Google core updates, such as the August 2024 core update, seem to directly impact if a site shows in the Google AI Overviews or not. Google did say quality is a benchmark for showing in the AI Overviews, plus we know featured snippets, rich results, and many other search features are all impacted by Google core algorithmic updates.
So it should come as no surprise that AI Overviews would be impacted as well. See the update below, Google has confirmed it.
Glenn Gabe documented one site that was hit by the August core update and also is showing a decline in how often it shows in the AI Overviews. Glenn wrote on X, "I'm seeing signs of ranking impact in AI overviews based on impact from the August broad core update overall." "I am tracking AIOs for a number of companies and I'm seeing drops in citations in AIOs for some sites seeing an overall drop based on the August core update," he added. He promised to keep us posted on any changes to this.
Here is the Ziptie report showing the AI Overview citation decline for this specific publisher:
I assume others are seeing this also for sites hit by the last core update?
Forum discussion at X.
Update: This is now confirmed, John Mueller from Google responded on LinkedIn about this saying, "These are a part of search, and core updates affect search, so yes."
