Local Businesses Get Google AI Search Reprieve - But For How Long?
Google AI Overviews are the AI-written answers that now appear at the top of many Google search results. This has shifted businesses rankings further down the page and the fear is that the AI answer will take away traffic from websites. According to new Semrush research, AI Overviews were triggered for 6.49% of queries in January, climbing to 13.14% by March 2025.
'While this looks concerning, the detail reveals good news for businesses: to date, Google AI Overviews primarily target 'informational' searches like 'how do solar panels work',' said Rachel Alexander, CEO of SEO agency Alexanders, in Christchurch.
'This leaves commercial keywords such as 'heat pump installation Christchurch' largely untouched,' Alexander said.
"Google isn't disrupting the searches that drive revenue from Google search ads or shopping ads because it is protecting its advertising revenue,' said Alexander.
Alexander warns against complacency.
'The upshot is that businesses shouldn't rely on old SEO. Plus, there are many other AI platforms that are not guarding ad revenue who will in fact give AI summaries on commercial phrases,' said Alexander.
To address this, Alexander explained that SEO techniques need to be updated so information is picked up by generative engines, if business owners want to get listed in AI recommendations.
According to Alexander, aiming to rank through well-structured pages with video, local SEO, and schema markup for ecommerce products is still fundamental, as website visitors are more likely to be sales-ready when they arrive, having read the AI overviews.
Alexander recommends a strategy of appearing in listicles, such as ' The 10 best luxury hotels in Christchurch' on trusted platforms, as this can help businesses get picked up in AI recommendations.
About Alexanders Digital Marketing
Founded in 1997, Alexanders Digital Marketing has spent over 28 years helping Canterbury businesses achieve growth through SEO services and strategic marketing.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scoop
11 hours ago
- Scoop
Statement On AI In Universities From Aotearoa Communication & Media Scholars Network
We speak as a network of Aotearoa academics working in the inter-disciplines of Communication and Media Studies across our universities. Among us we have shared expertise in the political, social and economic impacts of commercially distributed and circulated generative artificial intelligence ('AI') in our university workplaces. While there is a tendency in our universities to be resigned to AI as an unstoppable and unquestionable technological force, our aim is to level the playing field to promote open critical and democratic debate. With this in mind, we make the following points: For universities… · AI is not an inevitable technological development which must be incorporated into higher education; rather it is the result of particular techno-capitalist ventures, a context which needs to be recognised and considered; · AI, as a corporate product of private companies such as OpenAI, Google, etc., encroaches on the public role of the university and its role as critic and conscience, and marginalises voices which might critique business interests; For researchers… · AI impedes rather than supports productive intellectual work because it erodes important critical thinking skills; instead, it devolves human scholarly work and critical engagement with ideas–elements vital to our cultural and social life–to software that produces 'ready-made', formulaic and backward looking 'results' that do not advance knowledge; · AI promotes an unethical, reckless approach to research which can promote 'hallucinations' and over valorise disruption for its own sake rather than support quality research; · AI normalises industrial scale theft of intellectual property as our written work is fed into AI datasets largely without citation or compensation; · AI limits the productivity of academic staff by requiring them to invent new forms of assessment which subvert AI, police students and their use of AI, or assess lengthy 'chat logs', rather than engage with students in activities and assessments that require deep, critical thinking and sharing, questioning and articulating ideas with peers; For students… · AI tools create anxiety for students; some are falsely-accused of using generative-AI when they haven't, or are very stressed that it could happen to them; · AI tools such as ChatGPT are contributing to mental-health crises and delusions in various ways; promoting the use of generative-AI in academic contexts is thus unethical, particularly when considering students and the role of universities in pastoral care; · AI thus undermines the fundamental relationships between teacher and student, academics and administration, and the university and the community by fostering an environment of distrust; For Aotearoa New Zealand… · AI clashes with Te Tiriti obligations around data sovereignty and threatens the possibility of data colonialism regarding te reo itself; · AI is devastating for the environment in terms of energy and water use and the extraction of natural resources needed for the processors that AI requires. Signed by: Rosemary Overell, Senior Lecturer, Media, Film & Communications Programme, The University of Otago Olivier Jutel, Lecturer, Media, Film & Communications Programme, The University of Otago Emma Tennent, Senior Lecturer, Media & Communication, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington Rachel Billington, Lecturer, Media, Film & Communications Programme, The University of Otago Brett Nicholls, Senior Lecturer, Media, Film & Communications Programme, The University of Otago Yuki Watanabe, Lecturer, Media, Film & Communications Programme, The University of Otago Sy Taffel, Senior Lecturer, Media Studies Programme, Massey University Leon