How to Rank in Google’s AI Overviews (SEO For AI Search)

AI overviews in Google have fundamentally changed how users discover and consume information via search. Rather than forcing searchers to scroll and click through links to find answers, AI overviews pull snippets of information across the web to provide answers directly in the SERPs.

This significant boost in user experience has made it harder for websites to get organic clicks and forced businesses to rethink their SEO strategies. 

With roughly 30 years of SEO under my belt, I’ve been through major changes in the past and always learned to adapt. And while this is the fastest pace I’ve seen search behavior shift, you can still succeed by adjusting your strategy to rank in AI overviews. 

Traditional SEO is still important, but there are definitely some nuances to specific tactics that need to be applied as you’re aiming to appear in AI overviews.

Why Ranking in AI Overviews is So Important

Ranking on page one of Google used to be enough to get traffic. Those days are over. 

Featured snippets, also known as “position zero” in the SEO world, used to be the most coveted position until AI overviews (AIO) overtook the top spot.

If your content isn’t referenced in AI overviews then it’s just getting buried in the search results. While you might still be on page one, there’s really no reason for people to scroll that far if their query is answered instantly. 

Even if the user decides to scroll beyond the AI overviews, they still have to scroll through ads, featured snippets, people also ask, and forum discussions before getting to position one. So if you’re ranking 5th for a search (which used to be amazing), you might as well be on page five because nobody is going to see it.

Look at this example so you can see what I mean:

The AI overview isn’t even fully expanded, and the first organic result requires multiple scrolls before it comes into view. 

Positions two and three for the same query are buried even deeper on the page:

It’s going to be hard enough to get clicks this deep on the page, even as a third position for an ultra-high-value keyword like “app builder.”

Imagine being fourth or fifth? Forget it. Nobody is discovering you here.

Your content needs to be featured in the AI overviews if you want your business to stay relevant. Even then, you still may not get clicks if the AI-generated responses do a good enough job of delivering the information. But if the user does need to visit a website to learn more or complete a desired action, the chances of you getting the click are drastically higher if you’re ranking in AIO (AI overviews).

How to Optimize Pages to Rank for AI Overviews

So how do you rank for AI overviews? You still need to apply traditional on-page SEO and technical SEO best practices. That’s the bare minimum just to put you in a position to have a chance.

From there, these are the optimization strategies that we’ve been applying for our clients to help them successfully rank in Google’s AI overviews. I’ve segmented them into three distinct categories, which, when combined, seem to be the winning formula.

Content Structure and Formatting

Organization is one of the most important aspects of SEO for AIO. It’s all about getting Google’s AI systems to scan your content to pull your best insights.

Think of it like this. If your content’s structure and formatting would confuse a human, it will most definitely confuse an AI algorithm trying to extract key pieces of info for an overview.

• Create a Clear Content Hierarchy: Use H1, H2, and H3 tags to mirror how users naturally think about topics.
• Use Structured Data Markups: FAQs, How-To Guides, and Article schemas help give AI systems explicit signals about the purpose and organization of your content.
• Write Scannable Content: Keep paragraphs short and use bullets so AI (and humans) can quickly identify key points.
• Prioritize the First 100 Words of Each Section: AI systems are going to pull content that’s early in logical content blocks. 

Similar to other SEO strategies, you can’t neglect human audiences here either. These formatting tips are great for both humans and AI parsing. 

Question-Based Content Creation

Google is currently using AI overviews to help users quickly find answers to questions. According to a study from Search Engine Journal, AI overviews appear in about 30% of all searches but 75% of problem-solving queries.

• Match Questions to Your Keyword Research: Look for high-value questions that align with the keywords you’re targeting, and you can even use Google’s own “people also ask” sections in the SERPs as a reference.
• Create FAQs Sections: Rather than randomly answering questions throughout a page or blog post, you can group them together in one place.
• Ask Questions as Subheaders: Then answer those questions in detail to align with the AIO question-answer format. 
• Anticipate Follow-Up Questions: Try to complete the entire user journey on a single page, which demonstrates a deeper understanding of a topic and increases the chances of your content appearing in multiple AI overviews.

If you experiment by searching with Google different questions, you’ll see that the AI overviews don’t just answer what’s been asked. They go much deeper on the subject, so you should frame your pages to match this.

Authority and Trust Signals

Authority and trust have been major components of Google’s ranking factor for over a decade now. E-A-T was first introduced back in 2014, with the new-and-improved E-E-A-T version rolled out in 2022. 

The AI overviews are no different here and will prioritize sites with well-established authority and trust over those without them. 

• Build Topical Authority Topic Clusters: Comprehensive clusters covering all aspects of your subject provide to AI systems that you have deep expertise and knowledge instead of just surface-level coverage.
• Demonstrate Real-World Experiences: Leverage your first-hand knowledge with case studies, examples, and practical implications to show you’ve implemented whatever you’re teaching.
• Support Your Claims: Use citations and references to other authoritative publications to show the AI parsers you’re building on established knowledge. 
• Keep Your Content Fresh: Update pages on a regular basis with new data, additional insights, and any topic/industry changes.

One of the most important authority signals for AI overviews is consistency. Google’s AI systems are pattern-recognition machines, and they’ll reward sites that show a pattern of high trust and expertise. 

Keeping your content fresh can’t be overstated enough, as outdated information will rarely appear in AI overviews. 

Advanced Tactics and Tools for AI Overview SEO

Content structure, question-based optimization, and authority are the foundation for AI overview success. But as competition intensifies for AI overviews, you’ll need to go beyond the basics and take your SEO practices to the next level.

