What are Google AI Overviews?

How they work

For queries where Google decides a summary helps, an AI model generates an overview from pages in Google's index, using techniques such as query fan-out to gather information from related searches. Links to supporting pages appear inside and beside the overview. Google's AI Mode, launched in 2025, extends this into a conversational search experience.

Eligibility

Google's documentation for site owners says there are no extra requirements to appear in AI features: a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown with a snippet. Standard SEO practices apply, and the usual controls (nosnippet, max-snippet, noindex) limit how content is used.

Effect on clicks

Independent studies by SEO companies have found lower click-through rates on queries that trigger AI Overviews, especially informational ones, because the answer is on the results page. Google says links in AI Overviews get more clicks than if the page had appeared as a traditional listing for that query. Both can be true for different pages. Being cited in the overview is better than ranking below it.

Measuring it

Traffic from AI Overviews and AI Mode is included in Search Console's Performance report under web search; it isn't broken out separately. Watch impressions rising while clicks stay flat on informational pages as a likely sign.

How to show up

The same as AEO and GEO: rank for the query, answer it directly near the top, include specifics and sources, and keep content fresh.

Example

A "what is a dofollow link" query shows an AI Overview citing three pages. One is a glossary page with a 40-word definition, a comparison table and an example. It gets fewer clicks than when it ranked #2 before overviews, but the clicks it gets come from people who wanted more depth.