Google AI Overviews: How to Tackle the Search Generative Experience
With one in three Google searches today triggering AI-generated snippets, Google's AI Overviews (AIOs) are undeniably transforming how we search online. They deliver faster, more accurate answers, reshaping the search experience and inevitably influencing the traffic and visibility that websites typically receive through Google.
In this article, we’ll discuss the impact of AI Overviews (AIOs) on search dynamics, examine their influence on website rankings and organic visibility, and identify the industries and query types most likely to trigger AI-generated summaries. Many of these insights are drawn from the free Google AI Overview tool we’ve developed at Advanced Web Ranking.
We’ll also highlight the options AWR provides for monitoring your AIO rankings, measuring search visibility for SERPs featuring AIOs, and understanding how these changes specifically affect your website’s visibility.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
What are Google AI Overviews
How prominent AIOs are in Google search results today
Where do AIO results pull their data
How AI Overviews impact organic visibility
Which Keywords Are Likely to Trigger AI Overviews
How to optimize for Google AIOs
How to track AIO performance
What Are Google AI Overviews
Formerly known as SGE (Search Generative Experience), Google AI Overviews use generative artificial intelligence to provide accurate summaries to queries made on Google, almost instantly.
AI Overviews appear directly within the SERPs as short summaries featuring the answer, links for users to access more detailed information on the topic they searched for, and sometimes visual elements such as hero images.
Today, AIOs appear for 29% of non-logged sessions, and almost all of them (99.7% of non-logged-in AIO results) are partially displayed and include a [Show more] link.
Where Do AIO Results Pull Their Data
AI results don’t rely on a single source but on multiple types of content, including structured and unstructured data and cross-referenced information from trusted websites, to ensure accurate and relevant answers.
On average, a Google AI Overview result on average references 4.86 website pages from 4.59 domains.
Here are the primary resources that power the AI summaries:
Google’s Knowledge Graph: a huge collection of information about locations, events, people, movies, and more. The Knowledge Graph itself sources its data from reputable sites such as Wikipedia, Wikidata, Encyclopedia Britannica, and Google Maps, among others.
Trustworthy websites: known for quality content, usually enriched with structured data. These sites have many visitors and meet Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness).
Up-to-date content: recent articles, trending news, and other curated sources. AIOs deliver relevant and timeless insights on various topics by focusing on fresh content.
User-generated content: for an impartial source of information, AI summaries may use user-created content, too. Insights from people who shared their experiences on a topic are another excellent choice for AIO snapshots.
It's a common assumption that Google's AI Overviews predominantly source information from top-ranking organic domains. However, data from the Advanced Web Ranking Google AI Overview tool indicates otherwise: only 47.7% of these sources are from domains within the top 10 organic results, while a surprising 46.55% come from domains not listed in the top 50.
How AI Overviews Impact Organic Visibility
AI Overviews are prominently displayed at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs), often above both organic listings and, in some instances, paid ads. When expanded, these overviews occupy an average height of 1345 pixels (403 pixels when collapsed).
This placement pushes the first organic result down to an average depth of 1,686 pixels when the AI Overview is expanded, exceeding standard screen resolutions (1920 x 1080 pixels). Consequently, users must scroll significantly to reach organic listings, potentially diminishing organic website traffic. Occasionally, AI Overviews may also appear mid-page, further impacting the visibility of traditional search results.
Which Keywords Are Likely to Trigger AI Overviews
AI Overviews are predominantly designed to address informational queries, offering users concise summaries and explanations. Consequently, they are infrequently triggered by transactional queries—those with a clear intent to purchase or complete a specific action—appearing in only about 4.23% of such cases. In contrast, for commercial queries, which involve researching products or services without immediate intent to purchase, AI Overviews appear approximately 18.89% of the time.
This disparity underscores Google's focus on enhancing the user experience for information-seeking behaviors, while AI Overviews remain less prevalent in contexts where users are closer to purchasing decisions.
How to Optimize for AI Overviews
Since AI Overviews are still relatively new and continuously evolving, the best strategies for optimizing content for AI Overviews will likely change over time.
While Google Search Central advises that adhering to its Search Essentials is enough for a site to be included in AI Overviews, some strategies may prove more effective than others for increasing your chances of being cited.
Here are a few strategies to consider. However, it's essential to experiment with different approaches and refine your tactics based on the results you observe.
Focus on Brief and Informative Content
Writing valuable SEO content that captures users’ interest and offers insightful, well-researched information is a truth that holds at all times. In addition, you may consider writing summaries that directly address potential search queries and placing them at the top of your website’s page.
Target for Long-Tail Keywords
Since AI Overviews are often triggered by long-tail keywords, you need to focus on content that addresses complex questions. Dive deeper into the subject, crafting content for readers who want a complete understanding or seek a detailed technical answer.
