How to optimize for AI Overviews: 7 best practices to follow

According to Google, you should be able to qualify for inclusion in AI Overviews just by following its Search Essential guidance. However, some specific tactics could help your website get featured. 

We analyzed opinions around the web, added our observations from the SE Ranking Blog, and compiled a list of key strategies to help you get the most out of AI Overviews and be visible in AI search.

What AI Overviews are in Google search

AI Overviews (AIO) are an AI search feature that appears at the top of the Google SERP in the form of AI-generated answers. Google’s large language models analyze information from relevant sources to generate responses directly on the search engine results page. 

Google also includes a list of resources for generating answers. Users can check them through website links. 

However, these AI answers in combination with other SERP features increase the chances of zero-click searches because users can find answers without going to specific websites.

How to rank in Google’s AI Overviews: Generative engine optimization principles

The strategies below can help you get featured in AIOs as a source from which to generate traffic to your website. This means linked mentions directly in the AI snippets. But even branded non-linked mentions are beneficial. You might not get traffic directly from them, but your brand will become more visible and trustworthy.

Run experiments and track AI search content preferences

AI Overviews are still a relatively new SERP feature, with evolving selection criteria and behavior patterns. Like any new search element, achieving success around it means continuously monitoring and experimenting to understand what works and what doesn’t.

Here are the following tactics that work right now:

For example, we got interesting results from our experiments with AI-generated content: two AI-assisted articles on the SE Ranking blog were featured as sources in AI Overviews. While we agree that fully automated content creation isn’t recommended, this experiment suggests that certain AI-written patterns can increase your chances of being referenced in AIOs.

SE Ranking’s AI Results Tracker stores cached versions of SERPs containing AI Overviews to help identify patterns. By analyzing these snapshots, you can track which content elements and structures commonly appear in AIOs, guiding your content optimization strategy.

Perform SEO regularly

We highly recommend doing SEO on a regular basis to rank in the top 10. Our latest AI Overviews research shows that AI-generated answers link to at least one domain ranking in the organic top 10 in 92.36% of cases. 63.19% of the time, AIOs pull information from pages that rank in the organic top 10.

Our blog performance data shows similar trends. For 70% of keywords where our blog pages rank in AI Overviews, they also rank in the top 10 organic search. 40% of them rank in the top 5.

Anastasia Kotsubynska

SEO Team Lead at SE Ranking

We started to analyze AI Overviews to understand how our traffic is changing with the growing number of AIOs in SERPs. We also wanted to examine whether our content gets clicks when it appears in AIOs for our targeted keywords. Right now, it looks like our pages don’t get many clicks, even if our content ranks in the top positions in AIOs, but we are experimenting because we still want to be visible and capture this limited but valuable traffic. I recommend that you start incorporating this kind of analysis into your SEO routine. Evaluate your rankings in regular organic results, combine them with your positions in AIO snippets, and merge this with the traffic data from Google.

Create comprehensive content based on keyword research and clustering

Google’s goal with AI Overviews is to give users complete, detailed answers. Make sure your content provides deep context and relevance. This increases its chances of being selected as a source in AIOs. Here’s how:

Create content clusters 

Create interconnected groups of content around main topics. For example, if you’re targeting “canonical tags guide,” create articles about common canonical tag issues, canonicals vs 301 redirects, and canonical vs hreflang. 

This is what we did on the SE Ranking blog. This approach positions your website as a well-rounded resource which the AI system may favor. It’s also recommended to cover related subtopics from within the same article, but be careful. You don’t want to dilute the search intent behind the user’s query. 

Tools like Keyword Research make it easy to collect relevant keywords. According to our data, longer search queries with 4+ words trigger AIOs in 60.85% of cases. These queries are generally informational and require content creators to write specific answers. AIOs can then transform these answers into concise overviews. To get featured in AIOs, include top-of-the-funnel keywords in your strategy.

After that, use Keyword Grouper to cluster your keywords into suitable topic groups.

