Top rankings no longer guarantee a place in Google's AI answers

Australian brands can now hold the top organic result on Google and still miss the most visible part of the page. AI-generated summaries appear in roughly one in four searches and often answer a user’s question before any website gets a click.

South Melbourne digital marketing agency UNTMD says that change has created a new split between ranking well and being seen. The business argues that Google’s AI Overview chooses which brands to mention using signals that differ from the factors behind standard search rankings.

As a result, the same search can produce two very different outcomes for a company. A brand may sit in first place in the traditional results and still remain absent from the AI summary above it.

The traffic effect is significant. Seer Interactive’s 2025 analysis of brand search data found click-through rates fall 61% when AI Overviews appear.

However, Seer Interactive found the opposite for brands that do get named in those summaries. On the same queries, cited brands receive about 120% more organic clicks per impression than competitors left out of the AI answer.

Maria Kathopoulis warns rankings are only one measure

UNTMD founder Maria Kathopoulis said many businesses still judge search performance by rankings alone, even though the AI layer can now shape what users see first.

“Most of our clients come in thinking their SEO is working because their rankings look fine,” Kathopoulis said. “Rankings are still relevant, but they are now only part of the picture.”

She said brands now need to track three separate questions in 2026: whether Google’s AI systems recognise them, what information those systems present, and whether the AI response sends the user to them or to a rival.

Following that shift, UNTMD has updated its search visibility service to include AI Overview optimisation as well as conventional SEO. Its approach focuses on structured content, citation signals, entity authority and answer-layer signals.

The change extends beyond Google search pages. Research firm Telsyte found 12% of Australians now use AI tools to search, more than double the level a year earlier.

UNTMD says that leaves Australian businesses with a broader visibility problem than a standard SEO campaign was built to solve. For brands that rely on organic search traffic, being discoverable in AI-generated answers is becoming a separate task from simply reaching page one.