Google initially introduced AI Overviews, previously known as Search Generative Experience (SGE), in 2023. The search feature was officially launched in the United States on May 14, 2024. Today, hundreds of countries and territories can now enjoy the quick summaries and snapshots of information AI Overviews provide.
AI Overviews initially faced some backlash due to factual inaccuracies and “hallucinations”. Fair attribution, traffic cannabilization, and misinterpretations are also some of the other issues that came up.
However, after constant refinements and testing, AI Overviews are now driving more and more query engagement. Google reports that people are now feeling more satisfied with the answers and stay longer within the Google ecosystem. Plus, since they’re appearing more often in the SERPs, users have already become accustomed to seeing them and have even started relying on them for concise information.
In short, AI Overviews are definitely shaping how people are searching and consuming information. Gone are the days when the SEO game was just about the top 10 blue links on Google. People can now personalize prompts and get direct answers more efficiently than ever.
The big question is, how can businesses keep up? Now that AI overviews are taking over the prime real estate on the SERPs, how do you ensure that you’re still winning?
What Are AI Overviews?
AI Overviews are mainly designed for fast answers. They are synthesized information to satisfy everyday queries that need instant, summarized insights. Although Gemini is the underlying foundation model generating these summaries, AI Overviews are not exclusively powered by Gemini as they also integrate with other Google Search technologies like Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and other filtering, ranking & signal layers.
AI Overviews are not just paragraph-form answers. They’re also presented in various formats including lists and tables. They’re more all-encompassing than featured snippets which only come from one source and are limited to short 50-word answers. AI Overviews pull together information from multiple sources (an average of 7-8 sources per query) to create more rounded and informative answers. They’re generally at 150-250 words or even longer depending on the complexity of the query.
How AI Overviews Work
AI Overviews do not show up for every query, but according to Advanced Web Ranking, they’re now appearing in over 50% of all Google searches, up from just 25% in August 2024.
Let’s discuss some of the factors that influence when and how these summaries appear.
Google AI Overviews generally ONLY appear when:
- The query is more complex, open-ended, or exploratory
Gone are the days when users would have to constantly modify their search term or input multiple search queries per session just to satisfy their question. Now, Google is able to connect the dots better than ever, triggering AI Overviews for more nuanced informational and long-tail searches.
- Google has enough data and sources to generate a more grounded answer
Google’s system is also designed to take into account the quality and sufficiency of data available to avoid misinformation or “AI hallucinations”. It’s most likely to generate a synthesized response when enough websites with high E-E-A-T qualities are already covering the query. Google is actively working towards refining the quality of AI responses by improving human evaluation and feedback systems and reinforcing guardrails, especially for sensitive topics.
- The region/language is supported
AI Overviews have already been made available in multiple major markets and languages like English, Spanish, Hindi, Japanese, and Portuguese. As of May 2025, AI Overviews reached over 1.5 billion monthly users in over 200 countries and 40 languages. However, some countries are experiencing delay or limited availability due to factors like regulatory compliance and political/strategic initiatives related to AI.
Google AI Overviews most likely WON’T appear if:
- The query just requires a simple fact or direct answer without needing further summary. Common examples are searches that need only a single piece of information like definition, date, or numerical fact.
- Google doesn’t determine it would add value. If existing search features are enough to answer the question clearly, Google tends to skip the AI layer to avoid redundancy. As a rule of thumb, AI overviews only appear when Google determines the query is complex enough that it would require multiple searches to fully satisfy the search intent.
- Queries are too ambiguous or insufficient, and there’s not enough data to support the summary. Some searches are too vague or open-ended. For example, terms like “apple use”, “best thing”, or “recipes” are so general that it’s hard for Google to pinpoint exactly what the user needs. On the whole, AI overviews are only activated when the query carries enough context and specificity for Google to generate a confident, well-supported response.
- Query is too transactional or downright navigational. AI Overviews simply aren’t designed to replace direct actions or site navigation. If the search intent clearly shows a signal to buy, visit, or log in, Google will show practical results instead of showing something that doesn’t align with the user’s goal.
