Ask the Expert – Optimizing for AI Overviews

Google AI Overviews are AI-generated summaries that appear on top of your search results. They aim to provide a concise overview of a topic informed by sources from across the web.

All the same principles of traditional SEO apply to optimizing for Google’s AI Overviews. Your content should be:
• Most importantly high quality and relevant
• Well-structured and technically sound, mobile friendly, etc.

Additionally, it’s important to: 
• Understand the types of queries that generate AI Overviews: Although it’s difficult to predict which queries will generate an AI Overview, our experience shows they tend to show more often for top-of-funnel and informational. We see them show for how to queries and other topics that can be answered within a few paragraphs. You can use competitive research to discover the queries your competitors rank for. Additionally, tools like Conductor and SEMrush are beginning to be able to track and report on this new search feature.
• Answer the query clearly and concisely: Just like you would optimize for an Answer Box, answer the query concisely in the first few sentences, and use simple, easy-to-understand language. That’s what will get pulled into the overview.
• Ensure you comprehensively address the topic: Don’t just focus on the keyword you want to optimize for, provide comprehensive coverage of the topic. Ensure your content is accurate, well cited and high quality. Aim to create the best resource you can on the topic.