Search Console's Block Flattening Masks AI Overview Performance
Search Engine Journal · Sep 24 · 1 min read
What happenedGoogle Search Console's 'block flattening' feature can artificially inflate a page's apparent ranking for AI Overviews, making it seem more visible than it truly is. This means marketers must shift their focus from traditional ranking metrics to actual website visits and conversions to accurately gauge search performance.
Why it matters for marketersAI Overviews are already distorting visibility metrics; relying on Search Console's 'block flattening' for AI performance is a dangerous misstep. True success in the AI-driven search landscape hinges on measuring tangible outcomes, not vanity rankings.
Topics: ai overviews, search console, seo metrics, ai search