Google's AI Overviews Steer Clear of Political Content, New Study Reveals

A recent study conducted by SE Ranking sheds light on how Google handles AI-generated content in its search results, particularly for sensitive "Your Money or Your Life" (YMYL) topics. These YMYL topics include areas such as health, finance, legal matters, and politics, where the quality and accuracy of information are crucial.

Study Overview and Key Findings

The research examined over 1,200 keywords across these sensitive categories and discovered that Google is especially cautious when generating AI Overviews (AIOs) for such topics. The findings showed significant differences in how frequently AIOs appear in these searches:

• Legal queries saw the highest rate of AIOs, with 77.67% of searches triggering AI-generated summaries.
• Health-related searches followed with a 65.33% AIO presence.
• Financial topics saw a more moderate appearance of AIOs at 41.67%.
• Political queries had the lowest AIO presence, with only 16.67% of searches triggering these summaries.

The study highlights Google’s deliberate approach to balancing the need for authoritative information with the importance of encouraging users to seek professional advice, especially for YMYL topics that could have significant real-world consequences.

Disclaimers and Sensitive Topics in AI Overviews

An important aspect of the study was Google’s use of disclaimers in certain AIOs. For instance, 83% of health-related AIOs and 63.2% of finance-related AIOs included disclaimers urging users to consult professionals. This shows that Google is being extra cautious in these areas, possibly due to the potential risks associated with acting on incorrect or incomplete information.

Furthermore, there are certain sensitive topics for which Google avoids generating AI Overviews altogether. These topics include:

• Mental health issues
• Eating disorders
• Substance abuse
• Specific medications
• COVID-19
• Abortion

Google’s decision to refrain from generating AIOs for these subjects indicates a careful stance on providing AI-driven summaries for complex and deeply personal matters.

Google's Conservative Approach to Political Content

When it comes to political content, the study found that Google takes a particularly hands-off approach. No AI Overviews were triggered for keywords that contained terms such as "election," "elections," "president," or "presidential." This contrasts with other AI-powered search tools, such as OpenAI’s SearchGPT, which does provide responses for political queries.

This approach likely reflects Google’s intention to avoid misinformation and maintain neutrality on politically charged topics. Political information can be highly sensitive, and offering AI-generated content could introduce the risk of bias or the spread of inaccurate information.

Implications for SEO and Content Creation

For SEO professionals and content creators, these findings offer several insights into how to approach YMYL topics when targeting Google’s search results. Here are some strategies that can help:

1. Double Down on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness): Strengthen author credentials, provide well-sourced citations, and build high-quality backlinks to increase content authority.
2. Refine Keywords: Focus on question-based queries that are more likely to trigger AI Overviews, especially in legal, health, and financial content.
3. Incorporate Disclaimers: Follow Google’s lead by including disclaimers for sensitive topics like health and finance to encourage users to seek professional guidance.
4. Niche Down: Consider tailoring your content strategies based on AIO presence in different YMYL categories. For example, legal content might benefit from a heavier focus on AIO-triggering keywords.
5. Boost Local SEO: Geographic inconsistencies in legal AIOs present an opportunity to improve local SEO efforts by addressing region-specific queries.
6. Diversify Content Formats: With YouTube videos frequently appearing in AIOs, it may be worthwhile to incorporate more video content into your strategy.
7. Build Topic Clusters: Comprehensive topic clusters can help improve search visibility, especially for broad YMYL subjects that are too complex for standalone posts.
8. Regularly Audit Content: Since Google frequently updates its AIO triggers and formats, regularly reviewing and refreshing your content is crucial.
9. Leverage Schema Markup: Align your structured data with Google’s patterns for AIOs to ensure your content is being appropriately surfaced in search results.
10. Match User Intent: Focus on delivering concise, direct answers that align with how Google’s AIOs provide quick solutions to user queries.

Conclusion

Google’s AI-generated content approach, especially regarding YMYL topics, reflects a calculated effort to provide trustworthy, relevant information while avoiding liability in sensitive areas. For those in SEO and content creation, understanding how Google handles these AI Overviews can inform strategies to improve content visibility and authority in these competitive fields.

For a more in-depth look at the research and breakdown of AIOs across various categories, the full study is available on SE Ranking’s website.