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What Are Google AI Overviews and How Do They Work?
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What are AI Overviews?
Google AI Overviews are an organic Google SERP feature providing AI-generated summaries in response to a consumer’s search query. They appear at the very top of the results page in “position zero,” and can sometimes be followed by a carousel of AI Overview Ads when the query has a commercial intent.
Initially called "Search Generative Experience" (SGE), these were introduced as a beta feature during Google’s I/O 2023 conference. By May 2024, they became a live feature in US organic search results under their current name, "AI Overviews." This innovation integrates AI-generated answers directly into Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs), creating new opportunities for users and raising questions for brands. A global rollout is currently underway as of late 2024.
Main components of an AI Overview
- Google generative overview: A short response created by Google’s AI. This summary is often hidden until users click to expand it.
- Key points: A list of main ideas, each linked to a website. The AI adds these links after generating the text.
- Expanded AI answer: A full, detailed answer users can view by clicking “Show More”.
- Linked overview: A list of linked websites related to the answer. Users can click “show all” to see more sources, usually taken from the top 12 organic search results.
How do they work?
AI Overviews may seem similar to familiar SERP elements like featured snippets, as both deliver direct answers to users' queries within the SERP and rely on content from ranking websites. However, the technology behind AI Overviews sets them apart.
Where featured snippets extract and display the exact text from a webpage that’s cited as the source, AI Overviews use generative AI to create in-depth summaries intended to fully satisfy the consumer’s question.
The text of an AI Overview is generated using Google’s knowledge of a subject based on its Gemini large language model (LLM). The answers often span multiple paragraphs and may require consumers to click to expand the full content.
Because the information within an LLM is restricted to its training timeframe and can’t trace knowledge back to a specific, linkable source, Google pairs their AI-generated summaries with a list of linked website sources that best match the content of the generative response. The websites cited in AI Overviews are pulled from a different data source: Google’s organic search index, the catalog of websites they’ve found, crawled, rendered, and indexed to inform traditional search rankings (the “ten blue links.”)
Why are they important?
Google’s AI Overviews appear at the very top of the SERP, above every other feature — including Google Ads and the organic rankings. When they appear, they’re the first thing a consumer sees after they search, and they take up much of the visual space above the fold. This requires consumers to scroll farther and farther to find organic results. Additionally, because they do such a good job of answering the consumer’s need directly in the SERP on Google, there may not be a reason for a consumer to click on a website link. They could get all the information they want in the AI Overview, impacting brand metrics like traffic and CTR.
AI Overviews currently appear for 59% of searches with informational intent and for 19% of searches with commercial intent. As Google’s AI capabilities improve over time, we can assume they’ll only become more prevalent and even better at answering consumer’s needs directly on Google itself.
Google still owns 90% of the search engine market share, so it’s critical to understand the impact AI Overviews may have on your brand. Your customers will be engaging with these SERP features, and you’ll need to both measure the impact for your brand and adjust your SEO strategy to maintain your progress.
How can my brand appear in AI Overviews?
To appear as a linked website in an AI Overview, your content doesn’t have to be the source Google’s LLM trained on. Instead, your content must best match the answer Google generates with the AI Overview to satisfy the consumer’s search intent.
Your website and top content must also be found in the Google search index, because if Google doesn’t know it exists, it cannot share it as a link.
Finally, because most AI Overviews cite websites that are already ranking in the top 35 organic positions, your SEO foundations must be strong and your content should already be ranking highly in traditional organic rankings, ideally positions 1 through 12.
To explore more actionable tips, download our full report and analysis:
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