AI Overviews came on to the scene and disrupted the way people interact with Google Search. Not only is it changing how people engage on Google search, but it’s impacting businesses, publishers, and websites that rely on Google for traffic and leads.
Recently, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the United Kingdom opened a consultation with Google about having regulations made with AI Overviews.
Our experts discuss what regulations could look like and how they could impact businesses.
Why did the CMA open a consultation?
A lot of publishers were unhappy that Google was scraping their sites and pulling the information for summation in the AI Overviews. Publishers have been hit particularly hard with AI Overviews, considering they make money from monetizing their content.
The CMA made the argument that publishers “don’t get a choice” over how their content is used within the AI Overviews. They also went on to argue that when publishers can’t monetize their content, they can’t continue to make new high-quality content, which leads to a declining experience for the user.
While Google offered the solution of using a snippet tag to keep them from getting summarized in AI Overviews, the CMA argued that adding that tag negatively impacts organic rankings.
So now, the CMA opened a consultation to force Google to find a solution where publishers and users can regulate AI Overviews without any impacts to organic performance for publishers.
What does Google have to say?
Google issued a statement in response to the consultatiton being opened, saying that it is “a complex topic because it can affect how people find information and how websites get found in Search.”
They state they’re currently exploring updates to the framework that will “let sites specifically opt out of Search generative AI features.”
Essentially, they’re currently working to figure out a scaleable solution that doesn’t create a confusing or fragmented experience for searchers.
So, what could these regulatory controls look like?
I sat down with our SEO experts and asked them what they think these regulatory controls could look like.
Sarah Berry, Lead SEO consultant, had some ideas:
“These regulations will likely be what meets the compliance minimum. In practice, it could be similar to some of Google’s existing controls for limiting what information from your site appears in search results, like nosnippet. Third-party website plugins will likely provide support for managing these controls easier and sitewide.”
Abby Fields, SEO consultant, feels similar:
“I agree with Sarah that these controls will probably look like Google’s other existing controls. They’ll allow businesses to no longer appear in AI Overviews, but still appear in regular organic search results.”
If granular controls come to fruition with AI Overviews, who are the winners and losers in this outcome?
With the CMA opening the consultation, Google will likely have no choice but to offer controls that meet their demands. So, when the controls happen, who’s really winning and losing in this situation?
Dan Shaffer, Senior Director of SEO.com, has a hot take:
“One hot take with stuff like this is that the only one who wins is Google. They provide a way for you to opt out, meeting the regulatory requirements the CMA is asking for. From that point forward, Google can say “You could’ve opted out” no matter the scenario. I suppose there are some unique very unique scenarios where these controls are useful, but generally, you want to be in AI answers because they’re going to remain part of search.”
Essentially, adding these controls doesn’t really impact Google much. They can continue using the AI Overview feature, while simultaneously offering the opportunity for businesses to opt out of them.
Additionally, since AI Overviews will still exist, user behavior won’t change.
That’s Sarah’s hot take:
“The winners and losers depends on the industry and percentage that opt out. The fact of the matter, though, is that AI Overviews aren’t disappearing. Companies can opt-out, but does that change user behavior? The web is massive, and even if a major publisher opts-out of AI Overviews, there will be another publisher that will gladly take their spot. The behavior isn’t going to change whether you opt-in or out.”
Abby shared a similar sentiment:
“In my opinion, the businesses that choose to opt out will probably lose the most in this situation. AI Overviews aren’t going anywhere and user behavior isn’t changing anytime soon. The AI Overview is still going to appear when users search for information, and the user is still going to interact with that AI Overview. The only thing that changes is that your business isn’t going to be there for users to discover.”
What are the drawbacks of opting out of AI Overviews? Are there benefits to opting out?
If these controls come to fruition, a lot of businesses will be comtemplating if they should opt in or out of AI Overviews.
As Sarah sees it, the biggest drawback is loss of visibility and brand mentions:
“Getting discovered is more than getting a click. Being repeatedly seen (or even just once) in an AI Overview can help businesses earn a phone call, sell a product, or get a visit to their website. It’s like word-of-mouth when someone mentions XYZ company and then you hear a friend mention the same company. Those mentions add-up.”
The reality is that AI search has shifted search behaviors. Instead of focusing so heavily on clicks and traffic, it’s now about visibility and brand mentions. So, if you’re opting out of AI Overviews, you’re sacrificing visibility and brand mentions that are so crucial to 2026 growth.
Abby shares a similar sentiment:
“You’re going to sacrifice visibility if you opt out of AI Overviews. A lot of businesses focus solely on traffic as their source of truth when it comes to getting discovered, but in this AI search era, discoverying has evolved from clicks on blue links. Now, users see an IA Overview first, and the businesses in them, before anything else. It’s really crucial to think of the impact of opting out of AI Overviews before doing so, as we’ve seen a lot of businesses see declines in traffic but major increases in visibility and revenue.”
Is there a better solution than opting out of AI Overviews?
A big issue with this approach of “opt-in or out” is that AI Overviews aren’t leaving. So, even though it can give publishers the control they want, it’s ultimately only going to hurt their reach and growth.
People still won’t click in those queries, which means publishers will still miss out on monetization opportunities.
So that begs the question, is there a better solution than opting out?
For Lace Llanora, Digital Marketing Specialist, the better solution is controlling brand presentation:
“I’m personally more interested in having control over how a brand is presented. With brand reputation in mind, businesses should be allowed to correct or refute misinformation from AI Overviews. It could be a good middle ground where websites still have control over what information AI Overviews can pull, without completely opting out and missing that visibility.”
Like our other SEOs mentioned, the behavior isn’t going to change, so it makes sense to have control over how your brand is presented, versus focusing on getting out of AI Overviews.
Personally, I think the issue lies in the fact that AI Overviews are just a blanket feature that needs to be more tailored based on the types of queries. If you think about YMYL topics, Google created much stricter quality standards for any content that falls into the Your Money Your Life category — they’re very capable of setting different standards and expectations based on the information.
So, why not create different standards for publishers and AI Overviews?
If the heart of the concern is about monetization, why not “regulate” news-based searches and hold them to a different standard?
It could be treated similar to music streaming royalties, where publishers would get paid based on factors like how often their content is cited and how much their content contributes in the response, amongst other factors. Google could allocate a portion of the AI-driven ad revenue into a shared pool that then works as “monetization” for publishers.
While this is a dream, I think there is room to discuss how AI Overviews can look different depending upon the query types.
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