How To Rank On Google AI Overviews

Since the introduction of Google AI overviews, the digital world has been learning how this new feature affects organic rankings and traffic.

AI Overviews is Google’s generative AI search results. When a user carries out a search on Google, they are now presented with an AI generated summary that aims to give the answer to their query without them having to click through to a website.

Google will typically combine results from multiple sources, and provide up to 3 links to learn more. The presence of AI overviews can push down your ranking so appearing in those featured links is extremely valuable. However, if you already rank well in organic search results, you’re more likely to rank in AI overviews. In fact, 74% of the 3 websites in AI Overviews, rank in the Top 10 (Authoritas). So don’t worry, your previous efforts aren’t wasted.

Whilst this feature may have contributed to a reduction in traffic overall as it encourages zero-click searches, you’re likely to see improved conversion rate as users who do click through to your site have more of a purchase intent and aren’t just looking for a quick answer to a question.

We’ve put together our top recommendations for how to rank on Google AI Overviews.

Focus on creating high-quality content

High-quality content has always been important for SEO, but if you’re wanting to rank on AI overviews, it’s more essential than ever.

Google is essentially reviewing everyone’s content and picking the best, most relevant snippets to feature in AI Overviews. If your content already ranks well, you’re half way there. But if you’re not appearing in AI Overviews, it may be time for a refresh.

Ensure your website content is written well, relevant to your target audience and to the point. Opt for quality over quantity and ensure you’re answering the user’s query.

Add FAQs to your website

A question and answer format such as FAQs is an excellent way to create clear and concise content that is more likely to rank on Google AI overviews.

It makes analysing your content much more straightforward for Google as they can lift the content straight out of your website and utilise it on AI overviews.

If you already have FAQs on your website, it’s an excellent time to review them, check all the information is up to date and refresh the content if needed.

Having a generic FAQ section on your website is great. But, specific FAQs on your key product or service pages is even better. They provide targeted information that the user doesn’t have to go looking for and will be more tailored for search queries on Google.

Use structured data 

Implementing schema markup on your website will help Google understand your content and what to do with it. Structured data is a type of hidden code that can be added to your website in the form of schema to give context to your content and describe the information on that page or site.

This is beneficial when trying to rank on Google’s AI Overviews as it provides clear, organised information that’s easy for Google to understand.

Provide an excellent user-experience 

Page speed, mobile responsiveness and usability are all going to impact your ranking, and therefore your Google AI Overview ranking. Google will be much less likely to prioritise your site in organic search results or AI Overview if your website is clunky and difficult to navigate.

Follow Google’s EEAT 

Google uses a certain framework to assess the quality of content online and determine who to push it to.

• • Experience

• • Expertise

• • Authoritativeness

• • Trustworthiness

It’s important to demonstrate these things in order for Google and therefore the user to trust your content. Whilst this isn’t a direct ranking factor, it’s worth considering when writing and creating content and new pages on your website.

Add multimedia 

Images, infographics or statistics break up the text and add a visual element that’s more appealing to the user.

It may also be pulled into the AI overview if the page is featured, which is more eye-catching to the user and will help improve click-through rate so you’re still getting those website visits.

Ensure your content is accessible to Google

From a technical standpoint, Google must be able to crawl and index your website in order to show it in search results. This means certain settings need to be selected. Your site should have a valid SSL certificate to show Google it’s a secure, trusted site. Ensure that the Googlebot isn’t blocked, your web pages are working and they are set to index.