If you built your website’s SEO strategy in 2022 or 2023 and haven’t revisited it since, there’s something you need to know: the rules have changed.
AKA: the entire first page of Google has shifted.
The rise of AI Overviews (those AI-generated summary boxes that now appear above traditional search results) has fundamentally changed how people interact with search. For Catholic businesses, ministries, and mission-driven entrepreneurs, this may feel daunting. Yet, adapting your strategy to the new “new” is the key differentiator to being found and visible in 2026.
Here’s what’s actually changed, what it means for your Catholic website, and what to do about it.
First: What Are AI Overviews, and Why Do They Matter?
When someone types a question into Google today, the first result will be a large AI-generated summary at the very top of the search engine results page (SERP). Google calls these AI Overviews. They pull from multiple sources across the web and create an answer on the spot.
The result? The person gets their answer without ever needing to click through to a website.
Industry data from 2026 shows that AI Overviews now appear for roughly 77%1 of search queries with 6-10+ words, and 48% for searches with 3-5 words. For informational, educational, and faith-related topics, aka the kind of content Catholic ministries and entrepreneurs create, the rate is even higher.
Short queries and super long queries are less likely to generate an AI overview.
In a recent article from Forbes, a study conducted by DataSlayer showed an average traffic drop of 61% in average click through rate (CTR) when an AI overview is present.2
The Goal Has Changed: From Ranking #1 to Being Cited
For years, SEO meant one thing: get to the top of page one. If you ranked #1, you won.
In 2026, sadly, that’s no longer enough. Ranking #1 on a query where an AI Overview appears at the top doesn’t guarantee clicks because many users read the AI summary and never scroll down to the results at all.
The new goal is to be cited inside the AI Overview itself and become one of the sources Google’s AI pulls from when it generates that summary.
This isn’t impossible. It requires a different kind of content — more structured, more authoritative, more specific. But Catholic organizations that produce genuinely expert content on their niche topics are actually well-positioned for this.
What This Means for Catholic Ministries and Businesses Specifically
Catholic ministries and apostolates: If your site traffic has historically come from informational posts — “what is the rosary,” “how to pray lectio divina,” “what does the Church teach about X” — those posts may now be generating fewer clicks, because AI Overviews are answering those questions directly. The “easy” fix? Go deeper. AI can summarize a surface-level explanation. It cannot replicate your ministry’s specific voice, lived experience, and pastoral depth.
Catholic authors and speakers: Your personal brand content (your name, your books, your specific framework or approach) is harder for AI to summarize, because it’s uniquely yours. This is a real competitive advantage. Double down on content that only you can write: your story, your perspective, your take on contested or nuanced questions in your area of expertise.
Catholic e-commerce businesses: Data shows that about 14%3 of e-commerce searches trigger AI Overviews, up 5.6x from early rollout in November 20254. So, to capitalize on shopping and buyer focused traffic, return to the fundamentals: strong product descriptions, good reviews, fast site speed. You know the drill.
Catholic service providers (designers, coaches, consultants, therapists): Transactional and navigational queries such as “hire a Catholic web designer,” “book a Catholic life coach”, etc have lower AI Overview exposure than informational queries. Your service pages are safer than your blog. Your blog still matters for building the authority that makes you citation-worthy. Continue to share posts that position you as a thought leader in your industry.
GEO and AEO: The New Disciplines You Need to Know
Alongside traditional SEO, there’s a new term worth knowing: GEO (Generative Engine Optimization). It refers specifically to optimizing your content to be cited and recommended by AI tools: Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and voice assistants.
GEO and SEO are not the same, but they’re deeply related. Strong, authoritative, well-structured content that ranks well on Google tends to also perform well in AI citations. The basic principle is the same: be a trustworthy, helpful source on your topic.
For Catholic organizations, GEO matters because people are increasingly turning to AI tools to answer faith questions, find Catholic resources, and discover Catholic-run businesses. If you want to be recommended, your content needs to be citation-worthy.
There’s a companion term you’ll also see: AEO (Answer Engine Optimization). Where GEO is about being cited inside AI-generated summaries, AEO is about structuring your content so it can be pulled directly as the answer — in featured snippets, voice search results, and AI chat tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity when someone asks a direct question.
