What AI Overviews mean for SEO & website traffic

In the event you’re anxious about what AI Overviews imply for search engine marketing, let me remind you of the panic over featured snippets circa 2017. Keep in mind how that turned out? At first, bloggers and SEOs bristled over these quick-glance summaries on the prime of the Google SERPs, fearing they’d steal all our site visitors. Ultimately, nevertheless, we tailored and began optimizing content material to get talked about in them. I imagine the identical will likely be true of AI Overviews. I imply, it’s already occurring: The web is now crammed with the most recent recommendation on get cited in AI Overviews (together with this text).

I wrote this information for search engine marketing and advertising and marketing leaders in search of sensible frameworks to beat declining clicks and optimize content material for Google AI Overviews. Discover out what triggers an AI Overview, how AIOs will change search engine marketing playbooks, and the place AI Overview optimization suits inside an current search engine marketing program. I’ll embody numerous analysis and examples, too.

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A 2018 Reddit put up about how featured snippets might “kill the common web”

A 2023 Fb put up from a blogger praising featured snippets and sharing seize them

Desk of Contents

What are AI overviews?

Importantly, the hyperlinks that present up as sources in an AI Overview don’t at all times overlap with the highest 10 outcomes on the SERP. Which means your webpage can rank primary in Google and nonetheless get ignored for an AI Overview. In truth, a Semrush study of 200,000 AI Overviews discovered that the primary search outcome appeared within the AIO solely 34% of the time on cellular and 46% of the time on desktop.

As a result of AI overviews search to immediately and instantly reply the question, searchers typically don’t must scroll or click on additional to get their reply. Their question is instantly happy. As you may think about, this may have a devastating impact on click-through charges (CTR) and web site site visitors.

What AI Overviews Imply for search engine marketing

AI Overviews correlate with decrease click-through charges and better zero-click searches, that means you may anticipate to see much less natural site visitors from Google. On queries the place AI Overviews seem, common outbound natural clicks dropped 38% and zero-click searches rose from 54% to 72%, in response to a working paper printed in April 2026 by researchers from the Indian Faculty of Enterprise and Carnegie Mellon College.

And AI Overviews are more and more the norm: As of February 2026, they triggered on practically half (48%) of tracked queries, in response to BrightEdge. And when damaged down by business, that charge may very well be even greater: AI Overviews triggered on 84% of 1,000 B2B queries analyzed by AEO company Fan Out.

From our personal information, HubSpot buyer natural site visitors was down 27% year-over-year globally as of February 2026 (although I don’t understand how a lot of that, if any, was attributable to Google AI Overviews). However what I’m saying is that this: In the event you’re seeing constant declines in site visitors, you’re positively not alone.

So, what do AI Overviews imply for search engine marketing?

• Success metrics need to shift. With the rise of zero-click searches, clicks are a poor measure of success. Now, it’s about influencing patrons even after they by no means click on by way of to your website. As an alternative of obsessing over keyword optimization, positions, and site visitors, give attention to model visibility rating, mentions, and citations.
• Traditional SEO nonetheless issues. AI Overviews are closely influenced by the search engine marketing fundamentals you already know: technical SEO, high quality content material, and topical authority. In spite of everything, Google has explained that “AI Overviews use a personalized Gemini mannequin, which works in tandem with our current Search techniques.” Rating effectively in Google’s SERP will enable you win AI Overviews (although it’s not assured).
• Including AEO is important. Answer engine optimization (AEO) is separate from however complementary to search engine marketing. Some AEO techniques don’t have any search engine marketing equal. For instance, search engine marketing has traditionally optimized for rating on particular key phrases, whereas AEO emphasizes topical breadth throughout the conversational, fan-out queries that reply engines generate behind the scenes. And whereas search engine marketing is primarily targeted on driving site visitors to your website, AEO leans closely on off-site presence — constructing entity alerts by way of genuine mentions on platforms like Reddit, YouTube, and business publications — so your model surfaces in AI solutions even when nobody clicks by way of.

What Triggers an AI Overview

Not each question will set off an AI Overview in Google Search. Right here’s what we all know triggers an AI Overview, primarily based on large-scale research from Ahrefs and Semrush.

