The SEO Strategist

Bulk Checking Your Keyword List for Google’s AI Overview Feature with Python

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by

Brandon Lazovic
in

Learn how to use a Python script to bulk check your keyword list and determine if Google’s new AI overview feature is present in your keyword landscape.

Link To AI Overview Validation Tool

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Google recently rolled out a new AI overview feature (also known as SGE) for United States users who have signed into a Google account. This feature provides summarized information for users, along with citations based on Google’s large language models training set. The introduction of AI overviews has the potential to significantly impact click-through rates for traditional blue link results.

Why It’s Useful

As AI overviews become more prevalent, it’s essential to understand how they affect your keyword landscape. By checking your keyword list, you can determine if AI overviews are present for informational, transactional, or consideration keywords. This information can help you make informed decisions about your SEO strategy and adapt to the changing search landscape.

How To Use It

To help you check your keyword list for the presence of AI overviews, I’ve created a Python script that you can use as a stopgap solution while waiting for keyword research tools to launch their own features. Here’s how to use the script:

  1. Sign into your Google account (preferably a dummy account to avoid potential lockdowns).
  2. Run the script, which will open a headless Chrome browser for authentication.
  3. Enter your login credentials and close the browser, saving the authentication state.
  4. Prepare your keyword list in a spreadsheet with a header named “keyword”.
  5. Update the script with the file path to your keyword spreadsheet.
  6. Run the script, which will process your keywords and record if AI overviews are found.

The script is designed to have a slowed check (1-10 seconds per keyword) to avoid spamming the search results and scraping information too quickly. You can find the code for this script in my GitHub repository, which includes the SERP analyzer and login credential scripts needed to run the tool.

Other Considerations

It’s important to note that scraping information from Google’s search results is against their guidelines. To minimize the risk of having your Google account locked down, it’s recommended to use a dummy account when running this script.

Additionally, the script may time out on the first run, skipping the first keyword in the list. Running the script again should resolve this issue and provide the correct result for the initial keyword.

As keyword research tools release their own solutions and features for tracking AI overviews, this script can serve as a helpful tool in the meantime. By understanding the impact of AI overviews on your keyword landscape, you can make data-driven decisions and adapt your SEO strategy accordingly.

About The Author

Brandon Lazovic

As the Assistant Vice President of SEO at U.S. Bank, I oversee the strategy and execution of SEO initiatives for the Business Banking division, driving organic growth and lead generation. I have over eight years of experience in SEO, working with various industries and platforms, serving as a SEO lead consultant at BrightEdge and the SEO manager at Rocket Companies.

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