Some people believe that AI Overviews do not appear on Incognito. While that was previously the case, Google eventually shifted the strategy and made AI Overviews available even for signed-out users and on Incognito mode. There’s also this notion that AI Overviews do not appear for sensitive topics like those within the “Your Money, Your Life” (YMYL) domain as well as health, legal, and news-related queries.
Although it’s true that Google prioritizes trust, accuracy, and safety when covering these topics, it doesn’t mean AI Overviews for these queries are all down to zero. Google applies heightened caution in these sensitive areas but doesn’t completely rule out AI summaries if confidence levels and source quality meet its standards.
Also, like any new and emerging technology, especially one that requires extensive AI training and processing, AI Overview’s full-on rollout can be prone to technical limitations and performance issues due to computational resources and data infrastructure.
Overall, the roll-out of AI Overviews is one of Google’s biggest attempts to make search more efficient, intuitive, and context-aware. To start earning more citations in AI Overviews, the first step is to understand the full mechanism and how to make your content impossible for AI to ignore.
How AI Overviews Affect SEO
For sure, AI Overviews have redefined speed and convenience in the search landscape– but all at a cost for marketers: less traffic to source websites.
Here are all the ways AI Overviews have turned SERPs around.
1. Rapid shift to zero-click searches
Google started opening the doors for zero-click searches way back 2014 when it introduced featured snippets. With the integration of AI, the zero click results have not only expanded in scope but definitely transformed how users consume information and interact with search results altogether. Publishers now fear a “Google Zero” scenario or the “walled garden” effect where users just find all the information they need on Google’s own pages, leading to a closed-off web landscape with fewer opportunities for independent publishers. We still ought to establish more evidence pointing to this zero-click trajectory, but it’s clear how AI Overviews are reshaping what ranking means in the modern SERP.
2. It’s now less about clicks and more about citations
Citations are now the new badge of honor. Like it or not, AI mentions are now the new form of visibility in the SERP landscape. Google’s initial testing showed that AI Overviews tend to get more clicks and engagement compared to traditional search results. However, the data did not hold up. Now, clicks are flatlining while most engagement stays within Google’s own results.
Marketers then have no other choice but find the upside. Optimizing for AI Overviews does bring other gains in the form of authority, brand awareness, and hopefully, qualified inbound traffic.
3. There are different winners
Rules have definitely changed now that AI Overviews have entered the picture. It’s pretty clear that there are different winners emerging. AI Overviews tend to pull from a wide range of sources including blogs, forums, YouTube, and other web content. Recently, Reddit, YouTube, and Quora are increasingly becoming popular sources especially for queries seeking opinions, recommendations, or tutorials. Thus, it’s high time to think beyond SEO and go full omnichannel.
4. Emphasis on Authority and E-E-A-T Signals
Instead of focusing on shortcuts and gaming the system, the most sustainable route in the general SEO game is building a genuinely solid brand credibility and becoming a trusted resource people rely on and come back to.
5. Expansion to more queries
Gone are the days when people had to think about typing in the best keyword that would readily generate the most spot-on results. Now, with AI overviews, people can personalize their searches as freely as they want. Long-tail and conversational queries will then be more naturally understood and prioritized by AI models. SEOs should then look into tapping various query types, from local to commercial to more complex informational searches.
6. Deeper personalization
Google started attempting to personalize results as early as 2004, but the biggest breakthrough was in 2009 when Google started using users’ search history (even for non-logged in users) to personalize results instead of defaulting to a universal set of ranked pages. With AI capabilities becoming more and more advanced, we can only expect that search personalization is only bound to be more dynamic, multidimensional, and natively embedded within the search experience.
7. Volatility of rankings
Unlike traditional organic results that have more stable and established ranking factors, AI overviews are more prone to volatility because of the evolving data sources, user intent, and contextual signals. Google generates AI summaries on the fly, so there’s no guarantee that the same set of sources will appear twice for the same query. Instead of expecting static placement, just focus on optimizing for eligibility. Track and learn from the fluctuations and focus on relevance instead of ranking.
8. More advanced AI capabilities
All future AI Overview enhancements are for the benefit of users. It’s expected that generative models are bound to get better at understanding nuance and seeking more relevant information.
