reports CTR drops of up to&nbsp;70%.<\/p>\n<p>Right now, we\u2019re distracted with SEO busywork.<\/p>\n<p>Chasing top of the funnel traffic. Creating Google-pleasing content for queries on the very periphery of relevance to our business. Spending untold hours trying to find untapped keywords in an ever-shrinking pool of\u2026 untapped keywords. And answering questions that Google is now perfectly capable of answering itself, using our content.<\/p>\n<p>While we\u2019re busy doing Google\u2019s bidding, Google is busy looking out for #1.<\/p>\n<p>Something needs to change.<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"Build your brand and diversify your traffic\" data-section=\"build-brand-diversify-traffic\">\n<h2><a id=\"post-186581-_26kuk6kh06ly\"><\/a>Build your brand and diversify your traffic<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Now that traffic is harder to come by, we need to refocus on building our brand and generating demand.<\/p>\n<p>But Google is not the place to <em>create<\/em> that demand.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\">\u201cGoogle has become a place people go *after* they discover a need rather than a demand-creation or even demand-nudging platform\u201d<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Rand Fishkin\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Rand-Fishkin.jpeg\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Rand Fishkin,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Co-founder, <a href=\"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/new-research-we-analyzed-332-million-queries-over-21-months-to-uncover-never-before-published-data-on-how-people-use-google\/\" target=\"_blank\">SparkToro<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\"> \u201cFor most companies, SEO is a channel for scaling growth, not achieving product\/market fit. It\u2019s a way to add fuel to your fire, not start the&nbsp;fire.\u201d<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Ryan Law\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/ryan-law.jpeg\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Ryan Law,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Director of Content Marketing, <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-for-founders\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ahrefs<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<p>Instead, we should be growing our owned audiences and raising brand awareness\u2014whether that looks like creating subscription content (e.g. newsletters or paywalled articles), investing in direct publishing (e.g. Substack articles), doubling down on podcasting, or developing creative <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/branded-content-examples\/\">brand content<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever tack you take, brand building is key to visibility beyond Google.<\/p>\n<p>Case in point: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.growth-memo.com\/p\/what-content-works-well-in-llms\">new research<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kevinindig\/\">Kevin Indig<\/a> shows that brand search volume is the biggest predictor for visibility in ChatGPT.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-186586\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-5.png\" alt=\"Research from Kevin Indig. A scatter plot shows a clear positive correlation between brand search volume and mentions, with data points plotted on an X and Y axis, demonstrating an upward trend with an R-squared value of 0.5463.\" width=\"1456\" height=\"1065\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-5.png 1456w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-5-581x425.png 581w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-5-768x562.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1456px) 100vw, 1456px\"><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\"> \u201cAfter matching many metrics with AI Chatbot visibility, I found one factor that stands out more than anything else: Brand search volume. The number of AI Chatbot mentions and brand search volume have a correlation of .334 - pretty good in this field. In other words, the popularity of a brand broadly decides how visible it is in AI Chatbots.\u201d<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Kevin Indig\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Kevin-Indig.jpeg\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Kevin Indig,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Growth Advisor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kevinindig\/\" target=\"_blank\">Growth Memo<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<p>Make sure you\u2019re <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-to-measure-brand-awareness\/\">measuring your brand awareness<\/a>\u2014tracking brand search volume, share of voice, and mentions\u2014to understand what you need to do to drive up that visibility.<\/p>\n<p>For example, you could start tracking your brand ownership over topics that are most important to your business, by tracking <strong>brand + topic<\/strong> mentions online, and in AI Overviews, using <a href=\"https:\/\/app.ahrefs.com\/brand-radar\">Ahrefs Brand Radar<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_186676\" style=\"width: 1640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-186676\" class=\"wp-image-186676 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Brand-Radar-for-AI-Overviews.jpg\" alt=\"A screenshot of Ahrefs Brand Radar tool showing mentions in ai overviews for ahrefs, semrush, moz, se ranking, buzzsumo, and majestic, for the keyword 'backlinks'. Ahrefs gains the most mentions, followed by SEMrush, and Moz\" width=\"1630\" height=\"1744\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Brand-Radar-for-AI-Overviews.jpg 1630w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Brand-Radar-for-AI-Overviews-397x425.jpg 397w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Brand-Radar-for-AI-Overviews-768x822.