In practice, GEO and AEO overlap heavily and many practitioners use the terms interchangeably. But it’s a useful distinction: GEO thinks about being one of several sources cited; AEO thinks about being the single answer given. Both reward the same underlying habits — clear, direct, well-organized answers to specific questions, stated plainly enough that a machine can lift them without losing meaning.
For Catholic content specifically, this means writing the way people actually ask: “What is the difference between mortal and venial sin?” not “Understanding Sin in the Catholic Tradition.” Match your headings to real questions, and answer them in one to three sentences before you go deeper.
What Stays the Same (And What Matters More Than Ever)
Not everything has changed. The fundamentals of SEO still apply. Need a basic crash course in SEO? Grab my free guide here.
In fact, they matter more now because they’re the foundation for AI citation as well:
- Quality over quantity: One authoritative, deeply helpful post is worth more than ten shorter articles. Aim for 600 words at minimum on your posts.
- E-E-A-T5 (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust): Google’s quality guidelines have always emphasized these four signals. AI Overviews rely on them. Your credentials, your real-world experience, your endorsements, and your on-site trust signals all matter.
- Structured content6: AI tools favor content that is well-organized, easy to scan, and answers specific questions directly. Use clear headings, concise answers at the top of each section, and FAQ sections where they make sense.
- Local SEO: If you serve a local or regional community, your Google Business Profile and local citations are just as valuable as they’ve always been — possibly more, since local searches tend to drive direct action.
- Backlinks and authority7: Being cited by other trusted sites remains one of the strongest signals in both traditional and AI search. Getting listed in Catholic directories, earning mentions from diocesan sites and Catholic media, and building genuine relationships in the Catholic web ecosystem all count.
Practical Steps for Catholic Organizations in 2026
Here’s where to focus your energy:
1. Audit your existing content. Which posts are losing traffic? Are they surface-level informational posts that AI can now answer? If so, you have two options: go significantly deeper (add your specific perspective, pastoral nuance, and lived experience that AI can’t replicate), or redirect that energy to content with stronger transactional or navigational intent.8
2. Build out your expertise signals. Make sure your author bio is thorough and credible. Link to your credentials, your speaking history, your published work. Google and AI tools want to know you are who you say you are.
3. Structure your content for AI. Use clear H2 and H3 headings. Answer the core question in the first paragraph of each section — don’t bury the lead. Consider adding FAQ sections to key pages. These are the structural patterns AI tools use when constructing summaries.
4. Diversify your traffic sources. Email lists, podcast audiences, social media followings, and direct relationships are more valuable than ever because they’re not dependent on search algorithm changes. If Google rewrites its rules tomorrow, your email list is still yours.
5. Don’t abandon SEO…evolve it. Despite the changes, organic search is still one of the highest-ROI traffic channels available to small businesses and ministries. The goal is to optimize for citation-worthiness, not just ranking position.
A Note on the Catholic Opportunity
Here’s something I really believe: the shifts in SEO in 2026 actually favor Catholic organizations that are doing the work with depth and integrity.
AI can summarize a generic article about liturgical living practices. What it can’t do is replicate the voice of a Catholic author with lived experience or a ministry that has walked alongside families in crisis. It cannot manufacture the trust that a Catholic business has built over years of faithful service.
The Catholic web has always been at its best when it’s specific, personal, rooted, and true. That’s exactly what search and AI is now rewarding.
The question is whether you’re creating content that reflects those things. If you are, the changes in SEO aren’t a threat. They’re a filter… And one that works in your favor.
→ Want help auditing your Catholic website’s SEO for 2026? That’s exactly what I do. Let’s look at what’s working, what’s not, and what to focus on next.
Download the free resource: The Catholic Website SEO Checklist for 2026
- https://neilpatel.com/marketing-stats/ai-overviews-by-query-length/ ↩︎
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/terdawn-deboe/2026/05/18/google-ai-overviews-are-eating-your-website-traffic-fight-back/ ↩︎
- https://searchengineland.com/google-ai-overviews-shopping-queries-report-471981 ↩︎
- https://visibilitylabs.com/blog/ai-overviews-shopping-queries/ ↩︎
- https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content ↩︎
- https://www.semrush.com/blog/heading-tags/ ↩︎
- https://searchengineland.com/backlinks-seo-importance-442529 ↩︎
- https://www.semrush.com/blog/types-of-keywords-commercial-informational-navigational-transactional/ ↩︎