1. Informational Intent Key phrases

Nearly all of AI Overviews come from informational intent key phrases (from top-of-funnel customers who simply wish to study), however over the previous yr, AIOs have been transferring down the funnel, in response to the most recent Semrush information. Semrush’s analysis of 10M+ keywords discovered that the share of informational queries triggering AI Overviews dropped from 91.3% in January 2025 to 57.1% by October 2025. Over the course of 13 months:

• Industrial queries grew from 8.15% to 18.57%. These point out mid- to bottom-of-funnel customers evaluating a possible buy.
• Transactional queries grew from 1.98% to 13.94%. These point out bottom-of-funnel customers trying to make a purchase order instantly.
• Navigational queries skyrocketed from 0.84% to 10.33%. These are usually from customers who’re Googling a reputation to succeed in an internet site.

Informational pages are nonetheless the probably AIO targets, however the hole is closing quick. Don’t assume your comparability, pricing, or branded pages are secure from AIO disruption as a result of, more and more, they aren’t.

2. Questions, Particularly These Beginning With “What,” “How,” and “Is”

Ahrefs discovered that 57.9% of all query queries triggered an AIO. Additional, Semrush discovered that among the many query key phrases that triggered AI Overviews in its pattern, these beginning with “what,” “how,” and “is” appeared most often.

3. Queries about Science and Folks & Society

Science and Folks & Society are persistently among the many industries probably to set off an AI Overview, per each Ahrefs and Semrush. Ahrefs discovered that 43.6% of Science queries and 43.0% of Well being queries triggered an AIO — greater than double the 21% baseline throughout all key phrases. Semrush’s evaluation of November 2025 information positioned Science, Computer systems & Electronics, and Folks & Society amongst its top-cited industries.

4. Lengthy Queries (7+ phrases)

The longer a question, the extra seemingly it’s that an AI Overview will seem. Forty-six p.c of queries which are seven or extra phrases set off an AI Overview, in response to Ahrefs information. The analysis additionally discovered that the possibilities of an AIO showing enhance incrementally as question size will increase, beginning at 9.5% for one phrase and maxing out at 46.4% at 7+ phrases.

5. Non-Branded Queries

Ahrefs discovered that non-branded queries are 1.9x extra prone to set off an AIO than branded queries (24.9% versus 13.1%). Right here’s an instance: After I enter the non-branded question of “calorie monitoring app,” I get this AIO:

However after I enter the branded question of “MacroFactor,” I don’t get an AIO in any respect. As an alternative, I get MacroFactor’s web site.

This is sensible when you concentrate on intent (which we talked about earlier): Somebody typing in “MacroFactor” most likely has navigational intent — they’re making an attempt to get to that particular model’s web site. However somebody typing in “calorie monitoring app” seemingly has informational or possibly even industrial intent — they’re making an attempt to get extra details about an app and/or they’re contemplating shopping for.

General, if an AI Overview seems for a question, customers are far much less prone to click on any hyperlinks. Which means the aim now’s to get cited within the AI Overview to win the visibility and site visitors you may. The subsequent part will present you just do that.

Methods to Get Cited in Google AI Overviews

Google insists that, past these listed above, there are not any additional technical necessities to be eligible for an AI Overview. Nevertheless, what the search large does not explicitly share is optimize for AI Overviews (i.e., enhance your possibilities of getting chosen for an AIO).

For that, we’ll want to show to business experiments and best practices for AI search content. A lot of the proof beneath is predicated on precise evaluation of hundreds of AI quotation information factors reported in HubSpot’s State of AEO 2026. I’ll additionally cite extra of the analysis from the report I discussed earlier from AEO company Fan Out.

1. Give attention to publishing weblog content material.

Throughout eight content material varieties, weblog posts/informative articles are the most-cited for AI Overviews, with a 42% quotation charge, in response to HubSpot’s State of AEO 2026. The least cited content material varieties in AI Overviews are information (non-evergreen articles) at 5% and PR at 6%.

This is sensible primarily based on the opposite content material varieties analyzed within the report and what we already find out about what triggers AI Overviews: 57.1% of queries that set off AIOs are informational, and in comparison with different content material varieties — like comparisons, which lean towards industrial intent and are favored by ChatGPT — weblog posts are extremely informational. So, for those who’re particularly making an attempt to win AIOs, weblog posts ought to be your focus.