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Brand-Radar-for-AI-Overviews-1436x1536.jpg 1436w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1630px) 100vw, 1630px\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-186676\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ahrefs Brand Radar tool showing mentions in AI overviews for Ahrefs, SEMrush, Moz, and more, for the topic of \u201cBacklinks\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"sidenote\"><div class=\"sidenote-title\">Sidenote.<\/div> I\u2019ve written about 10 more ways you can monitor your brand in my article: <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-to-measure-brand-awareness\/\">How to Measure Brand Awareness in 2025 (AKA the Year of the&nbsp;Brand)&nbsp;<\/a><\/div>\n<p>Ultimately, the more people know your brand, the more places it will naturally appear, and the less dependent you\u2019ll be on any single source of traffic\u2014or any one tech giant and its fickle affections.<\/p>\n<p>Talking of traffic sources, now\u2019s the time to think about diversifying.<\/p>\n<p>Brand mentions in AI predominantly come from third-party sources, according to a study by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xfunnel.ai\/blog\/what-sources-do-ai-search-engines-choose\">Funnel<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-186587\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-6.png\" alt=\"Research by Kevin Indig showing a stacked bar graph comparing citation types across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, showing different proportions of UGC, owned, earned, and competitor citations.\" width=\"970\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-6.png 970w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-6-680x421.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-6-768x475.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 970px) 100vw, 970px\"><\/p>\n<p>If we can prize our attention away from the unattainable Google, we\u2019ll have the brain space to focus on other, maybe more rewarding channels, like&nbsp;PR.<br>\n<\/p><div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"Move on from vanity traffic\" data-section=\"move-on-from-vanity-traffic\"><\/div><\/div>\n<h2><a id=\"post-186581-_6ypy1mdvgjwo\"><\/a>Move on from vanity traffic<\/h2>\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\"><\/div><\/div>\n<p>Rather than gifting Google your traffic and getting\u2026 not a lot in return, focus on strategies that will move the needle for <em>you<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Google\u2019s AI Overviews are <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-overview-keywords\/\">99.2% informational<\/a>, drawing the majority of their responses from top-of-the-funnel articles.<\/p>\n<p>But some of our latest research shows that navigational (-0.06%) and branded queries (-0.34%) are far less susceptible to CTR decline in Google, vs. informational content which has dropped ~10% on average over the last&nbsp;year.<\/p>\n<p>Forget the box-ticking ultimate guides\u2014the Google-demanded preamble that no one wants to write or&nbsp;read.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-186588\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-7.jpg\" alt=\"Screenshot of an Ahrefs blog page about event marketing, highlighting the sentence &quot;Now that we've gotten what Google wants to see out of the way, let's get into our why.&quot;\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1672\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-7.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-7-521x425.jpg 521w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-7-768x627.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-7-1536x1254.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/p>\n<p>Focus on optimizing the stuff closer-to-home\u2014your product and service pages, about us pages, brand-specific content\u2014and the journeys new AI audiences will take on your site once they get&nbsp;there.<\/p>\n<p>You don\u2019t have to stop creating informational content, but be strategic about&nbsp;it.<\/p>\n<p>Make sure it answers your users\u2019 questions, builds authority around your brand\u2019s most important topics and use cases, and wins you visibility in&nbsp;AI.<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"Gatekeep your best content\" data-section=\"gatekeep-best-content\"><\/div><\/div>\n<h2><a id=\"post-186581-_4iqwel3f0on4\"><\/a>Gatekeep your best content<\/h2>\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\"><\/div><\/div>\n<p>Last month Google announced that it\u2019s pumping <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ciodive.com\/news\/google-cloud-generative-ai-data-center-capacity-buildouts\/739357\/\">$75bn into its AI cloud capacity<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbinsights.com\/research\/ai-content-licensing-deals\/\">multi-million dollar licensing deals<\/a> with a couple of its favored \u201cbig brands\u201d (Reddit and Stack Overflow), Google is doing surprisingly little to incentivize unique content generation.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s because, right now, it doesn\u2019t need to\u2014it\u2019s happily using our IP and site resources<a href=\"https:\/\/about.readthedocs.com\/blog\/2024\/07\/ai-crawlers-abuse\/\">\u00b9<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/91197457\/ai-crawlers-are-hammering-sites-and-nearly-taking-them-offline\">\u00b2<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But someday, when every search result and training input is a rearrangement of the same stale ideas, Google will be pleading publishers with unique content to feed its&nbsp;AI.