9. Greater challenge for smaller businesses
Bigger businesses generally have more resources to pour into content marketing. The AI Overview game all boils down to producing high-level, comprehensive content that signals depth and credibility, and small businesses may not be able to invest as much in keeping up with other bigger, financially stronger competitors. To measure up, small businesses need to be more resourceful, strategic, and creative in how they deliver value and hold their ground against bigger players.
10. AI overviews are changing the way people interact with search results
Users are no longer compelled to click on the blue links since AI Overviews are already giving instant summaries that pretty much cover the bases. As a general trend, users are no longer just treating search engines as a sheer directory of links but as an actual intelligent assistant that thinks along with them instead of just fetching answers.
Why Optimize for AI Overviews
Although the general consensus is that SEO is not dying but just evolving, some SEOs are still at a loss as to how to approach the now AI-driven search landscape. After all, there’s still heavy and ongoing debate on how to best structure content to be cited in them.
Why SEOs Find It Hard to Optimize for AI Overviews
SEOs find it challenging to optimize for AI overviews mainly because:
System is so volatile
Unlike Google’s traditional ranking system that is a bit more stable, placement in AI Overviews can be highly volatile and the system tends to change sources more often depending on the shifting search intent and context. SEOs who want to go for more long-term and steadier strategies may find it difficult to build more predictable ranking outcomes.
Unfair content scraping
What AI Overviews technically do is scrape existing high-quality content and further train AI models based off of these high-authority posts. Some publishers find this problematic as they’re getting little to no return for providing such content. They argue that attribution can be made more transparent and equitable.
Why Optimize for AI Overviews Nevertheless
Despite the odds, it’s still very much worthwhile to intentionally gear your strategy towards AI Overview inclusion.
Besides, the game has not shifted as drastically as you imagine. You don’t have to do much more than create awesome content, which has always been Google’s number one advice for SEOs straight from day one. As long as you’re doing everything you can to help readers and develop topics to make them comprehensive and genuinely useful, you’re already primed for AI Overview optimization.
Some SEOs also see the cup half empty instead of half full. Recent studies show that around 50% of sources mentioned in AI Overviews are pages that are ranking in the top 10. That means the remaining 50% can still earn visibility, even without ranking at the very top.
Plus, today’s expanded AI Overviews cite around 13 sources on average, offering ample opportunities for visibility and engagement. However, constantly aiming for top rankings should still be your north star since these positions can be gateways for more inclusion in AI summaries and voice search responses.
Despite AI Overviews being a threat to organic clicks and traffic, some marketers reported a decline in traffic but a rise in revenue. This could be due to smaller volume of clicks turning out to be more qualified and purchase-ready. Hubspot for example claimed an 80% drop in traffic but 21% growth in revenue in 2024. That’s a stark indicator that less traffic doesn’t always mean less success. Thus, if your company’s leadership starts referring to Google SEO as becoming irrelevant, it’s best to communicate the bigger picture since good SEO is still the foundation for appearing in AI-powered experiences. Generative AI (GAI) search is also a long way off from dethroning Google since the search giant still accounts for 89.74% of the search engine market.
Overall, if you’re all set about providing unique, authoritative, and helpful content, there’s nothing to fear. Stop gaming search engines and just focus on creating AI-friendly and human-friendly content.
Since AI Overviews are already producing richer and more comprehensive summaries, people now use traditional search if they have deeper intent and want to explore a topic more thoroughly. Focus on making each piece of content you publish as comprehensive and as helpful as possible, and you’d be able to become a credible source for both AI models and human readers seeking depth, breadth, and overall value.
How to Optimize for AI Overviews
The reality is there’s no established direct way of impacting AI Overview rankings since Google generates them on the fly. Thus, content and sources may vary a lot between searches. However, there are strategic ways to indirectly yet skillfully influence results.
Here are some solid tips for optimizing for AI Overviews and maintaining your dominance in the SERP landscape:
1. Produce high-quality, authoritative content
This is probably one of those overused marketing lines, but in the age of AI Overviews, it’s becoming more crucial than ever to differentiate yourself through the caliber, depth, and real value of your content. It’s no longer a generic best practice but a core strategy for earning trust and long-term visibility.
