In May 2026, Google confirmed that AI Overviews, the AI generated summaries that sit above traditional organic search results, now appear at the top of roughly 40% of all searches, and for informational queries that figure is even higher. The knock-on effect for businesses that rely on organic traffic is significant, with click-through rates dropping by as much as 61% on queries where an AI Overview is present, because a growing number of users read the summary, get what they need, and never scroll down to the blue links below.
For small businesses in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, whether you run a dental practice in Bury St Edmunds, a florist in Newmarket, a building firm in Stowmarket, or a solicitor in Cambridge, this shift matters more than almost any other search development in the past decade. The question is not whether AI Overviews will affect your website traffic, because for many queries they already are. The question is what you can do about it, and the answer turns out to be more practical than most people expect.
Google AI Overviews are generated responses that appear at the very top of search results for many queries, built by Google's Gemini models reading and synthesising content from across the web. When someone searches "how long does a website take to rank on Google" or "what should a small business website include", Google no longer just shows links. It reads sources, constructs a summary, and presents the answer directly, often citing two or three websites that contributed the clearest information.
The businesses whose content gets cited in AI Overviews tend to share a few characteristics: they write clearly structured content with specific answers to real questions, they have schema markup in place that helps Google understand what the page is about, and they are consistently seen as trustworthy sources by the algorithm over time. That last point matters a great deal, because AI Overviews pull from a smaller pool of trusted sources than traditional organic results do, which means the field is more concentrated, not less.
There is genuinely good news here for local businesses in Suffolk, and it is worth understanding before you reach for a complete overhaul of your marketing strategy. AI Overviews appear far less frequently on searches with local intent, meaning queries like "plumber Bury St Edmunds", "restaurant near Newmarket", or "accountant Cambridge" are much less likely to trigger an AI generated summary at the top of results. These searches still surface the local pack, Google Maps, and organic results in something close to the traditional layout, which means local SEO and a well optimised Google Business Profile remain extremely effective tools for businesses serving a defined geographic area.
The implication is that your SEO strategy in 2026 probably needs two tracks running in parallel: a local track focused on area-specific keywords, your Google Business Profile, and location-anchored content, and a content track aimed at getting cited by AI Overviews for the broader informational queries your customers are asking before they ever search for a local supplier.
Google has not published a complete specification of what makes a page more likely to be cited in an AI Overview, but the pattern that emerges from studying which pages get cited is consistent and useful. Content that is structured around genuine questions, answers those questions specifically rather than vaguely, uses clear headings, and provides numbers or named examples tends to perform well. A page that says "local SEO can improve your visibility" is less likely to be cited than one that says "a business with a complete Google Business Profile and at least fifteen reviews is, on average, ranked 2.7 positions higher in the local pack than an equivalent business with an incomplete profile and fewer than five reviews".
That level of specificity is precisely what FutureProofs builds into every piece of content we produce for clients, whether they are on a Business website plan at £1,995, an SEO retainer starting from £495 per month, or a full growth package combining both. The goal is not just to rank but to be the source that AI Overviews choose to credit, which increasingly means the same thing as being the most trusted voice on a given topic in your area.
If there is one technical SEO action that directly increases your chances of being cited in AI Overviews, it is schema markup. Schema is structured data that you add to your website's code to help search engines understand exactly what your page is about, who wrote it, what questions it answers, and what kind of business you are. Google uses this data when deciding which pages to include in AI generated summaries, because a page that explicitly tells Google "this is a FAQ about web design costs in the UK, authored by a specialist agency based in Suffolk" is far easier for the algorithm to trust and cite than a page with the same information buried in unstructured prose.
FutureProofs includes full schema markup on all Business and Ecommerce website plans, which start at £1,995 and £3,995 respectively, and we also implement it as part of ongoing SEO retainers. If your current website was built by a freelancer or a national template provider, it is worth checking whether any schema is in place, because the majority of Suffolk small business websites we audit have none at all.
For any business that has historically relied on organic search as its primary source of new enquiries, the 61% click-through drop on AI Overview queries is a prompt to broaden the channels through which customers find you. This does not mean abandoning SEO, because SEO still works, but it does mean treating search as one component of a wider system rather than the whole thing. Email marketing to a permission based list, a consistent Google Business Profile with fresh posts and recent reviews, presence on local business directories including Bury St Edmunds Business Improvement District listings, and targeted paid search for high-intent queries all complement organic traffic in ways that make the overall system more resilient.
We work with clients in Cambridge, Ipswich, Peterborough, and across west Suffolk to build exactly this kind of joined-up approach, and the businesses that navigate this period best tend to be the ones that started treating their website as a growth system rather than a single project years before AI Overviews arrived.
The most practical starting point for any Suffolk small business owner reading this is a content and technical audit of your current website. That means checking whether schema markup is in place, reviewing your top-performing pages to see whether they are structured as clear questions and answers or whether they are written as flowing prose that a search engine has to interpret, assessing whether your Google Business Profile is complete and active, and identifying three to five informational queries that your ideal customer is likely to ask before they look for a local supplier.
Once you know where you stand, the next step is to update your highest-priority pages with clearer structure and more specific answers, add or improve schema, and begin publishing content that addresses real questions in a way that Google's AI systems can extract and cite. At FutureProofs, that is exactly the work we do as part of both our Business website packages and our SEO retainers, and if you would like a clear view of where your site stands today, you can find details of how we work at futureproofs.co.uk/pricing/.
What are Google AI Overviews and when did they become widespread?
