Google’s AI Overview: Everything You Need to Know in 2025

AI search is a hot topic, and it’s also confusing. There’s a lot of tools out there, even from the same brand. OpenAI has both ChatGPT and SearchGPT now. Google has it’s Gemini and Google AI Overviews. It makes understanding how search is changing, and how you can better prepare your brand for it.

Search with generative AI, for example, is more conversational than ever. Users can have a conversation with an AI system to refine their query and explain just what type of result they want.

It also means that there are fewer clicks and more zero click searches.

This change has led many business owners wondering just where they fit into the future of search. How can they get new customers, new traffic, new sales, when zero click searches are becoming increasingly popular.

This guide covers what you need to know about Google AI Overviews, and what you need to know about how to use it, how to optimise for it, and how to make it work for your business:

Explaining the Search Generative Experience

Currently, there are two types of generative AI search. There’s search with generative AI, which occurs on tools like SearchGPT or even Gemini, and then there’s AIO search. Google’s AI Overview responds only to search queries and often only when a general question is asked (the types unlikely to lead to a sale, subscription, or signup). This means searches further along the buyer’s journey remain relatively untouched.

For now, AIO search is here, and it’s important to optimise your brand for it. Whether AIO search stays (it does show up above sponsored listings, which could start impacting Google’s revenue) or not, you will want to focus on search intent optimisation and use these tips:

How to Rank in AI Overviews

Currently, in the Google SERP featuresGoogle SERP Features are a simple way to get the most out of your search results page., you have the AI overview on the left and a collection of sources or citationsA citation is a mention of your company, product, or service in an online publication. Citations increase the ranking of your site on search engines to the right. This essentially means there’s now a second search engine inside Google that you want to rank for. Here are just a few of the ways you can prepare your domain for the search generative experience:

1.    Optimise Your Website

Whenever a new big search giant comes into play or a big change in Google’s algorithm is published, it’s critical that you invest in SEO audit services. These audits work to remove out-of-practice content and replace them with what works best. Today, that will often mean enriching content with media and putting a greater focus on search intent optimisation.

SEO auditing services also work to ensure your sites as user friendly as it can be, and as accessible, so that people who do click on your linksHyperlinks, also known as links, are the connection points on a webpage that take you to other webpages. can have a seamless experience.

Of course, with all the big tech giants in the throes of the AI race, it’s normal for things to change and change fast. If you want to stay on top of the latest recommendations and ensure your content and brand are doing as well as possible, you’ll want to look into a fully managed SEO service rather than simply hire an SEO specialist on an off-again-on-again basis.

2.    Optimise Your Content

Quality content is, no shocker, still king. You need your content today to be made with search intent optimisation. It needs to be well-written, well-researched and backed up. The content itself, however, isn’t the only factor that matters.

Google’s EEAT update is key here. Not only can working to increase your brand’s reputation help you improve content rankings on regular searches, but it can also help you feature in Google AI Overviews, since the service favours reliable sources when generating its results.

You need to make sure that you use technical SEO and that audit to clean up any potential issues on your site and off. Anything that can damage your reputation is going to hurt your efforts, so clean up the house before you invest in a new SEO content writing service.

3.    Consider Search Intent

In an AI Overviews Ads announcement Google showcased how a query like “how do I get grass stains out of my jeans?” could lead to an ad for stain removers. Since that stain remover listing is an ad, it’s important that you make sure the product descriptions you post-match the search intent precisely.

Search intent needs to be exact, not just to increase your chances of being cited by AIO but also to increase conversionA conversion is a desirable result on a website that leads to an action such as completing an order, filling out a form, or simply clicking on a link. rates even if you pay for ad space in the Google SERP features.

4.    Use AI to Help Inform Your Keyword Strategy

Search with generative AI more conversational, but that doesn’t mean a human is having a conversation with another human. It’s still a machine behind the scenes. This means that you can use AI yourself to improve your keyword research so all your content, from your landing page to your blog posts) matches user intent.

Keyword value is also going to change, particularly if and when voice search starts to become more popular. Knowing which keywords and words to use, matching the language of your customers, and meeting, if not exceeding, search intent is all going to matter.

5.    Make Sure Your Site is Mobile Ready

Most searches happen on mobile, including AI searches. New phones also have multiple AI tools that work to streamline users’ everyday lives, meaning anything that doesn’t work seamlessly on the phone is figuratively tossed aside.

You need to invest in mobile optimization as a priority. Don’t think that responsive design is enough anymore, either. You need your site to be mobile-first.

You can either start from scratch, or invest in an on-page SEO optimisation service. Either way, your site needs to be ready for mobile from a technical, content, and visual standpoint. If it isn’t, none of your other efforts are going to be worth a penny.

6.    You Need Better Backlinks

AI was, and to an extent, still is, plagued by hallucinations. What are AI hallucinations? It’s when AI auto fills sentences to create an answer that sounds right, even if it’s vastly incorrect. These problems have largely been fixed, and it’s how that matters.

To avoid incorrect or even inappropriate responses these systems have been tied with a retrieval system that essentially searches the query, then summarises it. This means that high-ranking content and content that has a lot of backlinks from reputable publications are still going to matter. In fact, it’s going to matter more than ever.