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Google now answers some queries directly with AI Overviews that appear above other organic results.
For users, those AI-generated summaries mean faster answers. For website owners, it means a shift in how you earn and track your visibility.
This guide breaks down what AI Overviews are, how they work, and how you can optimize for them.
Google’s AI Overviews are a type of highly prominent search feature that provides users with AI-generated answers to certain queries.
AI Overviews typically appear at the top of search results, although they sometimes appear below sponsored results and even unpaid results.
For example, if you search “how to lose weight,” Google will automatically generate an answer for you.
Google’s Gemini models generate AI Overview answers by gathering information from different sources on the web. The summary also contains links to these sources that users can click for more information.
Google’s goal with AI Overviews is to improve the search experience by giving users quick answers to their queries. So they don’t have to sift through multiple websites.
Google’s AI summaries were initially part of an experiment through Search Labs and included in a program called Search Generative Experience (SGE). After receiving positive feedback from users, Google made AI Overviews available to everyone in the U.S. on May 14, 2024.
Note
AI Overviews are separate from AI Mode, a newer and more expansive AI-powered search experience Google introduced in 2025.
AI Overviews appear for a range of search queries and are available in over 200 countries and territories and in 40+ languages.
Not all searches trigger AI Overviews, even in supported countries. They’re selectively displayed based on query complexity and whether Google’s systems determine an AI-generated summary would genuinely help users.
While AI Overviews primarily appear for informational queries, recent Semrush research shows they’re becoming more common across navigational, commercial, and transactional queries. In fact, keywords triggering AI Overviews went from being 89.03% informational in October 2024 to just 57.16% informational in October 2025.
Google’s AI Overviews are important because they change how Google delivers information to users and how websites can gain visibility in search results.
AI Overviews diminish visibility for many websites and can lead to more zero-click searches that remove the need for users to click anything to find what they’re looking for. Which can decrease organic (unpaid) traffic to websites.
A Pew Research Center report suggests users click traditional search result links just 8% of the time when an AI Overview is present, versus 15% of the time when there’s no AI Overview present. And users only click results within the AI Overview 1% of the time.
But despite the potential impact on clicks, being mentioned in an AI Overview (even without a link to your site) does provide visibility for your brand. Rather than simply appearing as a normal organic result, your brand can be featured prominently right at the top of the search results.
Plus, the AI Overview can give searchers context about your brand without them having to explore further on their own. Like this example, which labels HubSpot as the best overall CRM for small businesses:
And when your site is linked as a source for the AI Overview’s answer, it helps position your brand as an authority.
Since AI Overviews often appear before the rest of the organic results, appearing in them as a source or being mentioned/recommended in the answer is important for your overall brand visibility.
AI Overviews work by summarizing information from a variety of sources and displaying this summary to searchers.
The content within AI Overviews is generated using advanced generative AI technology powered by Google’s Gemini large language models (LLMs). The summary the user sees is based on the AI’s understanding of the query and the relevant information it gathered across the web.
AI Overviews can also use a process called query fan-out. This involves the systems running multiple related searches to put together a more comprehensive response for the user.
The systems behind AI Overviews evaluate many signals—like content quality, source authority, and relevance—to determine what information to include. The next section explains how you can optimize your content for these signals.
To optimize content for AI Overviews, make your webpages crawlable and indexable, target long-tail keywords, create quality content, improve user experience, use on-page SEO techniques, and build backlinks and brand mentions.
Google’s official recommendation for optimizing for AI features like AI Overviews is to “apply the same foundational SEO best practices for AI features as you do for Google Search overall.”
So, if you’re already following SEO best practices, you're on the right track for being featured in AI Overviews as well.
Below, we’ll go over more detailed explanations of the steps you can take to improve your chances of appearing in AI Overviews.
For any webpage to be considered for AI Overviews, it first needs to be both crawled and indexed by Google.
Crawling is the process Google uses to discover your pages. And indexing is when these pages are stored in a large database.
But there are some technical issues that can prevent crawling and indexing, including:
Start with a free SEO check to quickly spot technical issues.
For a deeper dive into your site, use Semrush Site Audit.
Fixing the issues it identifies can improve your chances of appearing in AI Overviews.
Set up a project for your domain and go to the “Issues” report. Use the filter for "Crawlability" issues.
Similarly, you can also filter for "Indexability" issues using the category drop-down menu.
For each issue, click the "Why and how to fix it" link to learn more details and get suggestions on how to resolve it.
Optimizing your content for relevant long-tail keywords (highly specific queries) may improve your chances of appearing in AI Overviews given they’re designed to answer specific user questions.
Google even stated at the launch of AI Overviews that the AI summaries would “help with increasingly complex questions.”
You can see this in action for yourself by searching for a long-tail keyword like “best dog food for sensitive stomach”:
Users that search for these longer queries are typically looking for something specific.
If a highly specific query is relevant to your business, appearing in the AI Overview could drive targeted traffic to your website. Or at least put you on users’ radars to make them more likely to visit your website in the future.
To find relevant long-tail search terms, use Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool. Open the tool, enter your broad keyword into the search bar, then click “Search.”
The Keyword Magic Tool will show you a bunch of keyword ideas, but we want to focus on long-tail keywords. So, filter the report by clicking on the “Advanced filters” option and setting the word count to a minimum of four words and click “Apply.”
