How to Optimise Your Website for Google AI Overview?
Google’s AI Overviews use generative AI to give quick, easy-to-understand answers right on the search results page, so you don’t have to open different websites.
AI Overviews are still a new feature, so they keep changing. Sometimes a search shows an overview, and other times it doesn’t, even for the same keyword.
These AI-generated summaries often appear at the very top of the page, even before organic results, making them an important part of SEO.
In this guide, you’ll find 9 clear and useful strategies to help your content show up in AI Overviews and increase your website traffic.
What is Google AI Overview?
Google AI Overview is a feature that uses generative AI, like Gemini, to answer questions by pulling key information from different websites and showing it in a short, easy-to-read summary based on what the user is looking for.
If your content isn’t included in these summaries, you risk losing visibility and traffic, even if you rank organically.
Why AI Overview Matters?
- Top Visibility: AI Overviews often appear above organic results, making them a powerful traffic magnet.
- Voice/Search-Friendly: Conversational and long-tail queries are becoming standard with AI-driven search.
- Trust Boost: Recognition through AI overview shows credibility and authority to both users and search engines.
Google’s John Mueller says,
“Basically, an AIO counts as a block, so it’s all one position. It can be first position, if the block is shown first, but I don’t know if AIO is always shown first.”
Source: backlinko.com
Do AI Overviews Affect SEO?
AI Overviews don’t directly change rankings, but they influence how users interact with search results, impacting visibility, clicks, and trust. Here’s how they affect your SEO:
- Lower Click-Through Rates – AI Overviews often answer questions directly, reducing the need for users to click on your website.
- Extra Competition on SERPs – They appear above organic results, pushing your listings further down and reducing visibility.
- E-E-A-T Is Essential – Google prefers citing content that shows real expertise, authority, and trust, especially for sensitive topics.
- Not Just About Rankings – Even lower-ranking pages can be featured if the content is helpful, well-structured, and written.
- Indirect SEO Influence – While not a ranking factor, AI Overviews affect user trust, traffic flow, and brand recognition.
Top 9 Strategies on How to Optimise Your Website for Google AI Overview:
1. Focus on Queries That Trigger AI Overviews
AI Overviews don’t show up for every search. They typically appear for complex, broad, or how-to style queries. These include:
- “How to treat acne at home”
- “Can you refinance an education loan in India?”
- “What’s the difference between green tea and matcha?”
Use SEO tools or manual searches to identify high-intent questions that trigger AI summaries. Once you find them, create content specifically answering those questions.
How to make it work: Build a list of common informational queries in your niche that frequently generate AI Overviews. These will be your primary content targets.
2. Write Content That Answers First, Explains Later
Google’s AI models look for content that provides an immediate, clear answer to a user’s question. Then they prefer content that elaborates on that answer in detail.
Start your content with a short, direct summary, usually one or two sentences, then follow it with a detailed explanation. This approach mirrors how AI Overviews themselves present information.
Example:
If someone searches, “How to improve fertility naturally,” start your article by giving 2–3 clear tips in the first paragraph. Then expand on those tips in the sections that follow.
3. Create Content That’s Worth Summarizing
AI Overviews don’t just pull content from the top result, they extract information from any page they consider helpful, trustworthy, and easy to process.
To make your content stand out:
- Share original insights, such as data from your business, patient experience, or unique case studies.
- Use simple, clear sentences with real value, and avoid common empty phrases.
- Explain or use comparisons where relevant.
- Offer takeaway tips, examples, or expert commentary to enrich the page.
This makes your content more likely to be included in multi-source summaries, even if you’re not ranked first.
4. Strengthen Your Content with E-E-A-T Principles
Google continues to use the Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) model to evaluate content, especially in AI Overviews.
A few tips on how to build that content:
- Share your personal or professional experience in your content. For example, talk about how long you’ve been doing the work or something you’ve experienced yourself.
- Cite credible sources to back up claims, such as government health sites or peer-reviewed studies.
- Include author bios with relevant qualifications to show real expertise.
- Keep your content up to date, and always add a last-updated date.
This helps both search engines and users trust your content.
5. Use Clear, Organized Formatting
AI Overviews prefer structured, scannable content because it makes it easier for their models to understand what your page is about.
Few tips on how to structure your content effectively:
- Use short paragraphs and subheadings for every section.
- Break down steps or lists into bullet points for clarity.
- Create FAQ sections for commonly asked questions.
- Include comparisons or summaries in table format if applicable.
Organized formatting not only improves readability but also increases your chances of being highlighted in the AI Overview.
6. Maintain Strong Technical SEO
Even though AI Overviews are powered by AI, they still rely heavily on traditional SEO to find and evaluate pages.
Make sure your website:
- Loads quickly and performs well on mobile devices.
- Uses proper header tags (like H1, H2, and H3) to indicate content structure.
- Has meta descriptions that clearly explain the content of the page.
- It is free from broken links or crawling errors.
- It should have internal links to related topics to show authority.
7. Implement Structured Data
Although Google has said structured data isn’t required for AI Overviews, it still helps search engines understand your page better.
Use schema markup to define:
- FAQs for question-and-answer content
- Articles for long-form blogs
- How-to steps for tutorials
- Product information for e-commerce content
This structured context enhances your content’s visibility and helps it get displayed more effectively in various search features.
8. Control AI Access with llm.txt
In 2024, Google introduced the llm.txt file, a tool that lets website owners manage how AI systems use their content.
This file works like robots.txt but applies specifically to large language models. You can allow or block specific AI crawlers, like Google’s AI systems or others, from using your content for AI Overviews or training.
Tip: To manage which AI tools can use your content, ask your web developer to add an llm.txt file to your website.
9. Observe and Monitor Performance
Although Google doesn’t provide separate analytics for AI Overviews, you can still monitor impact using traditional SEO metrics.
Here’s what to watch:
- Changes in impressions and click-through rates for your informational content.
- Any sudden dips in traffic for pages that previously performed well.
- Visibility of your content in AI Overviews, checked by running key searches manually.
If a page stops performing or doesn’t appear in AI results, consider reworking it using the strategies above: make it clearer, add expert insights, or update it with new information.
Final Thoughts
Google’s AI Overviews aren’t replacing websites, they highlight the most helpful and trusted content. If your content is original, well-organised, and truly useful, it has a better chance of being seen.
Focus on sharing clear, helpful answers to your audience’s questions. It’s the most effective way to appear in AI Overviews.