2. Optimize your titles.

Throughout eight title patterns, “What’s [X]” is the highest performer for AI Overviews, whereas “Finest [X]” lists and How-tos work effectively too. Together with the yr in H1s and meta titles additionally correlates with greater quotation charges in AIOs.

Ultimate title for AI Overview: “What’s the finest web site builder for rookies in 2026?”

Not excellent title for AI Overview: “The whole information to web site builders for rookies”

3. Add FAQ sections to your pages.

Pages with FAQ sections usually tend to be cited in AI Overviews, in response to the State of AEO 2026. Including schema markup (a sort of structured information you add as code snippets) to these FAQ sections correlates with greater citations in Google AI Mode, Gemini, and Perplexity. Now, having mentioned that, let me be clear: AI Overviews don’t require schema markup.

Under is what a great FAQ part appears to be like like, courtesy of HubSpot’s Content Hub pricing guide. Discover the descriptive H2 heading (“Steadily Requested Questions About Content material Hub Pricing”) and the questions formatted as H3s — the State of AEO report discovered that this mixture might present a quotation increase.

4. Construct EEAT alerts in every web page.

AI Overview is among the many most conscious of EEAT signals in comparison with any of the opposite reply engines the State of AEO report analyzed. It is sensible, provided that the EEAT framework got here from Google.

Particularly, the State of AEO discovered the next web page components are tied to a rise in AI citations (so including these to your content material would possibly enable you get cited in additional AIOs):

• Outbound hyperlinks (very true for AIOs and Gemini)
• Statistics and information (very true for AIOs and ChatGPT)
• Writer bio on web page (barely greater quotation affect than the creator identify alone)
• A visual “Final up to date” date (a stronger quotation predictor than the unique publish date)

Let’s dissect a superb instance of constructing EEAT alerts right into a web page from NerdWallet, an organization that State of AEO’s evaluation recognized as one of the crucial cited B2C manufacturers in its dataset. NerdWallet wins the AIO for the extremely aggressive question “ monitor bills,” exhibiting up not as soon as, however twice.

Now, let’s click on by way of to the weblog put up and see how NerdWallet nails EEAT alerts on-page. First, there’s an creator byline which, upon hover, triggers a pop-up with the creator bio (the creator bio can be out there on the backside of the article). Inside that bio, there’s a wealth of credibility alerts: the creator’s years of expertise, areas of experience, and even the publications she’s been printed in. On prime of that, the web page clearly shows when the put up was final up to date.

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5. Apply conventional search engine marketing rules too.

And final however actually not least is our previous pal, search engine marketing. No, it hasn’t gone wherever. In truth, a robust search engine marketing basis is important to constructing a profitable AEO program — and SEO expert predictions level to that very same overlap between conventional rating and AI visibility.

I spoke with Elie Berreby, head of search engine marketing and AI search at Adorama, which was named “High Overachiever” in client electronics AI model visibility by Similarweb in 2026. This implies Adorama “ranks considerably greater in AI visibility than in branded search demand,” in response to Similarweb’s report. Berreby reiterated the interdependence of conventional search and AI Overviews. “If you’re not optimizing for Googlebot, clearly, you’re ignoring your entire Google ecosystem, and also you’re going to endure in Gemini, in AI Mode, and within the AI Overviews.”

In response to the State of AEO report:

• From the dataset, HubSpot discovered that pages that rank excessive in Google usually tend to be cited in an AI Overview than different reply engines.
• Pages that rank for extra Google search phrases and rank extremely in SERPs usually tend to be cited by reply engines on the whole.
• With a really perfect key phrase vary of fifty+, AIO was tied with Perplexity for the very best most popular variety of key phrases of any of the AI reply engines within the dataset (together with Gemini, AI Mode, Copilot, ChatGPT, and SearchGPT).

Takeaway: In order for you a web page to win an AI Overview, cowl extra subtopics and reply extra subquestions in that one piece than you’ll have earlier than.

Professional tip: To put in writing a complete piece that’s AIO-worthy, AEO strategist Kaleigh Moore recommends proudly owning the subject by considering holistically concerning the questions your patrons would possibly ask. “How will we take into consideration topical possession for our particular buyer making an attempt to resolve this very particular drawback?” Moore says. “What are the forms of questions they’re asking at this stage of the customer’s journey? And the way will we create content material that proactively solutions these questions?”

