What Is AI Overview
Finding a way to rank on Google’s AI Overview has become the new norm. If you hadn’t noticed, AI Overview is Google’s new search feature that summarises your queries. These summaries can be found at the top of search results, largely replacing featured snippets.
While ranking through snippets was a great way to secure “position zero” (a spot at the top of the page), ranking in AI Overview can also give websites a similar level of visibility. Here’s everything you need to know:
AI Overview is a summary of information that can be found at the top of a search page. It is Google’s latest feature, powered by its large language model (LLM), Gemini.
This summary corresponds to certain questions you’ve searched on Google, giving you a run down of that topic right from the start. The information of this summary is extracted from different sources throughout the web.
Links to these sources will also be provided, crediting the websites that contribute relevant information. As marketers, getting your website among these links is equivalent to top page ranking.
Nonetheless, this is easier said than done, as ranking in AI Overview can be more challenging than traditional ranking.
Ranking in AI Overviews
Rank for Regular Search
While AI Overview dominates the top of a page, regular, organic search results can still be found below it. These search results are the product of good SEO practices, and they make up a large portion of the information used in AI Overview.
In other words, websites that already have a strong base in organic search may find it easier to rank in AI Overview. This is not a guaranteed outcome nonetheless, but it is one of the most clear cut strategies you can follow.
Accurately Match Search Queries With Topics
“A query from AI Overview”
“Content directly repurposed from query”
Accurately matching queries with topics on your website can prompt AI Overview to feature your content. This includes creating laser-targeted topics that closely match what users are searching for.
Narrowing down topics can even outweigh high-authority content that are general and longer. For example, directly converting a query like “what is ice cream made of” into content can actually get you featured over more in-depth articles.
Provide Simple Information With High Readability
Keeping your information simple and concise is a common strategy in most SEO practices. The same can be said when it comes to ranking in AI Overview, as these summaries tend to extract information that is easy to digest.
The idea is to create a summary for AI Overview’s summary, by including a short rundown of your blog. This synopsis should go at the top of your page (similar to an AI Overview) where Google can easily extract the information.
Continuously Reoptimise Content
AI Overview is more dynamic than regular search to say the least. Answers tend to change frequently, affecting websites that were ranking in the summary. To maintain your position in the overview, it’s important to reoptimise your content when necessary.
While this may sound tedious, it actually gives you the opportunity to steal rankings from competitors who don’t keep up.
The Benefits of Ranking in AI Overview
- Top Position: Ranking in AI Overview puts your website in that coveted top position. This ensures high visibility as your website can easily be seen by users, increasing your chances of getting more traffic.
- Credibility: Websites that are featured in AI Overview tend to look more credible. It positions your website as an authority in your niche, building trust among users.
- Brand Awareness: Being featured in AI Overview has the potential to increase brand awareness. You’ll gain exposure to a larger audience, increasing the chances of attracting more recognition to your website/brand.
- Better SEO: Ranking in AI Overview can benefit your SEO strategy as a whole. Websites that consistently rank in overview may find it easier to maintain organic traffic due to increased visibility.
The Downside of AI Overview
- Cuts Click Through Rates: Some sites have experienced significant drops since AI Overview rolled out. These overviews give an instant summary of your queries, reducing the need to click through organic links.
- Misinformation: AI Overviews are notorious for dishing out wrong information. This comes down to AI’s lack of judgement—or more specifically, their inability to differentiate outdated information, satire and author intent.
This is more of a system flaw as context can be hard for AI to understand. - Laziness: Relying on AI overview can make us overly dependent on these summaries. This will sway us from conducting thorough research on a specific topic, turning us into lazy learners.
The State of AI Overview
AI Overview is still evolving. You can expect changes from time to time which may or may not impact your ranking on overview. These changes correlate directly with updates made to Google Gemini, which is currently using Gemini 2.0.
For future rollouts, Google plans to implement more advanced features to help AI Overview handle complex queries. Here are some AI Overview statistics for the first half of 2025:
- AI Overviews now show up in 13% of global searches.
- AI Overviews have cut click-through rates by 34.5% for top-ranking pages.
- AI Overviews usually include 6 to 14 sources to their responses.
- 43% of AI Overviews point to Google, directing users to their original sources.
- 16% of eCommerce searches now display an AI Overview.
Can an SEO Agency Help You Rank in AI Overview?
While a full-blown AI ranking agency may not exist just yet, an SEO agency is the closest thing to it. An SEO agency is well versed in strategies that can rank your website on search results.
These strategies work in conjunction with AI Overviews, where strong organic ranking can actually get you featured. An SEO agency also has the tools to measure a website’s ranking on overviews.
These tools give you insights into citations made and how your visibility has changed over time.
The Bottom Line
AI Overview may be unpredictable, but following these strategies can increase your chances of getting featured. You should also stay updated on AI and SEO trends to give you a better idea of its landscape and how you can improve your strategies.
At the end of day, AI remains a “black box” to most, including its creator—so it’s up to us to keep testing, analysing and adapting.
Need help from an SEO agency? Contact us to find out more!
