Google’s AI Overviews feature, which provides AI-generated summaries at the top of search results, has recently expanded to several European countries.
While France and Monaco are not yet included, understanding this rollout is crucial for your businesses to stay ahead in the evolving digital landscape.
To make sure everyone understands the critical, disruptive impact of AI Overviews on businesses with digital presence in France and Monaco, let’s talk about :
- AI Overviews’ recent rollout in Europe
- How Google legal fights have delayed their deployment
- Why AI Overviews are not available in France and Monaco… yet!
- The very real impact of AI Overviews on traffic and CTR
- What will AI Overviews will look like in France and Monaco
- How you can prepare for the AI Overviews shockwave before it sweeps away your business
The Rollout of Google AI Overviews in Europe in a nutsheel, as it happened
As OpenAI and ChatGPT took the world over by storm at the end of 2022 with its mind-blowing new generative Artificial Intelligence concept, Google was for once the late one on the market.
To avoid being left in the dust, Google deployed all of its mighty power to catch up as quickly as possible, going so far as pillaging its other subsidiaries for the best developers to bring a timely response, which came only 6 months later.
Google’s first mentions of AI Overviews trace back to May 2023 as part of its Search Generative Experience (SGE), aiming to enhance search results with AI-generated summaries, and initial testing limited to the USA for logged-in users throught their beta program.
Once ready to roll out, the feature was rebranded as Google introduced AI Overviews in the USA in May 2024, aiming to enhance search experiences by providing concise, AI-generated summaries directly within search results. Following positive user feedback, the feature expanded to over 100 countries in October 2024, yet there were still no clear sign of it in major the E.U. until it was spotted in Beta mode around early March 2025 in Germany, Italy and Switzerland!
German SEO Specialist Olaf Kopp was amongst the very first to report AI Overviews deployment in Beta Mode in the EU.
Soon enough, AI Overviews were made available in many major EU Countries: Austria (German & English), Belgium (English), Germany (German & English), Ireland (English), Italy (Italian & English), Poland (Polish & English), Portugal (Portuguese & English), Spain (Spanish & English), and Switzerland (French, German, Italian, & English).
Google legal fights in USA and Europe slow down ai deployment in france
While Google is rolling out AI Overviews, the Redmond giant is facing increasing legal challenges related to its dominance in the search and advertising markets. In the United States, the Department of Justice (DoJ) has aggressively pursued antitrust legal proceedings against Google, accusing the company of leveraging its monopoly in online search to gain unfair advantage, and stifle competition.
The US Government estimates that Google’s integration of AI technologies, with AI Overviews at the forefront, could further entrench its market dominance, proposing among other things the disvestment from Chrome browser, and to restrict Google’s exclusive agreements with phone and computer manufacturers.
Meanwhile, in Europe, regulatory bodies have intensified their scrutiny under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) , targeting major tech players like Google, Microsoft, Meta (Facebook) or Apple for anti-competitive practices. The EU has already imposed significant fines on companies like Apple and Meta, with Google and others expected to face similar penalties.
AI Overviews not available in France, or Monaco… yet!
AI Overviews are not yet deployed in Monaco which is a “small” country that is not part of the EEA (European Economic Area), and more importantly does not have a specific Google reserved domain like France does with Google.fr.
While it’s understandable for Monaco, which also has recently implemented its own Data Privacy regulations under the authority of APDP (formerly known as CCIN Monaco), the reasons for barring France from accessing AI Overviews are far from clear.
Most specialists have theorized that Google wants to make sure it complies with privacy regulations such as GDPR, on top of the competitive hurdle of EU’s DMA, but then why is it available in many EU countries ruled by the very same GDPR? There must be some more than meets the eye here, right?
In fact, contrary to Germany or Spain, France has been very proactive in promoting AI sovereignty, for instance by announcing forthcoming investments of €500 million by 2030 to establish itself as a European AI hub. Meanwhile, EU itself is planning investments to the tune of €50B to develop AI in Europe.
This commitment includes supporting domestic AI unicorns like Mistral AI, which has rapidly gained prominence and is viewed as a national champion in the AI sector. So on one hand, there is no telling yet when AI Overviews will actually roll out in France, but the important factor here is that the decision could be at least in part more political than purely reglementary.
In short, you can and should expect AI Overviews deployement in France (and by extension, in Monaco) just about ANYTIME SOON! Rollout in Germany and other EU countries happened as somewhat of a surprise given the ongoing legal battle between EU and GAFAM, and most of the Euro SEO industry was caught mostly unprepared for the major changes that came with it.