AI Overviews are powered by robust context-driven frameworks and mechanisms including Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems that favor expert-level sources over surface-level keyword matches. AI models do not just look at what’s winning the #1 spot, but intelligently determine who is the real “trusted source”. The more your site signals depth and authority, the more your content gets pulled into more AI Overviews.
AI Overviews are designed to provide comprehensive answers to complex questions. Naturally, the more you go beyond basic explanation, the more likely you are to appear as a cited or summarized source.
2. Boost EEAT Signals
We’re seeing an explosion of AI-written content online, and many people are still entirely skeptical about AI, seeing it hallucinate and make stuff up so convincingly. Both human readers and AI models want trusted and accurate information, and you can prove that through a lot ways including:
● Adding author credentials and bios
One of the easiest ways to boost E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) signals is by clearly showing who’s behind your content. Provide detailed information about your blog writers or content creators including their experience, qualifications, and even links to their professional profiles like LinkedIn.
If you’re outsourcing content creation, make sure to hire writers who have actual subject matter expertise or at least have the experts review your content like what Healthline generally does.
● Backing up all claims
While even experts have their own opinions and are free to think for themselves, in the end, truly authoritative content is built on evidence. The more you reference actual studies, data, and expert quotes, the more you’re showing search engines and AI models that you’ve meticulously done your research on the topic at hand.
Thus, make sure your link to authoritative sources, particularly from sources that are TLD (top level domains, like .edu, .gov, and .org). This is particularly important when covering YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics, such as financial, medical, legal, and new-related content. Even better, quote experts directly as that is also a great way to optimize for fan out queries.
3. Backlinks
This is another still relevant way of optimizing for search visibility, including AI Overviews. Again, AI Overviews only synthesize information from the internet’s most credible sources, and a strong backlink profile remains to be a top indication of authority and reputation. And it’s not just backlinks; it’s also overall endorsement from reputable third-party sources including editorial mentions, expert roundups, and thought leadership citations.
4. Social Media engagement
Beyond shares, comments, and mentions, AI models also look at the actual context of your social media engagement to gauge discussion points and overall public sentiment, analyzing how your brand is perceived online. In other words, maintaining a strong, consistent reputation isn’t just good for business. It’s a direct advantage in AI Overviews and overall brand visibility.
You can further reinforce your brand’s authority on social media by creating shareable “micro content” in the form of short videos, infographics, or even quotes. Don’t forget to reply to comments and engage in conversations to further boost engagement and deepen trust. Encouraging user-generated content (UGC) is also a great way to create social proofing as AI does prioritize authentic and first-hand experiences especially for queries that require real-world validation and lived expertise. Finally, don’t forget to cross-link accordingly, linking back to full articles from your social posts to strengthen cross-platform authority.
5. Target long-tail, informational queries
One thing to remember is that AIOs are triggered by informational search intent keywords 99.2% of the time, according to Ahrefs. Even if numbers differ slightly across studies, the overall trend is clear: AI Overviews are largely triggered by informational queries.
Google generally doesn’t push AI Overviews if the query is obviously navigational or transactional in nature. If it’s clear that the user intends to purchase, log in, download, or complete a specific action, Google will show direct links or shopping results. In general, AI Overviews are only triggered if the search term is question-based, long-tail, or exploratory, something that indicates a need to seek more understanding rather than execution.
As you target specific queries, make sure to go comprehensive in your topic development. Don’t just answer the main search term but also all other possible queries related to the topic. Focusing on contextual richness can give your article an edge to be cited not just in one AI citation but in many other related summaries. Just try to provide in-depth explanations while staying on topic. Make the flow logical, considering what the users need to learn first, second, then third about a specific subject or process. This requires an anticipatory and hierarchical approach to content creation, making sure that your entry is a one-stop destination for everything users might search within that topic.
Gone are the days when you ought to fixate on ‘ranking for one keyword’. With the rise of dynamic search experiences, you need to seed your expertise wherever Google looks for answers.