6. Create content material for and get talked about on Reddit and YouTube.

For off-site technique, YouTube is the primary place entrepreneurs desirous about showing in additional AI Overviews ought to make investments. Sixty-one p.c of YouTube citations in Fan Out’s evaluation got here from AIOs. And provided that Google owns YouTube, I’m in no way stunned that AIO prefers this platform most. To place that favoritism in perspective, of the 1,000 queries in Fan Out’s dataset, ChatGPT Plus cited no YouTube hyperlinks in any respect.

Right here’s a few of what Fan Out’s report reveals and recommends for optimizing YouTube for AEO:

• Comparisons and tutorials dominate, so create content material in these classes. Particularly, Fan Out names problem-solution, comparability, and best-of as the highest three YouTube video varieties.
• 13.7% of the YouTube citations had timestamps, so Fan Out recommends including chapter markers and timestamps to your movies.
• Optimize your video descriptions to assist LLMs perceive what your video is about.

In my very own expertise, AIOs virtually at all times cite a YouTube video for “” queries, whether or not that’s “ bake banana bread:”

Or “ use a crm for gross sales.”

Due to this fact, I like to recommend that in order for you extra AIO citations, create YouTube content material concentrating on “” queries, and even associate with YouTube influencers to create content material on behalf of your model.

Reddit is the second-best place to optimize for AIOs. In Fan Out’s evaluation of over 33,000 AI citations throughout Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and ChatGPT Plus, Reddit surfaced because the #1-cited off-site platform total. Nevertheless, Reddit was by far most favored by AIO, which made up a 51% share of the Reddit citations (substantial, however nonetheless lower than YouTube).

Fan Out information reveals this about Reddit:

• Posts are way more prone to be cited by AI engines than feedback.
• The highest three content material varieties are best-of, alternative-seeking, and review-opinion.
• Engagement on a Reddit put up doesn’t matter practically as a lot as content material construction and topical relevance.

Right here’s the ability of Reddit on AIOs in actual life: I Googled “finest crms for small enterprise” and HubSpot was really useful first, because of a Reddit put up that HubSpot didn’t even create or touch upon.

Measuring and Diagnosing AI Overview Impression

Queries that led to AI Overviews are included in the overall performance report in Google Search Console, however they’re aggregated with the remainder of your search engine marketing key phrases, so you can not filter to see solely the metrics associated to AIOs. To try this, you’ll have to make use of a third-party software. Listed below are two that I like to recommend.

Ahrefs Brand Radar

Finest for: answering the query, “What queries are triggering AI Overviews for this particular web page or area?”

Enter any URL and Ahrefs Model Radar reveals you the queries the place it was cited in an AI Overview, together with an estimated common month-to-month search quantity for the question, the content material of the AI Overview, and a listing of the cited domains included in that AIO.

In the event you’re already utilizing Ahrefs for search engine marketing analysis and monitoring, then it is sensible to make use of its Model Radar too for the AEO piece.

Pricing: Model Radar is included in paid Ahrefs subscriptions, which begin at $129/mo, however there are limitations on the variety of prompts you may monitor. Alternatively, Model Radar is on the market as a standalone tool beginning at $199/mo for one AI platform (comparable to AI Overviews/AI Mode) however doesn’t embody customized immediate monitoring. To get customized immediate monitoring, you should purchase an add-on bundle.

Otterly

Finest for: answering the query, “Is that this area getting cited in AI Overviews for the tracked prompts I care about?”

Otterly tracks prompts throughout six reply engines, together with Google AI Overviews, surfacing each quotation information and model sentiment. I’ve examined Otterly fairly a couple of instances for different articles, together with one on the best AEO rank trackers, and I actually recognize its ease of use and the truth that it’s a devoted AEO software (versus doing each AEO and search engine marketing). For manufacturers targeted on AI visibility, Otterly will likely be extra easy and reasonably priced than Ahrefs Model Radar.

Pricing: Otterly pricing begins at $29/mo for 15 tracked prompts throughout ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot.

Steadily Requested Questions About AI Overviews and search engine marketing

No, you can not decide out of getting your web site seem in AI Overviews particularly, however there’s a workaround: Inserting the “nosnippet” robots meta tag prevents pages from being included in snippets not just for AI Overviews/AI Mode but additionally for Google’s conventional search (e.g., it wouldn’t present up for a featured snippet).