AI Overviews impact on SEO is real
As expected, the introduction of Google’s AI Overviews in European countries such as Germany, Italy, and Switzerland has rattled the SEO industry, and is significantly impacting SEO strategies. These AI-generated summaries, appearing at the top of search results, have indeed most altered user behavior and website visibility – whether postively or negatively – in the following ways :
- Reduced Click-Through Rates (CTR): the presence of AI Overviews has lead to a substantial decline in organic CTRs. For instance, when AI Overviews are displayed, the CTR for top-ranking pages can drop by approximately 70%, from 2.94% to 0.84%!
- Shift in User Engagement: AI Overviews primarily appear for informational queries, satisfying user intent directly on the search page, and therfore significantly reducing the need for users to click through to individual websites, impacting traffic, even more so for content-rich sites and / or websites relying on optimized content to drive traffic and leads.
- Increased Traffic from AI Citations: Websites cited within AI Overviews may experience a slight increase in CTR, from 0.74% to 1.02%. However, the overall traffic remains lower compared to traditional search result placements.
In fact, data from a Brigthedge report on AI search trends a few months ago was already showing that AI Overviews are overtaking long tail key phrases, and longer queries (especially when they are formulated as a question) by up to 100%, promoting focused, contextual content over simple links to websites.
To grasp how AI Overviews have altered traffic, we can look at how click-through rates (CTR) have been impacted for traditional organic listings when AI Overviews are present:
34.5% decrease in CTR for position 1 results when AI Overviews are displayed.
15.49% decrease in CTR across 700,000 keywords.
33.04% decrease in CTR when AI Overviews appear alongside featured snippets.
What will AI Overviews look like in France and Monaco?
There’s no reason that AI Overviews would look any different that in Germany or Spain, except for the language itself.
Right now if you’re located in Monaco and do a search, or if you search from your computer in Google (with or without AI Overviews) for something but add “in Monaco” in the search terms, you will most likely see a list of related services and / or businesses. If you’re on foot in Monaco, results will show based on your exact location, prioritizing the nearest ones.
That’s why a search for “digital agency monaco” returns first a list of local agencies in the Principality, as it should, from the Google Places database (powered by Google Business). So far, it’s SEO business as usual.
Search results for “digital agency monaco” in AI-enhanced (yet not visible) Google Search.
See what happens when you search for broader terms, including a specific location, such as as “best SEO in Monaco”. AI Overviews are kicking in, and the AI makes no mistery that the question is somewhat unclear, offering to help out with finding the “right” answer.
AI Overviews Search Results for “Best SEO in Monaco” on Google Search.
Now, let’s just add a tiny twist, and ask Google “who is best SEO in Monaco”. With this simple change, the AI understands we are actually looking for SEO as in “someone doing SEO”. AI Overviews can now answer the question more directly.
AI Overviews Search Results for “Best SEO in Monaco” on Google Search.
Of course, we are thrilled to see our name up there, but that’s not even the point. The point is to show how AI Overviews behave with focused questions vs broad searches vs localized requests.
And the most important take-away here, is that where there were scores of businesses shown for “digital agency”, that other keyword / question only focused on a handful of providers.
So, you get the idea: either you are there or you are nowhere, or more precisely, you will be pushed further down the Search Results Page, leaving competitors enjoy that juicy SEO spot right on top, along with recommandations and advice that will not show on below listings.
Of course, this is only Google and you should also worry about other AI’s and how they will answer the same question, especially in a generative context like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Deepseek and many others would, but that’s a topic for another time! (We’ll get to it, no worries.)
AI Overviews Search Results for “Best SEO in Monaco” on Google Search.
How to prepare for AI Overviews shockwave in France and Monaco?
Well. Get ready, or die slowly. That’s in essence what the above numbers and screenshots show. These rapid and drastic drops in traffic exemplify why businesses in France and Monaco need to adapt their SEO strategies to the new AI+SEO paradigm, in order to improve, or at the very least maintain, their visibility and traffic before AI-enhanced SRP’s hit Google, and other search engines.
Early optimization ensures timely readiness. That is why we strongly advise everyone to start optimizing specifically for AI Overviews, and to do it now. Don’t forget: SEO is a competitive game, so if you do not adapt, chances are strong that your competitors will, and take huge market shares from you in the process, before you realize it’s too late to get them back.
To avoid this, and help you get ready, we will release very soon a list of simple things you can – and should – do right now. To keep it easy on you, we’ve prepared a step-by-step process to make your website “AI-proof”, and be on top when AI Overviews rollout in Monaco and France! Stay tuned!
If you just ain’t got the time, well, just know we’re here for you! Check out our AEO Services to Optimize your SEO for AI in Monaco, as well as BACCANA AEO, your SEO + AI platform in Monaco!