Google AI Overviews are AI generated summaries that appear at the very top of many search results pages, produced by Google's Gemini models reading and synthesising content from trusted sources across the web. They began rolling out in the UK in 2024 and by May 2026 they appear at the top of roughly 40% of all Google searches, with particularly high prevalence on informational queries. For businesses relying on organic traffic, AI Overviews represent the most significant structural change to how search works since the introduction of mobile-first indexing, because they answer the question before the user ever clicks a link.
Do AI Overviews affect local searches in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire?
Local searches, meaning queries with a geographic intent such as "solicitor Newmarket" or "web design Bury St Edmunds", trigger AI Overviews far less frequently than informational searches do. The local pack and Google Maps results still dominate these queries in something close to the traditional format, which means local SEO and an optimised Google Business Profile remain very effective tools for Suffolk and Cambridgeshire businesses serving a defined area. The risk from AI Overviews is concentrated in the informational content that businesses use to attract visitors at the top of the funnel, rather than in the transactional searches closest to a purchase decision.
How can my website get cited in a Google AI Overview?
Pages that get cited in AI Overviews tend to share several characteristics: they are structured around clear questions with specific, substantive answers, they include schema markup that tells Google exactly what the page is about, they are published by sources that Google regards as authoritative and trustworthy on the topic, and they use named examples, real numbers, and concrete detail rather than vague generalisations. A page that answers "how much does a website cost in the UK" with a clear range, such as Starter sites from £895 and Business sites from £1,995, is far more likely to be cited than one that says websites vary widely in price depending on your requirements.
What is schema markup and do I need it to appear in AI Overviews?
Schema markup is structured data added to your website's code that helps search engines understand what each page is about, who wrote it, and what questions it answers. It is not the only factor that determines whether your content appears in AI Overviews, but it is one of the clearest signals you can give Google that a page is well organised and trustworthy. Most small business websites in Suffolk that we audit have no schema markup at all, which is a missed opportunity. FutureProofs includes full schema implementation on Business website projects from £1,995 and as part of SEO retainers from £495 per month.
Will AI Overviews replace traditional SEO for small businesses?
No, AI Overviews change the shape of SEO but they do not replace it. Local search queries, which are the most commercially valuable searches for Suffolk and Cambridgeshire small businesses, are far less affected by AI Overviews than informational queries. The businesses that will fare best are those that invest in both local SEO, to capture high-intent searches close to a purchase, and content quality, to get cited in AI Overviews for informational queries that attract customers earlier in their decision-making process. The combination is more powerful than either approach alone, and neither should be sacrificed for the other.
How big a drop in website traffic should I expect from AI Overviews?
Research published in May 2026 shows that organic click-through rates drop by around 61% on queries where an AI Overview is present, because a significant proportion of users read the summary and do not proceed to click any of the organic links below it. However, this figure applies to informational queries where AI Overviews are most prevalent. For local queries and transactional searches, the impact is considerably smaller. The businesses most at risk are those whose websites rely heavily on traffic from informational blog content or guide pages targeting broad, non-local queries, rather than on location-specific landing pages and local pack visibility.
Should I stop investing in SEO because of AI Overviews?
Stopping SEO investment because of AI Overviews would be a significant mistake. SEO in 2026 is about being the source that AI systems trust and cite, which means the disciplines that have always made good SEO work, writing clearly, answering real questions, building a trustworthy site, adding technical signals like schema, and earning genuine visibility in your local area, are more important than ever. The businesses that scale back SEO investment now risk becoming invisible both in traditional results and in AI generated summaries, while competitors who continue to invest in content quality and technical fundamentals pull ahead.
How does a Google Business Profile help in an AI Overview world?
A well maintained Google Business Profile is one of the most effective tools a Suffolk small business has in 2026, precisely because it signals local relevance in a way that AI Overviews do not significantly disrupt. A complete profile, with a current address, accurate opening hours, regular posts, and a steady stream of genuine customer reviews, continues to drive strong local pack rankings for queries like "accountant Sudbury" or "florist Mildenhall". AI Overviews appear far less frequently on these searches, so your Business Profile investment generates returns through a channel that AI disruption touches least. Keeping it active is a low cost, high return activity for any local business.
What kind of content is most resistant to the AI Overview traffic drop?
Content with genuine local specificity is the most resistant to AI Overview disruption. A blog post about "web design costs in Bury St Edmunds in 2026" with real numbers, real business examples, and local context is far less likely to be displaced by an AI summary than a generic post about web design costs in general. AI Overviews tend to synthesise broadly applicable answers rather than locally specific ones, which is why content that references real places, real businesses, and real prices in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire continues to perform well in traditional organic results even when generic informational queries are dominated by AI summaries.
How can FutureProofs help my business adapt to AI Overviews?
FutureProofs builds websites and SEO strategies specifically designed for the way search works in 2026, which means every site we build includes schema markup, structured content, and locally anchored copy written to the standard that AI systems cite. Our Business website package starts at £1,995 and includes full schema implementation. Our SEO retainers start from £495 per month and include content production, technical SEO, and ongoing adaptation to algorithm changes like the AI Overview expansion. If you are based in Bury St Edmunds, Cambridge, Ipswich, Peterborough, or anywhere across Suffolk or Cambridgeshire, you can see the full breakdown at futureproofs.co.uk/pricing/.
Google AI Overviews are not a future concern for Suffolk small businesses, they are a current reality, and the businesses that adapt earliest will hold the strongest positions as search continues to shift. The practical response is not panic and it is not inaction. It is a clear-eyed audit of what your website currently does well, a targeted upgrade to your content structure and technical setup, and a commitment to being the most genuinely useful and clearly organised source of information in your sector and your area. That has always been what good SEO looks like, and it remains true now, even as the interface through which customers find you continues to change.
