SEO 101 Ep 531: Zero Click Searches Up, Schema Popularity, and AI Overview Lawsuits

First up, Google can now be directly liable for false AI overview claims, according to a German court.

A German court has ruled that Google can be found directly liable for false claims in AI overviews.

The court issued a temporary injunction barring Google from repeating false claims about two Munich publishers.

AI overviews had wrongly connected the two publishers to scams, subscription traps, and questionable best practices, all of which were false.

The court found that AI-generated summaries are Google's own content and are not protected as traditional search results are.

The ruling doesn't treat AI overviews like neutral search links.

If an AI-generated summary makes false claims about a company, Google may be directly liable for those statements.

This ruling gives publishers and brands a path to challenge false AI overviews as Google's own statements rather than merely search results.

Last month, we reported a Canadian and Juno Award-winning musician, Ashley MacIsaac, is currently suing Google for $1.5 million in damages connected to a false AI overview that called him a convicted sex offender.

So really, Google needs to take a good look at AI overviews and make some necessary adjustments, or I think we'll be seeing a lot more lawsuits pop up as precedent is set.

You know, I've seen so many false AI overviews.

Ross and I have talked a lot about this in the past.

And there's just so much wrong with them.

If you ever, ever are doing a search for anything, don't rely 100% on an AI overview unless it's, you know, unimportant.

It doesn't really matter.

Anything that's critical or matters, do a fact check on it because it's just not reliable right now.

Not fully anyways.