Regularly Update Content
Relevant content is essential, but keeping it up-to-date is even more critical. Keeping users informed of your industry's latest findings, trends, and discoveries may increase your chances of being featured in AI summaries.
Create a Self-Explanatory Content Structure
Well-organized content is easy to scan and understand. AI Overviews rely on content that flows naturally, with distinct headings, subheadings, and simple lists that offer concise information. This structured approach makes it easier for users and AI to assess key information quickly.
Incorporate Visual Elements
Include images or videos to put the information featured into context whenever possible. The main goal of the graphic elements is to enrich the content and bring extra depth to the topic. AI Overviews favor these types of elements, as they make content more appealing and visually accessible.
Make Use of Structured Data
Structured data is an excellent tool to help search engines understand the type of content you're delivering. Schema markup adds an extra layer of context to the content, which facilitates AI's ability to extract information for summaries.
Add FAQ Section
FAQ sections are already popular and highly useful, and now they're even more valuable. By using them to address key questions that interest users and presenting answers in a clear, concise format, you can significantly improve the chances of being highlighted by AI summaries.
Adhere to E-E-A-T Standards
Content that aligns with Google’s E-E-A-T standards is essential for ranking well. These values—experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness—define reliable content, so to make your website more appealing to AI Overviews, consider incorporating expert opinions, credible sources, and quality information on its pages.
How to Track AI Overviews Performance with AWR
Google AI Overviews tracking is enabled by default in Advanced Web Ranking for all plans. This applies to ranking projects that include a Google Universal search engine, whether Desktop, Mobile, or location-based.
Identify Keywords that Trigger AI Overviews
In AWR's Ranking Keywords data table, the SERP Features column highlights which special features appear for each of your tracked keywords, including AI Overviews (AIOs).
Apply filters to this column to quickly identify keywords triggering AIOs. This will surface the terms where AIOs are currently displayed.
Moreover, if AI Overviews are a key part of your SEO strategy, you can streamline this filtering process further by creating a dynamic keyword category. This category will automatically update with the latest keywords that trigger AIOs.
Once set up, you can simply select your AIO Keywords category to see the updated list of keywords that trigger AIO results.
This will help you quickly identify which of your tracked terms are generating this type of SERP Feature and easily spot new terms (new entries) that have started triggering AIOs compared to previous updates, enabling you to uncover fresh optimization opportunities.
Track AIO Rankings
Creating a dynamic category for AIO-related keywords also helps you gain deeper insights in AWR.
This keyword set can also be applied to other reports, such as Visibility, allowing you to analyze performance for your AIO keywords further and strategize effectively.
For instance, you may want to:
compute your website’s Visibility (Score, Percentage, Distribution) for keywords that trigger AIOs
compare your performance across keywords with AIOs vs non-AIO terms (Rankings, Estimated Visits) to determine where to focus your efforts
compare your AIO performance with competitors to identify opportunities and gaps (Estimated Visits, Click Share, or Market Share)
Going one step further, you can create separate dynamic keyword groups for:
Keywords where your website is cited as an AIO source.
Keywords where your website isn't cited in AIOs.
Apply the ‘SERP Features > Site ranks/does not rank’ filter on the Ranking Keywords data table and save it as a dynamic group.
These groups are particularly useful for reporting but also for analyzing what works and what doesn’t and refining strategies accordingly.
Track Changes in AIO Results
The SERP Features Changes column is also helpful for AIO tracking in AWR, which helps you monitor changes in your AIO performance over time. This column highlights SERP Features your site has won or lost compared to a reference date.
Once again, you can filter this data and quickly pull:
Keywords where you've won AIOs within a specific time interval - giving you quick answers into whether your optimization efforts have been successful
Keywords where you've lost AIOs - allowing you to diagnose issues and work on restoring AIO visibility
Or both – a comprehensive list of AIOs won and lost.
Inspect AI Overviews on SERP Snapshots
SERP Snapshots are particularly valuable for analyzing dynamic features like AI Overviews, which are still evolving in terms of content and display formats.
Whether you've gained or lost an AI Overview citation for a query, understanding what changed can offer key insights. Reviewing the featured content can help you identify what is effective and what isn’t, helping you optimize your strategy for securing AIO citations.
In AWR, you can access SERP Snapshots in two ways:
From the Top Sites menu.
Directly from the Ranking Keywords data table.
That’s It
So, as Google's AI Overviews keep changing the search game, it's more important than ever to understand how they affect your organic visibility and tweak your strategy accordingly.
Here at AWR, we're working hard to keep our AI Overview tracking tools in sync with all the latest changes in the SERPs, so we can help you navigate any new challenges. We'd love to hear from you—if you have any requests or suggestions, please drop us a line!
Article by
Irina Diaconu
I’m a passionate content writer who loves researching and exploring new topics. With a keen eye for detail, I am dedicated to creating well-informed pieces that captivate and inform readers. Sharing knowledge and arousing curiosity is at the heart of my writing journey.
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