Salter, Senior Lecturer, Communications Programme, University of Auckland Angela Feekery, Senior Lecturer, Communications Programme, Massey University Ian Huffer, Senior Lecturer, Media Studies Programme, Massey University Pansy Duncan, Senior Lecturer, Media Studies Programme, Massey University Kevin Veale, Senior Lecturer, Media Studies Programme, Massey University Peter A. Thompson, Associate Professor, Media & Communication Programme, Te Herenga Waka/Victoria University of Wellington Nicholas Holm, Associate Professor, Media Studies Programme, Massey University Sean Phelan, Associate Professor, Massey University Yuan Gong, Senior Lecturer, Media Studies Programme, Massey University Chris McMillan, Teaching Fellow, Sociology Programme, University of Auckland Cherie Lacey, Researcher, Centre for Addiction Research, University of Auckland Thierry Jutel, Associate Professor, Film, Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington Max Soar, Teaching Fellow, Political Communication, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington Lewis Rarm, Lecturer, Media and Communication, Te Herenga Waka | Victoria University of Wellington Tim Groves, Senior Lecturer, Film. Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington Valerie Cooper, Lecturer, Media and Communication, Te Herenga Waka | Victoria University of Wellington Wayne Hope, Professor, Faculty of Design & Creative Technologies, Auckland University of Technology Greg Treadwell, senior lecturer in journalism, School of Communication Studies, Auckland University of Technology Christina Vogels, Senior Lecturer, Critical Media Studies, School of Communication Studies, Auckland University of Technology
Techday NZ
21 hours ago
- Techday NZ
Exclusive: Google's John Hultquist warns cyber attackers are getting younger & faster
Children and teenagers are behind some of the most aggressive and profitable cyberattacks in the world, and many are getting away with it because they know they're unlikely to face serious consequences. It comes as John Hultquist, Chief Analyst at Google's Threat Intelligence Group, spoke with TechDay exclusively to reveal who exactly is behind these attacks. "We're talking tens of millions - if not hundreds of millions - of dollars that these kids are making," Hultquist said. "There's clearly a financial motive, but it's also about reputation. They feed off the praise they get from peers in this subculture." The average cybercriminal today is not a shadowy figure backed by a government agency, but often a teenager with a high tolerance for risk and little fear of repercussions. And according to Hultquist, that combination is proving incredibly difficult for law enforcement to counter. "There's no deterrent," he said. "They know they're unlikely to face serious consequences, and they exploit that. One reason I wouldn't do cybercrime - aside from the ethical one - is I don't want to go to jail. These kids know they probably won't." His concern is echoed by Mandiant Consulting's latest global data. In 2024, 55% of cyberattacks were financially motivated, the majority involving ransomware or extortion. Mandiant also observed that teen-driven groups like UNC3944 (aka Scattered Spider) are behind many of the most damaging breaches, often relying on stolen credentials and social engineering to bypass defences. "Younger actors are willing to cross lines even the Russian criminals won't - threatening families, for example," Hultquist said. "They don't worry about norms outside their subculture. Inside their world, they're being praised." Even when authorities know who is behind an attack, bringing them to justice is rarely fast. "Building a case takes years. In the meantime, they can do serious damage," he said. The urgency is underscored by the pace at which attackers now move. According to Mandiant, the median global dwell time - the time it takes to detect an intruder - has dropped to just 11 days, and in ransomware cases, often as little as 6 days. More than 56% of ransomware attacks are discovered within a week, showing just how rapidly these operations unfold. Though many of these actors operate independently, some operate in blurred lines between criminal enterprises and state-sanctioned campaigns. Hultquist explained that governments - particularly in Russia and Iran - often outsource cyber operations to criminal groups, giving them protection in exchange for service. "It's a Faustian bargain," he said. "The government lets them continue their criminal activity as long as they're also doing work on its behalf." Google's acquisition of Mandiant in 2022 has enabled Hultquist and his team to monitor global threats more effectively by combining Google's in-house security team with Mandiant's threat intelligence capabilities. This merger formed the Google Threat Intelligence Group, which Hultquist described as a "juggernaut". "We've got great visibility on threats all over the world," he said. "We get to see the threats targeting Google users." That level of access and scale has allowed Google's team to take cyber defence to unprecedented levels. In one recent case, they used an AI model to uncover and neutralise a zero-day vulnerability before attackers could use it. "It literally found the zero-day," Hultquist said. "The adversary was preparing their attack, and we shut it down. It doesn't get any better than that." AI is becoming both an asset and a threat. While Google uses it to pre-emptively defend systems, attackers are beginning to leverage it to enhance their own capabilities. Fake images, videos, and text have long been used in phishing and disinformation campaigns, but Hultquist said the next phase is far more concerning. "We've seen malware that calls out to AI to write its own commands on the fly," he said. "That makes it harder to detect because the commands are always changing." He warned that AI could soon automate entire