• Web page-specific. Paste this code between and of the HTML on each particular person web page that you just don’t need showing in AI Overviews.

  Code:

• Sitewide: In case your website makes use of a template, you may paste this code within the template header for those who don’t need any of the pages that use that template to seem in AI Overviews:

  Code:

Professional tip: Don’t combine up “nosnippet” with “noindex.” Including the “noindex” robots meta tag would stop the affected pages from exhibiting up in all of Google Search (not simply AI Overviews), so it’s excessive, ill-advised, and would harm the affected pages’ search engine marketing.

Now, on the flip aspect, as a searcher, you may’t actually decide out of seeing AI Overviews if you carry out a search in Google. Right here’s what Google says in its help center: “AI Overviews are a core Google Search characteristic, like data panels. Options can’t be turned off.” Nevertheless, there are a few workarounds:

1. Add “-ai” on the finish of your question. This often prevents AI Overviews from showing in your Google search outcomes, nevertheless it’s not assured.
2. Click on the “Internet” tab filter on the prime of the Google outcomes web page. This may present you solely the online outcomes, minus the AI Overviews.

How do you monitor clicks from AI Overviews particularly?

Proper now, it isn’t attainable to reliably isolate clicks from AI Overviews in Google Search Console. One of the best you are able to do in the intervening time is monitor AIO visibility, and to try this, you’ll want a third-party software. Ahrefs Model Radar helps AI Overview protection and will help you discover queries the place AI Overviews point out your model, cite your web site, or each. From there, you may evaluate these visibility alerts with GSC and analytics information to estimate the affect AIOs are having in your natural site visitors.

Do you have to create pages particularly for AI Overviews?

No. Google says there are no additional requirements or particular optimizations wanted to seem in AI Overviews, and each Google and Bing representatives have cautioned towards creating separate Markdown, JSON, or bot-facing variations of pages only for LLMs. As an alternative, give attention to enhancing your current content material utilizing the practices coated above: clear definition-style solutions, FAQ sections, EEAT alerts, and a visual “Final up to date” date. Which means optimizing for each conventional search engine marketing and AI search visibility concurrently, with out creating separate “AI-only” pages.

How do you temporary executives on AI Overview affect?

When briefing executives on the affect of AI Overviews in your web site and enterprise, reframe the problem as a possibility to win mindshare and shift the success metrics from clicks to visibility.

“Our website is dropping site visitors” is a nasty search for any advertising and marketing org. However finally, management cares concerning the backside line: Is that this incomes the enterprise cash or not? Clicks was once a proxy for that, however they’re not anymore. It doesn’t matter in case your website is dropping clicks if the enterprise is definitely gaining clients.

Studies present that LLM site visitors converts at the next charge than conventional Google-referred site visitors. Ahrefs discovered that its AI search site visitors converts 23x higher than site visitors from conventional natural search. Semrush concluded that LLM guests transformed 4.4x higher than conventional natural search guests, after analyzing over 500 digital advertising and marketing and search engine marketing subjects.

Counsel a shift from site visitors to share of voice; that’s the metric that reveals how your model stacks up towards opponents in AI visibility. As a result of positive, your website is perhaps dropping site visitors, however there’s a great probability that throughout the board in your class, opponents are dropping site visitors too. What issues, then, is that when a possible buyer asks about your class, whether or not they seek the advice of Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, or Perplexity — your model is the one they see. Talk to management that by profitable extra AI Overviews (even when your model isn’t linked or your website isn’t clicked), you’re truly profitable mindshare.

Past AI Overviews: Monitoring Your Visibility Throughout All Reply Engines

HubSpot AEO is a specialised software that tracks citations in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini and offers suggestions to extend your visibility in every. Pricing begins at $50/month with no different HubSpot subscription required.

For groups operating advertising and marketing in HubSpot already, AEO is included in Advertising Hub Professional and Enterprise. The built-in model makes use of your CRM information to recommend which prompts to trace from day one, so monitoring is grounded in your precise enterprise context reasonably than generic class guesses. And since the suggestions hook up with HubSpot’s content material instruments, you may take motion on AEO insights inside the identical software.

The takeaway: AI Overviews matter, however they’re just one slice of the larger AEO alternative. When you broaden the lens to each main reply engine, you may cease guessing the place your visibility is leaking and begin closing these gaps systematically.