What they are
An AI Overview is the box at the top of some Google results with a short answer written by Google’s AI. Underneath or beside it is a handful of links: the pages the answer drew on. Google shows them for searches where it thinks a summary helps — questions, comparisons, “how do I…” searches — and not for every search.
Where the answers come from
The answer is put together from pages Google already has in its index, and those pages are usually ones that rank well for the search. That’s the most important thing to understand: AI Overviews don’t replace search rankings, they’re built on top of them. A page that Google can’t find, or doesn’t trust, won’t be quoted.
Google has said there’s nothing special to do to appear in AI Overviews beyond what already helps a page do well in search. In practice, that means:
- Google can read the page. It isn’t blocked in robots.txt, isn’t marked “noindex”, and doesn’t hide its main text behind scripts or logins.
- The page answers the question plainly. A clear heading that matches what people ask, followed by a direct answer in the first sentences.
- It’s about something you know. Specific, first-hand detail — your prices, your area, your process — is more useful to quote than generic text.
What they mean for your traffic
For information searches (“how often should a furnace be serviced”), some people read the answer and never click — so those searches can bring fewer visitors than they used to. For searches with a clear need (“furnace repair kamloops”), people still want a business, and the results still lead with listings, a map and websites.
That’s why it’s worth knowing which of your searches show an AI Overview, and whether you’re one of the sources. Our AI search report measures exactly that.
Don’t block yourself out by accident
Some security plugins and hosts block AI crawlers by default. Blocking Google’s own AI training token, Google-Extended, doesn’t remove you from AI Overviews — they come from the normal Googlebot — but blocking Googlebot itself takes you out of Google entirely. If you’re unsure what your robots.txt says, a health check lists which crawlers it lets in.
Where to start
Find the questions your customers ask, make sure each has a page that answers it clearly, and check that Google can read those pages. Then see where you stand: a free report shows which of your searches have AI answers and whether you’re quoted.