intrusions, allowing cybercriminals to break into networks, escalate privileges, and deploy ransomware faster than defenders can respond. "If someone can move through your network at machine speed, they might ransom you before you even know what's happening," he said. "Your response window gets smaller and smaller." As attackers evolve, many defenders still rely on outdated mental models, particularly when it comes to cloud security. "People are still thinking like they're defending old-school, on-prem systems," Hultquist said. "One of the biggest problems in cloud is identity - especially third-party access. That's where your crown jewels might be, and you don't always have full control." And while some worry about cyber threats to governments, Hultquist said the private sector is often the true target. "If a country retaliates against the Five Eyes, they're not going after military or intelligence," he said. "They'll go after privately held critical infrastructure. That's always been the asymmetrical advantage." Despite the constant evolution of threats, Hultquist said progress has been made on both sides. He recalled the early days of Chinese state-backed attacks, where errors in spelling and grammar made their emails laughable - and traceable. "We used to print them out and tack them to our cubicle walls," he said. "Now, they're incredibly sophisticated. But the reason they've improved is because we've gotten better. Our defences have evolved." And according to Hultquist, that cat-and-mouse game won't be ending anytime soon. "We're not fighting the laws of physics like safety engineers," Hultquist said. "Our adversaries adapt. If we fix everything, they'll just change to overcome it."
Techday NZ
2 days ago
- Techday NZ
Hitachi Vantara launches VSP One SDS on Google Cloud Marketplace
Hitachi Vantara has announced that its Virtual Storage Platform One Software-Defined Storage (VSP One SDS) is now available on Google Cloud Marketplace, expanding enterprise data management capabilities for cloud and hybrid environments. Enterprise capabilities The addition of VSP One SDS to Google Cloud Marketplace introduces cloud-native performance features for organisations utilising both cloud and on-premises infrastructures. New capabilities such as thin provisioning, advanced data compression, and two-way asynchronous replication support disaster recovery and service reliability, supporting enterprises aiming to optimise their hybrid cloud operations. VSP One's built-in efficiency tools allow users to reduce storage costs by up to 40% through the minimisation of unused storage and optimised performance. Two-way replication between cloud and on-premises sites enables more resilient disaster recovery strategies and provides greater flexibility for business continuity, allowing for primary and secondary storage sites to operate interchangeably as the source and target during replication events. Unified management One of the key features highlighted is the ability for customers to manage both cloud and on-premises storage through a single user interface. This unified management approach removes the need for re-architecting current storage setups, streamlining hybrid operations for enterprises already employing complex infrastructures. Channel partners are expected to benefit from this launch, with broader opportunities to support customers who are adapting their hybrid cloud strategies with a software-defined and more flexible approach. The integration offers partners tools to address priorities such as resilience, security, and ongoing operational efficiency improvements. Industry context Hybrid cloud adoption continues to grow among businesses. Research cited by Hitachi Vantara indicates that around 80% of companies use multiple public clouds while 60% maintain several private clouds. With the rise of artificial intelligence and data-driven processes, 47% of IT and security leaders surveyed reportedly experience challenges related to limited visibility in hybrid cloud environments, complicating risk management and oversight. VSP One's features are positioned to address this, aiming to provide consistency and enhanced control across various deployment models. As organisations manage increasingly distributed data assets, these capabilities are intended to help reduce complexity and facilitate more efficient data movement and protection. Statements from partners "Bringing VSP One to Google Cloud Marketplace will help customers quickly deploy, manage and grow the data management solution on Google Cloud's trusted, global infrastructure. Hitachi Vantara can now securely scale and support customers on their digital transformation journeys," said Dai Vu, Managing Director, Marketplace & ISV GTM Programs, Google Cloud. Octavian Tanase, Chief Product Officer at Hitachi Vantara, commented on the customer advantages of the expanded integration between VSP One and Google Cloud Marketplace. "Customers want the freedom to choose the right cloud for every workload and the assurance that their data will remain protected, available and easy to manage," he said. "With availability on Google Cloud Marketplace and the addition of two-way asynchronous replication, VSP One empowers our customers to easily streamline hybrid cloud operations while strengthening their resiliency posture." Continuous availability Hitachi Vantara reports that VSP One is designed for continuous availability, targeting 99.999% uptime. This level of service reliability aims to reduce the cost and disruption associated with downtime, supporting native migration of data between cloud and on-premises platforms as required. The company states that access to these capabilities via Google Cloud Marketplace reflects an ongoing commitment to increase integration offered by the VSP One portfolio, including the previous introduction of VSP 360, a unified data management software platform.
