What genuinely changed
Google folded AI-generated answers (AI Overviews, and AI Mode) directly into its own search results rather than losing that search behaviour to a separate product. That's real, and it means a page now effectively has two jobs where it used to have one: rank well enough in traditional search to be considered, and be written clearly enough to be extracted and cited in a generated summary. That's a genuine shift in how content needs to be structured, and it's what our own GEO guide covers in tactical detail.
What's mostly a rebrand
A lot of what's advertised as "AI SEO" in the Indian market right now is standard on-page and technical SEO — clean structure, real answers, valid schema — with "AI" added to the service name because it's a stronger sales pitch than "structured content." None of that is dishonest by itself (those practices genuinely help both regular rankings and AI citation), but it's worth knowing that "AI SEO" as a category isn't a separate discipline requiring a different skill set from good SEO practiced properly — it's mostly the same fundamentals, applied with the newer goal in mind too.
What's outright overclaiming
Nobody — no agency, including this one — can guarantee a specific page gets selected into an AI Overview, because Google doesn't publish that selection logic. Any pitch promising guaranteed AI Overview placement, a specific number of "AI citations," or claiming proprietary access to how the selection algorithm works is making a claim nobody can actually back up. The honest version of this advice removes reasons a system would skip a page (a clear answer, real structure, genuine authority signals) without promising a specific outcome.
What actually didn't happen
The widely-repeated prediction from a couple of years ago — that AI chatbots would cause search volume to collapse by a large percentage — hasn't played out that way. Current reporting shows Google still holds the large majority of search share; what changed is narrower than that headline suggested, which is exactly why it's worth being skeptical of any agency's dramatic framing of "AI is replacing search" as the reason to buy a service.
Where to actually read the tactics
This post is the industry-perspective piece — for the practical, step-by-step version (what actually gets a page cited, in five concrete steps), see Apensia's Google AI Overviews & GEO guide. Both are part of the standard SEO service — this isn't sold as a separate, premium "AI SEO" package.
FAQ
Is "AI SEO" a real, separate service from regular SEO?
Mostly not — the fundamentals (structure, clarity, real answers, valid schema, genuine authority) are the same practices that help both traditional rankings and AI Overview citation. What's genuinely new is the goal of being extractable by a generated summary, not a wholly different skill set.
Can any agency guarantee a page appears in Google's AI Overviews?
No — Google doesn't publish the selection logic for AI Overviews, so any guarantee of placement is not something an agency can actually back up. Legitimate advice focuses on removing reasons a system would skip a page, not promising a specific outcome.
Did AI chatbots actually cause a major drop in Google search volume?
Not according to current reporting — a widely-repeated 2024 prediction of a large search-volume drop by 2026 hasn't materialized; Google still holds the large majority of search share. It's a useful example of why dramatic AI-replacing-search framing is often more marketing than fact.
Media contact: apensiapr@gmail.com · +91 81468 55589
Drawn from Google's own August 2026 "AI Mode and AI Overviews" post and current (September 2026) reporting on search market share, the same sourcing used on apensia.in/blog/google-ai-overviews-geo-guide-chandigarh.html.