Turns out being “seen” isn’t the same as being “chosen.”
The plot twist nobody asked for: Google’s AI Overviews recommend your competitors 69% of the time, even when they cite your own self-promotional “best” listicle.
Lily Ray studied 100 B2B “best [category] software” queries across three dates. Of the 80 that triggered an AI Overview, Google cited these self-serving listicles 323 times.
But in 224 of those, roughly 70%, Google cited the brand’s own page and recommended someone else.
Case in point: For “best LMS for selling courses,” Google cited Oasis LMS, then recommended Kajabi, Thinkific, and others, all names found inside the Oasis article. Ouch.
Stronger brands with real third-party mentions and solid link profiles still made the cut. The self-rankers? Not so much.
Now for the part that stings: Organic visibility for these sites slid around Jan. 20 and dropped harder through Google’s May 2026 core update.
Google now leans on Reddit, Forbes, and YouTube instead.
Meanwhile, over in the world of ad targeting: Google is also reshaping Customer Match.
From August 2026, it’ll automatically sort your conversion-based lists by customer type, and you’ll lose the option to leave eligible lists unclassified.
Get the labels wrong, and you could throw off how automated bidding reads your customers from first click to loyal fan.
Your move: Audit your lists in Audience Manager now, and ask whether automatic classification will match your own definitions before it becomes mandatory.
