Is the "AI Overview" searcher-first? Verifying with a "book report"

After reading the article by Web Writing University, I found it very interesting and wanted to try it out with keywords relevant to myself.

The topic is that when you search for keywords on Google, an overview created by generative AI is displayed at the very top! It's said to be in a trial run, but I wonder if this trend will become permanent...

For details, check out the article by Web Writing University☝

Release information was posted on news sites four days ago☝

I felt these are the three points to keep in mind.

People search because they want to know something, so it's helpful to be able to grasp an overview without having to open and check multiple pages. However, if the content written there is incomplete, I think it's dangerous to take the information at face value.

I suddenly remembered a personal episode regarding "expertise."

This is about an X account I have for private use. There is someone I follow unilaterally, and I was drawn to the content and arguments they posted daily on various topics. One day, I saw a post about "freelance writing work" and felt that they had a perception misaligned with the reality of writers and the current state of the industry. It wasn't that the post was particularly malicious. Even if it didn't go viral, it had a fair amount of reactions like likes and reposts. I crossed my arms and went, "Hmm." I hadn't felt any discomfort with that person's posts before, but maybe that was just because it wasn't my area of expertise or it was general information, so it didn't bother me.

I thought to myself. When you have an expert eye or a stakeholder's perspective, you can feel firsthand that what is said and believed in the world is often not actually the case. If it's a topic in a field I'm not familiar with, I might hear it and think, "Oh, I see," and I tend to be swayed, especially by people who speak strongly. It might be important to be able to pause when receiving information, thinking, "Is this really a fact?" or "Why is this person so assertive?"

It's the same not just for humans, but for the web world as well.

Regarding AI overviews, I think you can feel the accuracy firsthand by searching and checking in a field you know well.

It seems you can also send feedback on AI overviews.

I empathize so, so much.

I was talking from the perspective of the receiver earlier, but I also thought about what I can do as a sender.

This is the AI overview that appeared when I searched for "what is a book report." If you press the link mark next to the text in the overview, the source is displayed on the right.

What on earth!!!!!! (That's loud)

In the case of "what is a book report," it seems to be created based on the content of the top five search results for the keyword. Wait, it says +7, so does that mean it's referencing the top 10 in this case? Huh. Wait. That means if I can perform optimal SEO and get my article to appear at the top, I can influence the content of the AI overview...?

(The Web Writing School mentioned in their article, "By the way, my article didn't even appear in the articles related to the overview on the right," so it seems it's not necessarily incorporated in order from the top.)

It seems that AI overviews are only displayed for some keywords, and for the keywords where I hold the 1st to 5th positions, no overview was displayed. How frustrating—I can't verify it myself—.

But thanks to that, I have another goal today! I'm going to write a note article that ranks high for the next search keyword and make the overview section even better!!! I'll pack it with information I can provide as a writing teacher and deliver it to the people who need it (searchers)!!!!!

"What is a book report"
"How to write a book report"

For example, the overview displayed for "what is a book report" is an explanation of the book report itself, but I think the information people want to know differs depending on whether the searcher is a child (the one writing it) or an adult (someone teaching or supporting them). If possible, I wonder if I could present information from that perspective as the "overview" that catches the eye first. If the reference URL changes, does that part change too? Ahhh, there are still so many things I want to try.

I want to punch my past self from just a moment ago who thought that once the busy season for writing instructors and summer vacation were over, I'd take a break from book report articles for a while, maybe until next summer. I'll do my best!

When I was researching new Google search features, Mr. Katagiri's note article was easy to understand and very educational. There are so many convenient features besides AI Overview... I want to try using them more myself!

Afterword

I'm sorry that my tone fell apart all at once starting from "What on earth!!!!!." Since this is both an informational article and intended to be a stream-of-consciousness essay, I decided not to fix it♡

Oh, that's right, when I was checking various things today, I searched for "writing classroom." Then, I was surprised to see myself displayed at number 1. I shared it in the writing classroom staff LINE group and we made a huge fuss.

Because, because, I might have said this before, but I wasn't targeting single keywords like "writing" or "writing classroom"... What is this, what kind of reward is this?

It means that it's not my note article or the writing classroom site, but that the culture center's domain is strong! Maybe it's because I've been doing it at JEUGIA for over 10 years. Thank you as always♡

By the way, when I used a computer with Microsoft Add-ins installed to search for "writing classroom_Kumamoto"...↓

Sorry, they're all me, not really options... Still, it summarized it so neatly. The writing classroom staff and I burst out laughing, saying, "That's certainly true, but still!?"

Introduced

This article was introduced by the Web Writing School! Thank you, I'm thrilled♡ It presents insights that are educational for writers and note creators. Please be sure to read it!