6. Publish original data.
Those with higher marketing budgets have the luxury of commissioning large-scale teams or agencies to produce high-level original data in the form of surveys, reports, or full-blown studies. While those are the types of high-quality, first-party data that rank and attract backlinks, you still have other means to produce something as valuable by showing your own subject matter expertise.
For topics that require a more nuanced opinion or professional interpretation, relying on the direct experiences and first-hand knowledge of your writers or team can be a great differentiation. You can also go for simpler data formats like statistics roundup, smaller case studies, or even visual infographics that can also help with Image SEO.
Also, make sure that a rigorous editing and review process is a core part of your content production workflow. This is particularly the case when covering YMYL topics that have significant impact on people’s well-being. Google does not tolerate poor quality or inaccurate information in these areas as any misinformation or error could lead to serious consequences for people consuming the content.
7. Earn reviews and UGC.
Reviews and UGC content are how generative models catch both positive and negative sentiment. Mobilizing a strong social media campaign can help amplify this feedback loop. Encourage UGC content and repurpose them on your own channels (with permission). There are also review platforms you can tap like Google, Yelp, and Trustpilot. You can showcase positive customer testimonials and reviews directly on your website as well. And when you do receive reviews, make sure to respond to both the good and the bad as that shows that you’re tuned in and paying attention.
8. Include multimedia
Remember that AI models are ‘multimodal’, so they’re able to understand and process multiple formats, be it text, images, or videos. If all added multimedia are cohesive, AI will view your content as more multi-dimensional and reliable. Just make sure that you’re not just adding images, charts, and infographics for the sake of it. Be intentional about everything to genuinely support your content and avoid wasting reader attention. Also, think about further optimization in the form of compressing images, setting keyword-rich file names, adding alt text, and so on. Some people go straight to the Images or Videos tab, so every optimized visual can end up becoming an additional discovery point for your content.
9. Make sure your content is indexable and crawlable
It goes without saying that if Google’s AI model cannot access and read your content, it cannot be used as a source. Do technical SEO right to ensure that Googlebot can access, understand, and cache your content properly. Use instant SEO audit tools like SEO Checker to do overall analyses that cover everything from technical and on-page optimization to security issues to speed performance. You can also check the Page Indexing Report on Google Search Console to keep an eye out for issues and stay on top of your site’s discoverability and crawlability.
10. Leverage structured data and AI-friendly format in general
On top of writing well-contextualized content, it’s also important to keep the format easy to read and AI-friendly. To do this, just aim to answer questions clearly; use concise definitions, tables, and lists; and update schema and structured data. The goal is to make your content so easy to understand in the eyes of both human readers and generative models.
There are hundreds of schema types that can help reinforce discoverability, but some of the foundational ones that can help really define your content to search engines include:
- FAQs
- How-Tos
- Article Schema
- Organization Schema
- Breadcrumb Schema
- LocalBusiness Schema
- Review Schema
- Product Schema
11. Diversify your traffic sources
If you still haven’t, now is the time to embrace an omnichannel digital presence; that is, reaching customers across all touchpoints from social media to email marketing to video-based platforms like YouTube. Further diversify formats by tapping Reddit, Quora, and other forums. Recent studies show that UGC and forums are starting to dominate AI Overviews. Out of all domain categories, forums and Q&A sites have reflected the highest growth trend. In fact, Reddit and Quora are two of the biggest players in the “AI Overview market share”, with Reddit’s share climbing to around 6% and Quora’s to nearly 4.5% in recent months.
12. Use plain language
Even if the topic is rather technical, strive to simplify overly complex terminology and minimize slang or jargon that the audience won’t readily understand. If you do need to cite certain industry terms, make sure to add enough context to provide direct clarification and clear examples. It’s all about clarity, simplicity, and readability, so make sure your context is easy to digest at most reading levels.
Make your content scannable as well by using short paragraphs, bullet points, and lists to break down dense information. Make the language clear and approachable. Doing all this not only supports AI Overview optimization but also voice search optimization and general Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).
13. Publish Consistently and Update Old Content
Content freshness is also another factor to consider to earn more AI Overview citations, especially if the topics involved are time-sensitive or rapidly evolving. Recency is a strong signal for accuracy, relevance, and overall value. That’s why constantly publishing new, high-value pieces can help keep your site top of mind for both users and search engines. On top of that, update any stale piece of content you have as well. Even though they were once high-performing, they can be easily outpaced by other fresher, more relevant posts.