<\/p>\n<p>If you have incredible content, now\u2019s the time to gatekeep it\u2014hold it back for your customers and your owned audience.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/ai-optimization-how-to-optimize-your-content-for-ai-search-and-agents-451287\">According to Jed White<\/a>, you can block AI from <em>training<\/em> on your content, yet still be <em>referenced<\/em> in its answers.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\">Some AI crawlers collect training data, while others retrieve real-time content. You may want different policies for&nbsp;each.<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Jed White\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Jed-White.png.webp\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Jed White,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">CTO and co-founder, <a href=\"https:\/\/andisearch.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Andi AI Search<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-186589\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-8.jpg\" alt=\"A technical configuration guide for robots.txt file from Jed White, showing example settings for allowing and disallowing different AI search and crawling agents.\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1730\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-8.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-8-503x425.jpg 503w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-8-768x649.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-8-1536x1298.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/p>\n<p>That said, blocking AI training crawlers can be a bit of a minefield. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jedwhite\/\">Jed\u2019s<\/a> words, \u201coverly aggressive bot protection can cut you off entirely.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s if Google even listens to your directives in the first&nbsp;place.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/feed\/update\/urn:li:activity:7292047381116657664?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_updateV2%3A%28urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7292047381116657664%2CFEED_DETAIL%2CEMPTY%2CDEFAULT%2Cfalse%29\">Jes Scholz<\/a> (Marketing Consultant at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jesscholz.com\/\">Jes Scholz Consulting)<\/a> has already spotted Google going rogue\u2014ignoring canonicals, breaking robots.txt, and indexing \u201cnoindex\u201d pages\u2014to train its&nbsp;AI.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-186590\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-9.png\" alt=\"LinkedIn post by Jes Scholz, discussing Google's aggressive content collection for AI training and recommending website auditing.\" width=\"1340\" height=\"1426\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-9.png 1340w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-9-399x425.png 399w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-9-768x817.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1340px) 100vw, 1340px\"><\/p>\n<p>The other, niggling issue is that Google is quite possibly already training on your AI-blocked content via AI Overviews.<\/p>\n<p>In the experience of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/acberlin\">Anne Berlin<\/a>, Lead Product Strategist &amp; Senior Technical SEO at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lumar.io\/\">Lumar<\/a>, newly published content still surfaces in Google\u2019s AI Overviews, even if it has been blocked.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-186591\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-10.png\" alt=\"LinkedIn post by Anne Berlin discussing how blocked Google user agents can still have content appear in AI platforms, with commentary on web crawling and content indexing\" width=\"1994\" height=\"352\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-10.png 1994w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-10-680x120.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-10-768x136.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-10-1536x271.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1994px) 100vw, 1994px\"><\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s because there is currently no way to opt out of AI Overviews.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\"> \u201cThere is no opt-out for AIOs, meaning if you want to get organic traffic from Google, you need to allow it to crawl your site, potentially use your content to train its models and surface it in AI Overviews. Chegg recently filed a lawsuit against Google for&nbsp;this.\u201d<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Kevin Indig\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Kevin-Indig.jpeg\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Kevin Indig,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Growth Advisor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kevinindig\/\" target=\"_blank\">Growth Memo<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<p>In other words, if you want <strong>any<\/strong> traffic from Google, you effectively have to sign your content rights away.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_186592\" style=\"width: 1350px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-186592\" class=\"wp-image-186592\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-11.png\" alt=\"Text from a Zdnet article explaining that companies cannot opt out of appearing in Google AI Overviews, with a quote from Google about how AI Overviews provide previews based on various sources.\" width=\"1340\" height=\"340\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-11.png 1340w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-11-680x173.