Google AI Overviews explained
AI Overviews are Google’s AI-generated summaries shown above traditional results when Google’s systems judge them helpful. They evolved from an experiment previously called the Search Generative Experience (SGE).
Google says pages need no special optimization to appear: they must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet in Search. AI Overviews may use “query fan-out” — multiple related searches — to find supporting pages. Clicks are included in Search Console’s Web performance data.
Independent research suggests fewer clicks on traditional results when an AI summary appears, while Google says the clicks that do happen tend to be higher quality.
Google AI Overviews: an example
Searching "how to remove a rust stain from steel" might show an AI Overview summarising methods, with links to a cleaning guide and a hardware brand's how-to page.
Why it matters for search and AI visibility
AI Overviews answer many questions on the results page; being a supporting link is a new form of visibility in Google.
Last reviewed by the Prisol team.