AI Overviews
AI Overviews are the AI-written summaries Google shows above its usual results for some searches, with links to the pages they're based on.
AI Overviews are the short AI-written answers Google shows at the top of some search results. Above the usual list of links, there's a summary of the answer, with links to the pages it drew on.
They matter because they sit where the first result used to be. Someone who gets what they need from the overview may never scroll down, so being named or linked in it can count for more than ranking just below it.
When they appear
Google only shows an AI Overview when it thinks one will help. For plenty of searches, there's none at all, just the usual results. That makes AI Overviews different from an AI assistant, which answers everything you ask it.
To be linked in one, Google says your page needs to be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet. There's no extra file or markup to add. Its guide to AI features explains the details, including how to limit what's shown from your pages.
An example
Say you search for how long coffee beans stay fresh. Google shows an AI Overview with a few sentences on storage and three links, one to Fernhill Coffee's guide. Search "Fernhill Coffee opening hours" and you probably get no overview, just the business listing and the usual results.
AI Overviews in AnswerOrbit
Google AI Overviews is one of the six platforms we ask every day, as part of Google Search. When Google shows plain results and no overview, the answer reads No AI answer, and the AI answer rate tells you how often each prompt gets an overview at all. See Answers.
You can connect Search Console in Settings, but Google doesn't share its AI Overviews report with other tools yet. How we count has more.