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-11-768x195.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1340px) 100vw, 1340px\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-186592\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Excerpt from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/google-launches-gemini-with-personalization-beating-apple-to-personal-ai\/\">Zdnet<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<p>In which case, it\u2019s not enough to just add robots.txt to a page to keep it hidden. You need to remove it from Google altogether.<\/p>\n<p>By all means make your site accessible to crawlers to maintain brand visibility in search and AI, but be selective about the content you let Google access freely.<\/p>\n<p>For every new piece of content you create, start weighing up the benefits of making it openly accessible vs. locking it down. Will you secure enough brand awareness to justify giving your IP away for free? Or will you, like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/02\/24\/chegg-sues-google-for-hurting-traffic-as-it-considers-alternatives.html\">Chegg<\/a>, be forfeiting your own revenue?<\/p>\n<p>Holding content back will not only keep your site lean (so that AI crawlers can\u2019t run up a huge hosting bill at your expense), it\u2019ll help you carve out a distinct brand and ensure your most valuable content remains genuinely useful to your readers.<\/p>\n<p>I think we\u2019ll be seeing a lot more Slack communities, Discords, WhatsApp groups and other gated communities popping up with exclusive, AI-protected content in the very near future.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, we need to step up our auditing, be extra vigilant over our IP, and consider holding certain content back for self-preservation.<\/p>\n<h2>Final thoughts<\/h2>\n<p>Google has changed. It\u2019s gone from being a reliable partner to prioritizing its own interests\u2014from surfacing its own properties, to recycling our content to power its&nbsp;AI.<\/p>\n<p>There is some hope. Google\u2019s AI Mode is reportedly opening up more search real estate, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/feed\/update\/urn:li:activity:7308163166868258816?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_updateV2%3A%28urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7308163166868258816%2CFEED_DETAIL%2CEMPTY%2CDEFAULT%2Cfalse%29\">reports of<\/a> ~500 word AI overviews containing up to ~60 links, and opportunities for 2nd or 3rd page results to&nbsp;rank.<\/p>\n<p>But, still, our CTR is down and our AI traffic is modest, while <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-ai-overviews-caught-linking-back-to-its-own-search-results-453376\">Google develops more features<\/a> to keep users squarely on-platform.<\/p>\n<p>Getting mentioned in Google\u2019s AI is crucial for brand awareness, that much is true, but ultimately there is less incentive for us to create broad, top-of-the-funnel content to appease the algorithm.<\/p>\n<p>Instead we need to take a leaf out of Google\u2019s book, and prioritize our own interests\u2014building our brand beyond search, focusing on the meaningful traffic that engages and converts, and being strategic about what content we freely offer to&nbsp;AI.<\/p>\n<p>The relationship has fundamentally changed. Google is looking out for #1\u2014and now we need to do the&nbsp;same.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The other day, Lily Ray (Vice President of SEO Strategy &amp; Research&nbsp;at Amsive) noticed Google had begun surfacing its own storefront for some competitive \u201cYour Money or Your Life\u201d searches. By Google\u2019s own admission, these kinds of \u201cE-E-A-T\u201d sensitive queries<span class=\"ellipsis\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\">Read more \u203a<\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[335],"tags":[462],"coauthors":[464],"class_list":["post-186581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-seo","tag-blog","odd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Google Is Looking Out for #1. It\u2019s Time You Do, Too<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From hoarding top search real estate, to swiping our IP to fuel its billion-dollar AI\u2014Google is looking out for #1. It&#039;s time we do the same.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-looking-out-for-number-one\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Google Is Looking Out for #1. It\u2019s Time You Do, Too\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From hoarding top search real estate, to swiping our IP to fuel its billion-dollar AI\u2014Google is looking out for #1. It&#039;s time we do the same.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-looking-out-for-number-one\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SEO Blog by Ahrefs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ahrefs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-25T15:41:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-17T15:36:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/word-image-186581-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1225\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Louise Linehan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ahrefs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ahrefs\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/google-looking-out-for-number-one\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/google-looking-out-for-number-one\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Louise Linehan\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/444b3643c35b16b94b763446c5562388\"},\"headline\":\"Google Is Looking Out for #1. 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