Google now shows AI Overviews fully open for definition queries

Many sites earn organic traffic by explaining what a word means. A reader types a term, lands on the site that defines it, then reads related pages. That business is now at risk. Google has quietly changed how it shows the AI Overview on a definition query. The answer is now fully open by default. SEO consultant Glenn Gabe spotted the change on 11 November. Barry Schwartz wrote it up at Search Engine Roundtable that evening.

In the new default, the AI Overview takes over the whole visible part of the page. A reader has to scroll past the full answer to see any web result. That matches what Google already does for some long or step-by-step topics. It is new for simple definition queries.

What Glenn Gabe reported

"Looks like definitions are now showing AIOs fully expanded by default," he wrote on X. "I think that's newish, and maybe very new." He added that he had checked saved snapshots. The same AI Overviews were collapsed or not even shown as of recently. "Big heads-up for sites providing definitions and meanings," he wrote.

Barry Schwartz described the effect in plain terms. "The whole visible portion of the search results page is taken over by an AI Overview," he wrote. The reader has to scroll to see web results below.

What Google has said about this before

In August, Google product lead Robby Stein set out the rule on when the AI Overview expands. "AI Overviews only dynamically expand for topics where our systems determine it to be most useful," he wrote. "If you've already started scrolling, the expansion stops to keep your place." That rule has not changed. What has changed is the set of topics that Google judges useful to expand. Definitions now appear to sit inside that set.

Google has not made its own announcement. It is a small change to a signal the systems weigh, not a product launch.

What it means for definition-content sites

Dictionary sites, glossary pages, financial-term pages, legal-term pages, and brand-glossary pages all share one business model. They earn the click from a reader looking up a term, then hold the reader long enough to show more. When the AI Overview takes the whole screen, the reader gets the meaning without a click. The site may still be cited in the row of sources. Fewer readers reach that row.

Two steps to take this week. First, in Search Console, pull the click column for queries that are definition queries only. Compare the last four weeks with the four before. If definition queries are off and non-definition queries are flat, this change is a plausible cause. Second, read the top ten AI Overviews for your definition pages. Check whether your site sits in the citation row. If it is not there, the opening sentence of the page is the one Google is weighing. That is the sentence worth rewriting first.

Source

Google AI Overview Definitions Expanded By Default, by Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable. Based on Glenn Gabe on X.