You’re probably aware that Google recently rolled out a new AI-powered feature called AI Overviews to US users, with plans to expand it globally to over 1 billion more people by the end of this year. This is honestly a really big deal – one of the most significant changes to how Google search works in the last couple of decades.
Naturally, all businesses and marketers are now scratching their heads, wondering how they can get their websites to show up in these new AI-generated search overviews. In this article, I’m going to break down exactly what these AI Overviews are, how they work, and most importantly, how you can optimize your website’s content to get featured and rank highly in them.
But first, let me quickly explain the key difference between AI Overviews and Google’s previous technology called SGE or “Supplemental Google Experiences”. When you search for something on Google now, you’ll see this new AI-generated overview section at the very top, followed by the regular organic search results beneath it.
These AI Overviews pull in text snippets and source links from across the web, supposedly using Google’s large language model called Gemini to automatically generate this overview content. However, the exact process may be a bit different from what Google is publicly saying.
The reason every marketer is so excited about these AI Overviews is that they display information right there on the search page, potentially reducing how many people need to click through to actual websites. So getting your content featured in these Overviews is going to be crucially important.
For the most part, these AI Overviews seem to be triggered for informational, question-based searches starting with words like “what”, “how”, “when”, “why”, and so on. Google does appear to be more cautious about displaying AI Overviews for financial, local business, or other types of searches though.
One key difference is that unlike Google’s previous SGE boxes, these new AI Overviews currently don’t have that handy “Ask a follow-up question” functionality. They also have reduced coverage compared to when Google was initially testing this technology.
But despite some of those limitations, AI Overviews present a massive opportunity for businesses to increase their visibility and drive more traffic from Google. So let me share the strategies we’ve found to be effective for actually getting your content to rank…
Here are stepwise instructions on how to optimize your website content to rank in Google’s new AI Overviews:
Step 1: Understand AI Overviews and how they differ from traditional search
AI Overviews are Google’s new AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of search results for informational queries like “what, how, when, why” type questions. These overviews pull in text snippets and links from various websites to provide a comprehensive answer.
Step 2: Optimize your site’s SEO foundation
Before targeting AI Overviews, ensure your website has a strong SEO foundation. This includes optimizing titles, meta descriptions, site speed, user experience, and engagement metrics like bounce rate. A solid technical SEO base is crucial.
Step 3: Create query-matching content
Identify the specific informational queries you want to rank for in AI Overviews. Then, create high-quality content that directly answers those questions concisely and readably. Summarize the key points in clear language.
Step 4: Get your content indexed quickly
Once your content is published, submit those pages for indexing in Google Search Console. AI Overviews tend to refresh and update more rapidly than regular rankings.
Step 5: Monitor and refine your optimization
Keep a close eye on which content snippets Google is pulling into the AI Overviews for your target queries. You may need to adjust and refine your content to better match what the AI is looking for.
Step 6: Stay up-to-date on AI Overview criteria
As this technology is still new, Google’s criteria for what content gets surfaced in AI Overviews will likely evolve. Pay attention to updates and be prepared to adapt your optimization tactics accordingly.
The key is creating content that clearly and concisely answers searchers’ questions in a way that Google’s AI can understand and pull into the Overview snippets. With a solid strategy, you can increase your chances of visibility in this new search landscape.
