When Google shows one
Google's documentation says AI Overviews appear only when its systems decide a summary adds something beyond the normal results, so many searches don't trigger one. They lean toward complicated questions where the gist saves time. Like AI Mode, they may use query fan-out, running related searches across subtopics before writing the summary.
By March 2025, Google said AI Overviews were used by more than a billion people (blog.google, March 5, 2025).
How a page gets cited
To be shown as a supporting link, Google says a page must be indexed and eligible to appear with a snippet. There are no extra technical requirements and no special markup. The same fundamentals apply as for any search:
- Let Googlebot crawl the page, in robots.txt and at your CDN or host.
- Link to the page from other pages on your site.
- Put the important content in text, not only in images or video.
- Keep any structured data matching what the page visibly says.
- Answer the question plainly near the top of the section that covers it.
What they do to clicks
A summary on the results page can answer the question before anyone clicks. Google says clicks from results pages with AI Overviews are higher quality, meaning people spend more time on the site. Visits from AI Overviews are counted in Search Console with the rest of your Search traffic.