You’ll see long-tail variations of your broad keyword. These are often more detailed and closely aligned with the types of queries that trigger AI Overviews.
Once you have a list of relevant long-tail terms, you can start creating content that incorporates these keywords.
The next step will explain how to ensure that content is high quality and optimized for AI Overviews.
Creating quality content gives you a higher chance of appearing in AI Overviews because Google's algorithms are designed to prioritize content that meets strict quality standards.
To meet Google’s quality standards, ensure you content is:
Google sees user experience (how enjoyable users’ interactions with your content are) as an important factor for determining how prominently to show different search results.
To optimize for the user experience, focus on the following key areas:
Work alongside your developer team to take care of any issues related to UX. As this is likely going to be important for appearing in AI Overviews.
Using on-page SEO practices that improve aspects of your webpages to help Google better understand your content makes your pages more likely to show for relevant queries—and potentially appear in AI Overviews.
Some key on-page factors include:
Use Semrush’s on-page SEO tool to check whether your pages are optimized.
Start by setting up a project in On Page SEO Checker. Once the setup is complete, go to the “Optimization Ideas” section to find a list of opportunities to better optimize your pages.
Click the “# ideas” button next to a page to open up a new report. And find the “Content” section within that report to see if the page you’re analyzing follows on-page SEO best practices.
Work through each page and make the recommended changes to improve your on-page SEO—and your chances of appearing in AI Overviews.
Getting more brand mentions and backlinks from other websites that point to your site increases your chances of showing in AI Overviews.
While brand mentions are less important for traditional SEO, they seem to be especially important for your AI visibility.
Here’s how to get more backlinks and brand mentions:
You can build more backlinks by doing backlink outreach, which involves contacting other sites in your industry and requesting that they link to your content.
First, use the Link Building Tool to find prospects who might be willing to link to you.
Set up a project in the Link Building Tool. Then, you’ll see a list of potential websites you can contact.
When you’re ready to contact a particular website, think about why they should care about your content and link to it.Does it provide valuable insights, uncover new perspectives, or present data points that complement the existing content on their site?
When you have an understanding of how linking to your site would be beneficial, craft a compelling outreach email that highlights the specific ways your content is valuable. Here’s a template you can use:
Subject: Resource for your [topic] article
Hi [Name],
I came across your article on [topic] and thought it was a great resource for [audience].
I recently published a piece on [your topic] that covers [unique angle, data point, or insight]. I think it could add value for your readers as a complementary resource.
Here's the link: [URL]
If you think it's a good fit, I'd appreciate you considering it for inclusion in your article.
Either way, thanks for putting out such helpful content.
Best,
[Your name]
Once your email is ready, you can send it directly within the tool itself.
You can build brand mentions by reaching out to websites with ideas for how they can talk about you.
However, most brand mentions are picked up naturally. In other words, you’ll likely build brand mentions over time by simply creating great content and marketing your business.
Here are some quick tips to help you build brand mentions more rapidly:
Some websites may want to prevent their content from being summarized and displayed in AI Overviews due to concerns around copyright, accuracy of summaries, or maintaining control over how their content is presented.
AI Overviews are a feature of Google search results, which means websites cannot directly opt out of them.
But there are some traditional SEO methods you can use to limit the chances of your pages appearing in AI Overviews:
While these methods can limit AI Overview exposure, we don't recommend using them unless you have a very strong reason to do so.
Find out which of your pages are appearing in AI Overviews using Semrush’s Organic Rankings tool.
Enter your domain into Organic Rankings and go to the “Positions” tab, then select the “SERP Features” drop-down, hover over “Domain Ranks,” and click “AI Overview.”
You’ll see the terms you appear in AI Overviews for, along with metrics like search volume, keyword difficulty, and more.
To see the same report for the keywords you don’t yet appear in AI Overviews for, follow the same steps but hover over “Domain doesn’t rank” before clicking “AI Overview.” And use search volume and keyword difficulty filters to find terms you’re likely to appear for that can drive meaningful traffic..
Then, follow the steps in this article to create content optimized for these terms to appear in the corresponding AI Overviews.
Try Organic Rankings today.
Before we wrap things up, we’ll cover some frequently asked questions about AI Overviews.
There is currently no way to opt out of having your website's content summarized in AI Overviews specifically
If Google's systems determine an AI overview would be helpful for a query, it will display one using publicly available web content.
Unless you've implemented a technique to keep yourself out of search results, your content will get used in AI Overviews at Google's discretion.
All click data for your website (from regular organic listings, SERP features, AI Overviews, and AI Mode) is bundled together in Google Search Console's performance report.
And Google hasn’t announced any plans to break out click data for different search experiences.
According to Semrush Sensor (which analyzes Google search results across millions of keywords), AI Overviews currently show up for around 12.95% of search queries on average in the U.S. market.
That said, Google is continuously adjusting the appearance of AI-generated answers in search results. So, this number will likely change.
Zach Paruch
Zach Paruch is a data-driven SEO strategist with 10+ years of experience driving organic growth through smart, scalable search strategies. His expertise includes on-page and technical SEO, AI search optimization, and content strategy—with a special focus on ideating and implementing AI-driven processes. By leveraging in-depth search intent analysis, refined information architecture, and user-centered design, Zach consistently delivers high-impact content that drives business outcomes.
Keyword search volume is the average number of monthly searches for a search term in a particular location.
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