𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗜

Google AI Overviews answer many questions without a click. If you search for "best AI tools for video editing," Google gives you a list immediately.

I am building three directory sites: Top AI Tools, Find Games Like, and Open Alternative To. I am competing with Google's own features.

My bet is simple. By October 2026, at least one site will get 200 organic clicks per month on specific comparison pages. If this does not happen, I will publish my failure and explain what went wrong.

I am not ignoring the risk. AI Overviews are good at summarizing "what exists." However, they struggle with three specific areas where my sites win:

  • Attribute filtering: Users want specific things, like "offline Notion alternatives with a mobile app." My sites use structured data to filter these exact needs. AI Overviews use vague prose.

  • Editorial negatives: My game recommender tells you who to avoid. AI Overviews usually only focus on the positive.

  • Maintenance status: My system checks GitHub activity weekly. I can show if a tool is actually active. AI Overviews often rely on old web mentions.

I am also targeting the "comparison query."

A user might see a list in an AI Overview. Then, they search for "Appflowy vs Anytype performance." That second search has high intent. They want a verdict, not a summary. A fast, structured comparison page wins that click.

My setup costs only $25 per month. This low cost allows me to run this experiment for a year without pressure.

Three things would prove my bet is wrong:

  1. High impressions but zero clicks on comparison pages. This means Google takes my data but sends no traffic.

  2. AdSense rejections. If Google calls my content "thin" even after I add deep, structured data, my model is wrong.

  3. Users stop searching Google for comparisons and move entirely to ChatGPT.

I am running three narrow sites instead of one big site to test different types of user intent at the same time. I will share the raw data and screenshots in October 2026, regardless of the result.

Source: https://dev.to/morinaga/why-im-betting-on-ai-curated-directories-when-google-ai-overviews-answer-the-same-queries-3hb5

Optional learning community: https://t.me/GyaanSetuAi