AI Overviews are the AI-written answers that appear above the regular results for many Google searches. Ask “why is my water heater making a popping noise” and instead of going straight to a list of links, Google writes a few paragraphs explaining sediment buildup, with small link cards pointing to the pages it used.
Google launched AI Overviews in the US in May 2024, after testing them as the Search Generative Experience. They have since expanded to well over 100 countries and many languages. They’re generated by a version of Gemini working with Google’s search index.
When they appear
AI Overviews show up most on informational searches: questions, how-tos, explanations and comparisons. They appear less often on simple navigational searches and many local “near me” searches, where the map pack still dominates, though that line keeps moving.
Why they matter
Fewer clicks for some searches. When the answer is on the results page, some people don’t click anything. Many publishers have reported lower click-through rates on informational queries where AI Overviews appear (see zero-click search).
A new place to be seen. Being cited in an AI Overview puts your brand and link at the very top of the page, sometimes above the first organic result.
For Coastline Plumbing, a cited explanation of water heater noises might bring fewer clicks than a top ranking once did. But the visitors who do click are often ready to book a repair, and being named as the source builds trust.
How pages get cited
Google hasn’t published a separate formula. Its guidance is that the same fundamentals apply as for regular search: pages must be indexed, eligible to show a snippet, and helpful. In practice, cited pages tend to:
- Rank reasonably well for the question or related ones
- Answer clearly and early, under a heading that matches the question
- Contain specific facts, numbers and steps
- Come from sources with real expertise on the topic
This overlaps heavily with generative engine optimization.
Controls
There’s no tag that removes your site from AI Overviews while keeping it in Search. The nosnippet and max-snippet directives limit what Google can show from a page, including in AI features, but they also limit your regular snippets. Blocking Google-Extended in robots.txt does not affect AI Overviews, which use content crawled by Googlebot.
How to measure
Search Console counts clicks and impressions from AI Overviews in the normal Web search totals rather than breaking them out separately, so watch impressions, clicks and CTR together. RankThat’s AI Visibility tracks whether AI assistants mention or cite your business for questions about your services and area, compared with competitors.