14. Continue working towards ranking
The best SEO practices are still relevant in the AI Overview game since the higher you rank, the more chances of getting cited. Thus, stick with your own proven SEO playbook, from on-page and off-page optimization to technical SEO. They’re still all relevant and foundational to every search and content strategy.
15. Embrace Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
GEO is not replacing SEO but supplementing it in such a way that it future-proofs your existing strategy. It’s a new discipline that can help drive more AI citations and inclusion. However, it’s still in its infancy, and trends and benchmarks tend to move fast. The key is always keeping abreast of the latest advancements in terms of AI SEO and other search intelligence innovations.
Also, constant experimentation and testing can help expedite the results you’re after. Try out the tips above and monitor the success of every campaign or strategy to better guide your next strategic approach. New tools are emerging to meet this new demand, allowing you to better gauge the success of your AI optimization efforts and streamline your processes for overall AI readiness.
Like it or not, the ability or rank for AI search results is now a skill that you can’t overlook. The good news is it’s not just for the giants of big brands. There are lots of actionable strategies to influence how your brand shows up and gets cited by generative models. The fundamentals haven’t changed much, but the way success is defined has now definitely gone beyond clicks and rankings. Just continue doing solid keyword research, meeting search intent, and following best SEO practices.
“There is nothing special for creators to do to be considered other than to follow our regular guidance for appearing in search, as covered in Google Search Essentials.”
– Google
What’s Next for AI Overviews
People have initially poked fun at AI Overviews when it had a lot to learn and improve on, but since its launch in May 2024, it definitely has come a long way, becoming faster, more accurate, and better at understanding complex queries.
“Sometimes you want a quick answer, but you don’t have time to piece together all the information you need. Search will do the work for you with AI Overviews “
– Liz Reid, VP Google Search
According to Google, it has already used AI Overviews billions of times, and those who use this feature engage in more searches and show higher satisfaction with the outcomes. They’re just “overviews” of certain topics typically running at a hundred words or so, but they’re already able to satisfy a large share of everyday information and how-to searches. They have definitely successfully streamlined the search process by offering immediate and concise answers, which is super convenient for those seeking quick answers and understanding.
People used to spend more time navigating through multiple websites to get the information they need. Now, they can get straightforward responses that pull the most relevant context together in seconds.
Now, the big question is: what’s next? What can we expect about this rapidly evolving feature?
Advancements in AI Overviews are moving fast, and in general, they’re expected to continue growing in reach, quality, and global rollout. Here are some key directions to watch:
- More Coverage: AI overviews are now showing up for a fraction of queries. We can expect this percentage to continue increasing as Google expands testing to new regions and query types
- Deeper personalization: Google has personalized search results in more ways than one. It’s expected for the search giant to do the same for AI Overviews, further adapting based on location, user history, and preferences.
- Richer interactivity: More advancements in using AI Overviews for built-in product comparisons, price tracking, and booking tools among other interactive shopping and discovery experiences.
- Higher competition: More brands will eventually catch on, and as more publishers fight for AI citations, the bar for authority is just bound to rise.
- Paid ad integration: Google has started weaving sponsored results in AI Overviews, with each one clearly marked as “Sponsored” and designed to fit naturally into summaries.This will further push brands to rethink how they want to earn attention in AI-driven experiences.
Google will continue enhancing AI Overviews. In fact, the company is looking to invest a whopping $75 billion in artificial intelligence projects. AI Overviews are not going away, and SEOs need to adapt quickly and evolve their playbook to stay visible in this new era of intelligent search.
Final Thoughts
To ride the wave, marketers need to fully understand how AI Overviews work, and to do that they need to learn, experiment, execute, monitor, refine, repeat. The same way we’ve established the current level of structure and granularity with SEO, the goal is to also participate in building the next generation of standards and strategies around AI-driven search.
It’s definitely a new muscle to build, but those who start early will have the clearest advantage when AI-powered discovery fully becomes the norm.