Industrial Marketing Blog

AI Overview in Search Results

How AI Overview Is Changing Manufacturing Content Marketing and SEO—And What You Can Do About It

Reading Time: 4 minutes

The rise of AI Overview in search results is transforming how manufacturers approach online marketing. Google’s AI-generated summaries are changing the way content is discovered, impacting both manufacturing content marketing and SEO strategies.

While these AI-driven search experiences aim to provide quick, authoritative answers to users, they also present significant challenges for manufacturers looking to build brand visibility and attract high-quality leads.

As AI Overview in search results continues to evolve, manufacturers must rethink their digital marketing strategies to stay ahead. The question is: How can industrial marketers adapt to ensure their content remains visible and effective in an AI-dominated search landscape?

What is AI Overview in Search Results?

Google’s AI Overview or Bing’s Copilot Answer is a generative search feature designed to provide users with an AI Overview at the top of search results. Instead of displaying a list of traditional blue links, Google’s AI extracts and summarizes information from multiple sources to generate a concise, authoritative response directly within the search page.

For manufacturers, this means:

  • Users may get answers without clicking through to the original content source.
  • AI-generated summaries pull from various websites, making it harder for any single manufacturer to stand out.
  • The emphasis shifts from rankings and organic traffic to brand authority and structured content visibility.

While AI Overview enhances the user experience by delivering quick insights, it also reshapes how manufacturers must approach digital marketing to maintain control over their brand’s online presence.

The Impact of AI on Industrial Marketing: Key Challenges and Risks

As AI-generated search results become more prevalent, manufacturers must deal with the implications of this shift. Here are some of the biggest challenges industrial marketers face:

1. Declining Organic Traffic and Click-Through Rates

Manufacturers that rely on search engines for lead generation may see a decline in organic traffic. Since AI Overviews summarize information on the search results page, users often find what they need without visiting the original source. This creates a zero-click search environment, making it harder for industrial marketers to capture potential leads through traditional SEO strategies.

Recent research highlights this shift:

  • Semrush: The State of Search 2024 found that 57% of Google searches now result in zero clicks, meaning users find their answers directly on the search page.
  • A study from Backlinko showed that click-through rates (CTR) have dropped for both top-ranking and mid-ranking search results, signaling a fundamental change in search behavior.

For manufacturing marketers, this means fewer organic visitors, lower engagement from search traffic, and a growing reliance on alternative visibility strategies beyond traditional SEO.

2. Loss of Brand Visibility and Thought Leadership

AI Overview pulls insights from multiple sources, often without giving prominent credit to individual brands. This means that even if your company provides unique industry expertise, your insights could be blended with competitor content, diluting your brand’s authority.

Even major brands are feeling the impact of these AI-driven search changes. HubSpot, a leader in digital marketing content, recently reported a loss of nearly 50% of its organic traffic due to Google’s evolving search algorithms.

According to an analysis by Search Engine Land, HubSpot’s traffic plummeted from 36 million to 18 million monthly visitors in just six months. Their case highlights a major shift: even companies with high-authority content are losing visibility as AI-driven search features prioritize summaries over original content.

Impact of AI on Industrial Marketing

I understand—as a manufacturer, you couldn’t care less about what happened to HubSpot. However, it underlines the challenges of AI Overviews and their impact on traditional SEO, making it clear that no brand is immune to these changes.

3. Shifting SEO Priorities for Manufacturing Content Marketing

Traditional SEO strategies focusing solely on keyword rankings are becoming less effective. Google’s AI prefers:

  • Structured data and well-organized content that is easy to extract and summarize.
  • Conversational and long-form queries that align with AI-driven search behavior.
  • Authoritative, data-backed insights over generic content.

For manufacturing marketers, this means rethinking keyword strategies, content structure, and website optimization to maintain visibility in AI-driven search results.

Manufacturing Content Marketing and SEO in the Age of AI Overview

To stay ahead, industrial and manufacturing marketers must adapt their content marketing and SEO strategies to align with AI-driven search behavior. While the shift presents challenges, it also creates opportunities for manufacturers willing to rethink their approach.

1. Strengthening Brand Authority Beyond Google

With AI Overview pulling content from multiple sources, relying solely on Google for visibility is no longer enough. Manufacturers must build multi-channel content strategies that establish authority across LinkedIn, YouTube, industry directories, and direct customer engagement channels.

2. Prioritizing Proprietary and Expert-Driven Content

AI Overviews aggregate existing online content but cannot generate unique, proprietary insights. Manufacturing companies that publish original research, technical whitepapers, and SME-authored content will have a competitive edge.

However, even if your company produces high-quality, thought leadership content, it may still struggle to gain visibility in search results. AI-driven search algorithms prioritize widely referenced sources and high-authority domains, meaning smaller manufacturers or niche industry experts may be overlooked. This makes it even more critical to develop a strategic content distribution plan beyond relying solely on Google rankings.

This is where industrial brands can differentiate themselves from AI-generated summaries—by offering deep, data-backed insights and real-world expertise that AI alone cannot replicate.

Manufacturers must shift from traditional SEO tactics to structured content optimization to ensure visibility in AI-driven search results.

  • AI prefers clear, concise content structures like FAQ sections and data-backed insights.
  • Conversational search optimization (long-tail queries) helps to align your content with AI Overview’s extraction process.
  • Thought leadership pieces and industry analysis may hold greater weight in AI-driven searches.

The Road Ahead: Preparing for AI’s Ongoing Impact on Industrial Marketing

AI Overview in search results is just the beginning of a larger transformation in how search engines process and present content. Instead of viewing these changes as obstacles, industrial and manufacturing marketers must see them as opportunities to refine their strategies and build stronger, more authoritative content ecosystems.

Manufacturers that proactively adapt will be well-positioned to thrive in an AI-driven search landscape. Those who ignore the shift may struggle to maintain online visibility and lead generation effectiveness.

How prepared is your company for the impact of AI-driven search? Let’s talk if you’re navigating these challenges and need a strategy to keep your manufacturing content marketing competitive.

Achinta Mitra

Achinta Mitra calls himself a “marketing engineer” because he combines his engineering education and an MBA with 35+ years of practical manufacturing and industrial marketing experience. You want an expert with an insider’s knowledge and an outsider’s objectivity who can point you in the right direction immediately. That's Achinta. He is the Founder of Tiecas, Inc., a manufacturing marketing agency in Houston, Texas. Read Achinta's story here.
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Posted Comments:

    Ready to Start a Conversation?

    Let’s chat to determine if this will be a good fit for both of us. It will be a friendly conversation to get to know each other better, not a high-pressure sales pitch.

    Post Categories

    Archives