Google's VP of Search, Liz Reid, explained how AI Overviews selects links and how Google evaluates low-value content in a recent interview. She outlined what users tend to click and how ranking systems respond to observed behavior, and she reiterated Google's stance on AI-generated content and the scope of its spam policies.
What content gets clicked in AI Overviews
Reid said users click more on richer, deeper sources. People prefer pages that offer a human perspective and a unique contribution. Surface-level AI-generated pages draw fewer clicks from AI Overviews.
"AI generated content doesn't necessarily equal spam," Reid said.
She added that AI Overviews reduces bounce clicks by surfacing deeper sources, and that ranking adjustments respond to observed user behavior across formats.
Key takeaways
- Users tend to click deeper content with a distinct human perspective.
- AI Overviews aims to reduce bounce clicks by highlighting richer sources.
- Google has broadened spam to include low-value content that repeats what "everybody else knows."
- Ranking systems give more weight to perspective, expertise, and evident craft.
- Signals and weights are adjusted in response to observed user behavior across formats.
- AI-generated content is allowed when it is helpful and original; it is not spam by default.
Background
Google launched AI Overviews broadly in Search in 2024 after earlier generative experiments. The feature synthesizes answers and links to sources. Google has not published click-through rates for AI Overviews.
In 2024, Google updated its spam policies to address scaled content abuse, expired domain abuse, and site reputation abuse. These policies target unoriginal or low-value pages created at scale to boost rankings and sit alongside Google Search Essentials for content and indexing.
Google's guidance says AI-generated content is permitted when it is helpful and original, with an emphasis on people-first content that demonstrates expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. See the guidance on AI-generated content and recent Search product updates for more context.
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