These are some advanced strategies that we’ve been applying for our clients, and we’re happy with the results so far.

Vibe Coding

The term vibe coding comes from software development, relying on AI to generate and refine code based on language prompts. Rather than focusing on the code, it prioritizes the desired outcome (aka the “vibe” or intent).

This same concept can be applied to SEO for AI overviews.

Google’s systems are built to extract content that aligns with user intent and context. So instead of just providing them with robotic answers and generic info, your content needs to have a tone, sentiment, and perspective that resonates with real humans.

It’s a great way to make your content “link-bait worthy” without resorting to clickbait. 

For example, maybe you’re trying to reassure someone of their options if they’re panicking about a legal issue. Lawyers can use first-hand experiences to build trust and let people know that there’s no reason to panic. 

Let’s say someone searches “Can I still sue if I was exposed to asbestos 20 years ago?”

A generic answer that just cites the statute of limitations might get overlooked. But if your page explains the nuances, like how mesothelioma has a long latency period, how courts have made exceptions in these cases, and how you’ve helped real clients in similar situations, it aligns more closely with the emotional and informational needs of the user.

Automation and Workflow Optimization

Ranking in AI overviews takes a lot of work, especially if you’re going back and optimizing hundreds of existing pages. 

This is tough to do manually, and it’s really not necessary when you just leverage automation tools in workflows. I like n8n, but tools like Zapier and Make can also be used. 

These are really helpful for SEOs, especially when it comes to optimizing for AI searches.

You can use automation to monitor SERP changes across hundreds of different keywords, flag when AI overviews appear, and identify which pages are being cited. From there, you can automatically push relevant pages of yours into a content refresh pipeline.

Automation can also help you scale your structured data implementation. Instead of manually adding schema to every post, you can set up automations between Screaming Frog, Google Sheets, and n8n to flag markups and push updates to WordPress. 

Even generating FAQs from your customer service questions or podcast transcripts can also be semi-automated with AI tools, and then refined by human writers to ensure high quality. 

Other Insights to Keep in Mind

Beyond the strategic details above, I just want to quickly answer some common questions you might have. These come up fairly often when I’m chatting with clients about this topic.

AI Overviews vs. Featured Snippets

AI overviews typically appear ahead of featured snippets in search results in instances where both are displayed in the SERPs for the same search. 

Featured snippets are generally very concise, ranging from 40-60 words, while the average AI overview is 157 words long. 

It’s also worth noting that AI overviews are generated by Gemini AI, while featured snippets come from Google’s search algorithm. 

AI Overviews vs. AI Mode

Google’s AI overviews will appear in the standard SERPs for various searches. AI mode has to be activated, which changes the entire interface and creates a more interactive experience.

This feature is unique because not every standard Google search will display an AI overview. 

But in AI mode, you can search anything and essentially get the same style output as an AI overview. 

For example, here’s what happens if I search Google asking who invented Bitcoin, I just a featured snippet:

It’s a concise answer that gives me the basics.

Now if I enter the exact same query into Google AI mode, I’ll get a more detailed response.

Applying SEO strategies to rank in AI overviews will simultaneously help you rank in AI mode. It’s just a place where the content being displayed is curated by AI from multiple sites, which isn’t guaranteed on every standard Google search.

Do AI Overviews Result in Fewer Clicks?

AI overviews have caused a 34.5% reduction in clicks for the top-ranking page, according to an Ahrefs study that analyzed 300,000 keywords. 

This shouldn’t be surprising, as the answers provided in the overview are often sufficient enough that a click isn’t warranted.

So, what’s the point of all this?

Sites in the AI overviews are still getting clicks. And you have a higher chance of getting a click there compared to anywhere else on the page.

This is even more important for businesses that just need to maintain visibility in the search results and don’t necessarily rely on clicks for revenue. If you’re an affiliate marketer, then AI overviews might crush you. But if you’re a personal injury attorney, showing up in the AI overviews can still result in leads to your firm.

Are AI Overviews in Every Search?

No, AI overviews are only on 13% of Google searches, not every query. 

So you can’t abandon your existing SEO strategy altogether, as what you’ve been doing in the past is still really important.

But as AI continues to develop rapidly and Google competes with other AI-powered search engines, I’m expecting to see this number double by the end of this year. 

Does Ranking in AI Overviews Help You Rank in ChatGPT and Other AI Search Models?

Ranking in Google’s AI overviews doesn’t directly affect how you rank other platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity.

Similar to how your ranking for a particular keyword in Google will likely be different from its position on Bing, each of these AI tools has its own unique models and algorithms. 

That said, Google is still the king of search and I don’t anticipate them being dethroned anytime in the foreseeable future. So focus on Google first, and good things will happen. I think it’s safe to assume that the same strategies we’re applying for Google’s AI overviews will also help you rank elsewhere. 

Final Thoughts on AI Overviews

Businesses that will thrive in this new AI-first search environment need to embrace these changes ASAP. Harping about how things used to be or what you wish was different isn’t going to stop the runaway train of AI in search.

As someone who has been navigating SEP shifts for decades, I can tell you that every major algorithm update creates winners and losers. While AI search feels a little different because it’s a bit more groundbreaking, it’s still just another update that you need to figure out.

Optimizing your content for Google’s AI overviews needs to be a priority, and it’s the most logical place to start right now. 

When you combine authentic human insights with technical SEO and a deep understanding of search intent, you can really win in SERPs.