At Three Cherries, we spend a lot of time thinking about how AI is changing the way businesses operate. It is why we run our CollaborAI events every quarter, bringing together Bristol business owners to talk through what is actually happening in the world of AI and what it means in practice. This ranges from AI in business settings right down to the new AI Search.

One of the topics that keeps coming up lately is Google. Specifically, the fact that it does not quite work the way it used to. And if you have not noticed yet, it is worth paying attention.

What Has Actually Changed?

Google has been rolling out something called AI Overviews or AI Search. Instead of showing you a list of links when you search for something, it now generates an AI-written summary at the very top of the page that tries to answer your question straight away.

For the person searching, it feels quite handy. But for businesses that rely on people finding and visiting their website, it raises a pretty important question. If Google is answering the question before anyone sees your site, why would they bother clicking through?

Should You Be Worried?

Honestly, it depends on your business. We are not going to pretend this is either a disaster or completely fine, because the truth is somewhere in the middle and it is still playing out.

What we do know is that click-through rates on certain types of search results are already falling. If your website does well because of blog content or informational pages that answer common questions, that traffic may well be softer than it was a year ago.

But if someone in Bristol is searching for a local IT company, a solicitor, a plumber, or an accountant, AI Overviews are far less likely to replace that result. Local and transactional searches still work much the same way. Google still wants to point people to real businesses for those.

What Still Works

Your Google Business Profile matters more than ever for local searches. If yours is out of date, incomplete, or has not been looked at in a while, that is the first thing worth fixing.

Good content still matters too, but the bar has shifted. Google tends to pull from sources that are clear, well-structured, and genuinely useful. Thin content written purely to rank is becoming less effective. Content that actually helps people is holding up much better.

The Bigger Picture

What is happening with Google is part of a much wider shift. AI is changing how people find information, make decisions, and interact with businesses online. It is moving quickly and not everything is settled yet. Anyone who tells you they have it all figured out is probably overstating it.

What we do think is that the businesses best placed to navigate this are the ones paying attention, asking the right questions, and not waiting until it becomes a problem to act.

If this is something you want to talk through, come join us at our next event. Our CollaborAI sessions are a great place to start understanding how AI works and what it could do for your business and yourself personally. If this is of interest, get in touch here or drop us an email on news@threecherries.co.uk