Here’s how to use both:

Present different points of view 

AI Overviews favor well-rounded content that presents various perspectives. Present the subject from multiple angles. Discuss widely accepted viewpoints and add depth with unique or individual opinions.

Include supporting data 

Make your content more credible by backing up claims with recent statistics, research findings, and expert quotes. 

Structure your content properly and make it scannable

Content structured well is easier for users and AI systems to process and understand. Here is what to do when optimizing texts:

Also, structure your content to deliver primary answers up front. Place direct answers to the article’s primary question in the first few paragraphs of your content. This approach helps AI systems immediately identify essential information and then embed it into AI-generated responses in search. 

We also noticed that definition sections rank well in AI Overviews. On our blog, we use an <h2> with the question “What is” and provide a clear answer in 2-3 short paragraphs. Here’s an example:

This AIO references the information from this section of our article. It also links directly to our blog. As of January 2025, the average AIO position on this post is three.

Include summary (or takeaway) sections to provide quick overviews of the main points. These summaries can be placed directly onto Google search results as featured snippets or into an AI Overview with a link to your article.

Here’s an example of an AI Overview linking to an article on the SE Ranking blog about canonicals vs. redirects on the SE Ranking blog. It embeds a key information from our Key Takeaways section.

Keep your content fresh

Regularly updating older content shows topical relevance and signals freshness to Google. While AI Overviews still pull from many older pages, keeping your content up to date with a recent publish date can also positively impact your CTR.

In one of our previous AI Overview studies, we reviewed the most frequently cited content in AIOs. Out of the six articles we checked, two were from 2023, while three were from 2024. According to our blog data, 9 out of 40 articles featured in AIOs are from 2023 and 31 are from 2024.

Here’s what we recommend: 

Prioritize your EEAT and online reputation

AI Overviews often feature links from sources that Google considers authoritative. That’s why improving your EEAT and reputation is essential. Here are a few key areas to focus on: 

Don’t underestimate technical SEO

Proper technical search engine optimization helps Google’s AI systems effectively crawl, understand, and extract information from your content. Structured data plays a key role in ensuring AI can interpret your content accurately. Implement relevant schema markups, such as Article, FAQ, HowTo, and Reviews, to provide clear and structured information that AI systems can easily parse.

Other important elements include image compression, browser caching, HTTPS security, and mobile optimization. You can check for any related errors with Website Audit, which detects 115+ technical issues, provides fix tips, and lets you set up scheduled audits to identify and correct errors on time.

Optimize for Featured Snippets, People Also Ask, and other Google SERP features

AIOs tend to appear alongside other SERP features in organic search results. For example, our research shows that Featured Snippets accompany AIOs in 30.80% of user searches, and 66.03% of the time, the Featured Snippet link matches one of the AIO sources.

Our blog analysis also revealed that AIOs tend to accompany the People Also Ask box. This makes sense, as AI Overviews often favor direct answers to related questions, aligning with the PAA feature.

This suggests that if your content is featured in Google SERP features, it is likely to also appear in an AIO. And even if your link doesn’t appear in an AIO, your page can still benefit from being mentioned prominently on the SERP.

Here are some recommendations to follow:

Conclusion

While AI Overviews often distract users and traffic from traditional web listings, they can also help you improve your search engine visibility. 

Optimizing your content strategically increases your chances of securing a spot within AIOs at the top of the SERP. A linked mention can drive traffic to your website and reinforce brand credibility, while an unlinked mention still increases brand awareness and authority. 

Either way, don’t overlook how useful it can be to appear in AI Overviews. The strategies we described above can help you succeed in both scenarios, so make sure to add them to your strategy.

Written by

Yevheniia Khromova

Yevheniia is a content marketer and copywriter at SE Ranking. She is a fan of SEO, digital marketing, and content creation. Yevheniia believes simplicity is key as it helps reduce the clutter in our heads and focus on what matters. This is the principle she uses in her writing. She also enjoys cooking, learning new spices and flavors, traveling, and playing board games.