How To Rank In AI Overviews?
TL;DR: To rank in AI Overviews, focus on unique, helpful content that satisfies search intent, backed by strong SEO fundamentals, structured data and trusted citations.
What Are AI Overviews
Great question! And a good jumping-off point for this conversation.
Let’s get it straight from the source. In Google’s blog, they’ve stated “AI Overviews use generative AI to help you quickly find what you’re looking for – providing an AI-generated snapshot about a topic or question, along with key information and links to dig deeper. AI Overviews are particularly helpful for more complex questions that might have previously taken multiple searches.”
Essentially, what this boils down to is that AI Overviews are AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of Google Search result pages. They pull from content across the web to generate quick summaries.
How Are AI Overviews Changing Search
AI Overviews are resulting in search queries being answered directly in the search engine result page (SERP). Meaning,
It’s also important to note that at the time of writing, AI Overviews predominantly show information searches e.g. how long do I cook penne pasta for. A study in May 2025 estimates that 88% of Google AI Overviews are triggered by informational queries.
While informational searches have to the point been the bread and butter for AI Overviews, they are rapidly increasing in broader prevalence. Annecdotally, at nimbl we are seeing AI Overviews pop up for more lead generation queries:
To that point, June 2025 data showed that AI Overviews now appear in over 50% of Google searches. So while informational searches are where AI Overviews have started, there’s no telling where they could end up going!
How To Optimise For AI Overviews
How to optimise for AI Overviews – the million dollar question!
SEO Fundamentals
The truth of the matter is, there is no silver bullet that will miraculously help your business populate in AI Overviews.
Perhaps an even less-sexy answer, but well-executed SEO fundamentals remain your best bet on staying visible on the SERP.
Doubling down on core best practice principles that apply to traditional search results, also apply to AI Overviews e.g. satisfying user intent, on-page optimisations, EEAT friendly & unique content etc.
Citation Building
The more visible you can make your business across a wide range of websites, the better. Look into digital PR, user generated content, and brand mentions from trusted sources. These all need to be executed in a natural, non-spammy manner.
Tech & Schema
Work towards prioritising crawl/indexing checks and applying structured markup (FAQ, HowTo, Product) across key content. Make the core information on your page visible to Google’s crawlers.
Prompt Testing
If you’re looking to improve your visibility through AI Overviews, we would recommend running a regular AI prompt test to see what is and isn’t working in your chosen industry.
What This Means For Your Business
What’s staying the same?
- Quality content still drives visibility.
- Strong pages will earn both organic rankings and AI citations.
- Conversion-focused product/service pages matter more than ever.
What’s evolving?
- Traffic for informational blog content will likely decrease.
- Further importance of brand trust and a clean site structure.
- A greater level of focus on mentions across wider digital channels.
- Informational content remains valuable, but strategy will shift toward structure and clarity, as well as an eye towards citation potential.
Are AI Overviews Bad For Search?
In short: no, AI Overviews are definitely not bad for organic search. Anything Google can do to improve the user experience of those searching is a good thing!
However, if you are used to your website doing x volume of traffic through organic search, you may need to alter your expectations on what this will look like going forward.
There is a bit of a phenomenon being discussed amongst SEO’s at the moment. It’s the almost universal experience we are seeing through Google Search Console where impressions (SERP visibility) improves greatly, but clicks are dropping off at a relatively rapid rate. It’s informally been named the great decoupling. Here is an example of what it looks like in practice:
So while AI Overviews aren’t bad for organic search, they do require us to rethink both how we approach SEO, and rethink some traditional KPI measuring sticks.
What Does Google Say About Ranking Well In AI Overviews?
Google’s company line on the matter is more or less in line with what SEO’s have concluded through observation, being that fundamentals of good SEO remain paramount.
They have published their own blog on this topic and the advice is quite straightforward: prioritise people-first content that is unique, helpful and satisfies a search intent.
Here is a summary of the recommendations found in Google’s piece:
- Create original, valuable content that serves a clear purpose and goes beyond what’s already out there.
- Optimise page experience by ensuring fast, mobile-friendly pages with clear layout and minimal clutter.
- Meet technical SEO requirements so your pages are crawlable, indexable and accessible by Googlebot.
- Use structured data responsibly, ensuring it accurately reflects visible on-page content.
- Support content with rich media like high-quality images and videos for success in multimodal search.
- Adapt with user behaviour as search continues to evolve beyond traditional formats.
What Does The nimbl Team Say About Ranking In AI Overviews?
I've been in the industry since 2011, and this is definitely one of the larger, if not the largest changes I've seen in the industry because this is not just impacting organic clicks, it's also altering search behaviour at scale. Personally, the way i now search in Google has changed dramatically compared to 6-12 months ago.
From what I've seen, there's really no magic bullet for being cited in AIO - if you're already performing strongly in SEO it's likely to be translating across to AIO performance as well. So in that regard, businesses should still focus on making sure they're doing the SEO fundamentals well first and foremost.
Where brands might be able to get the edge is structuring their content more clearly and getting to the point quicker (answer now, elaborate later), ensuring optimal crawling and indexing across their website architecture, utilising the full extent of the schema library to mark-up their pages to give better understanding to LLMs, and to focus on building their brand presence across the web on high authority publications, discussion forums etc.
AI Overviews mark the biggest shift in the customer journey since mobile, with a growing share of search traffic bypassing traditional listings entirely. The sites getting cited most often are already top-ranking domains or trusted platforms like Reddit and Quora - which means your website still needs to rank well organically to even be considered. Fundamental SEO remains undeniable: crawlability, speed, internal linking, and content depth all feed into visibility. To compete in this new landscape, a well-structured site and strong E-E-A-T aren’t optional. They’re the baseline for being surfaced and trusted by AI.
AI Overviews has changed the way we think about search intent and what makes SEO content valuable, both for visibility in search and for engaging potential customers. The role of content has shifted, and businesses now need to focus on satisfying intent clearly, quickly and directly.
Before signing off on this post, it’s important to note that this is clearly a rapidly evolving space, so the information we provide is subject to change.
If you have any questions on the latest going on’s and best practices in how they relate to AI & SEO, feel free to email me directly at [email protected]
If your business is exploring how to best utilise AI Overviews, consider reaching out to nimbl. As a boutique digital marketing agency, nimbl specialises in SEO and the role AI plays in its current shape. Contact us today to learn how we can help your business grow.
