AI Overviews: what it is and how it works – an overview of AI at Google

Below, we explain how AI Overviews work, when they appear and how they affect traffic. We describe how to become a source for such an overview separately in the guide Citations in AI Overviews.

What is AI Overviews?

This is an answer to a question, written by AI and placed right at the top of Google’s search results. Instead of browsing through several pages, the user immediately sees a few paragraphs or a list containing the most important information. Next to or below the text, Google displays cards with links to the pages from which the model sourced the information. It is these links that are most important for businesses, as they are the only ones that drive traffic further.

AI Overviews are not a separate product that needs to be enabled. Google displays them automatically for some queries, without the user having to click anything. This sets them apart from AI mode on Google, in which the user deliberately initiates a conversation with the search engine.

How is an AI-generated summary created on Google?

In three steps. First, Google searches for webpages that match the query, just as it does with standard results. Then, the Gemini model reads selected excerpts and uses them to compose a response. Finally, it selects links to webpages that support each statement. For more complex queries, Google breaks the query down into several smaller ones and searches each one separately, so the sources may come from outside the top ten results.

In an Ahrefs study from July 2025, 76% of the pages cited in AI Overviews appeared in the top ten organic results. In a follow-up study in March 2026, following the switch to the Gemini 3 model, this proportion fell to around 38%. Ranking on Google helps, but it is becoming less and less decisive. We discuss more about how SEO translates into AI responses in the article Visibility in AI and SEO.

For which types of queries does Google display a summary?

Most commonly for information-seeking queries such as: „how”, „what is it”, „why”, „how does it differ”. Less frequently with queries about a specific brand, shop or website, as in such cases the user wants to go to a single site. Google displays a summary when it considers that it will add value to the standard results, so the same query may sometimes show one and sometimes not.

• Questions about technical knowledge and advice: „How do I choose a heat pump?”, „What is GEO?”.
• Comparisons: „SEO or Google Ads”, „leasing or a business loan”.
• Questions about choosing a provider in the category: „Which invoicing software is best for a small business?”. This summary often mentions specific brands.
• Less common: navigation queries, queries containing the company name, and queries about the latest events.

How do AI Overviews affect website traffic?

They reduce the number of clicks on standard results. In a Pew Research Centre study from July 2025, users clicked on a link in 8% visits with an AI summary and in 15% visits without one. Links within the summary itself were clicked in 1% of visits. A website may therefore hold the same position as it did a year ago whilst receiving fewer visits.

That’s why, as well as clicks, it’s worth measuring two things: whether your website is quoted and whether the brand is as good as its name suggests, that is to say reference. These are two different things, and the latter is more important when it comes to choosing a supplier.

Is it possible to turn off AI Overviews?

It is not possible to disable them permanently in the settings. You can, however, skip them: the „Network” tab below the search box shows only the links, without the summary. A website owner can also restrict what Google displays from their content using the nosnippet or max-snippet tags, but then the page also loses its standard snippet in the results. For most businesses, this is a bad idea, as it cedes space in the summary to competitors.

How can you check whether AI Overviews mention your company?

Type a few questions into Google that your customer might ask – without mentioning your company’s name – and see if a summary appears, who it mentions and who it links to. Do this in incognito mode, as the results depend on your search history. In Google Search Console, impressions and clicks from AI Overviews are included in the standard performance report, without a separate breakdown.

AI Overviews is just one place where a customer might hear about your brand. They ask the same question on ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity, and each of them uses different sources. We explain how to check them all manually on our website How to find out what AI is saying about your business. We explain in our articles how working on them differs from SEO What is GEO? and What is AEO?.

How does Aelo help with search engines and AI chatbots?

Module Visibility in AI asks frozen set of questions Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity, and shows whether your brand appears and whether the models cite your website. Gemini uses the same Google index as AI Overviews, so the result provides a good indication of whether your content is a source for Google. Gaps in the measurement give rise to tasks in Tickets, and you’ll prepare the content in Studio. You can take your first measurement on the Free account, without a card, and compare the plans in pricing.

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FAQ

Sources

• Google, We're bringing the helpfulness of AI Overviews to more countries in Europe (marzec 2025): https://blog.google/feed/were-bringing-the-helpfulness-of-ai-overviews-to-more-countries-in-europe/
• Google Search Central, AI features and your website: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features
• Ahrefs, 76%: An Overview of AI Citations from the Top 10 (July 2025): https://ahrefs.com/blog/search-rankings-ai-citations/
• Pew Research Centre: Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results (July 2025): https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears/