Google’s AI Overviews Are Stealing the Spotlight

Veronika Höller
23. Apr.
3 Min. Lesezeit

Here’s How Your Content Can Keep Up

Google search is changing fast. AI-generated summaries – officially called AI Overviews (aka the Search Generative Experience, or SGE) – are taking over the top of search results.

These summaries give users fast, direct answers pulled from multiple trusted sites – before they’ve even clicked a link.

What does that mean for your SEO strategy? You’ll need to evolve. This guide shows you how.

What Are Google’s AI Overviews?

AI Overviews are short, real-time answers shown at the top of search results. Google creates them on the fly using information from reliable sources.

They’re not static snippets – they shift based on query intent. And because they often answer a user’s question immediately, they reduce clicks to the traditional “blue links” below.

Why Are Old SEO Practices Back in Style?

You may have heard that Google no longer needs things like heading tags or schema markup. That’s not true anymore – especially not for AI Overviews.

Heading Tags (H1–H3)

AI Overviews rely on clear structure to pull relevant content. Heading tags:

Help Google identify content sections that answer specific questions
Improve scanability for both humans and machines
Boost chances of your answers being selected for AI Overviews

Tip: Frame key user questions as H2 or H3 headings, followed by a concise answer.

Schema Markup

Schema markup tells Google explicitly what your content means.

Especially useful:

FAQ Schema
How-To Schema

It’s like giving Google a map instead of asking it to guess.

How to Optimise Your Content for AI Overviews

Want to be featured in those top-of-page summaries? Here’s how:

1. Provide Clear, Short Answers

Use a heading like:

H2: How long should a meta description be?Then follow with a 40–60 word answer:

Answer: “The optimal length for a meta description is about 150–155 characters, ensuring it fully displays in Google search results.”

2. Add Schema Markup (FAQ/How-To)

Use structured data with JSON-LD or Microdata to clearly signal Q&As to Google.

Validate your markup with Google’s Rich Results Test.

3. Use Logical, Skimmable Structure

Use consistent heading levels (don’t jump from H1 to H4)
Write short paragraphs (2–4 lines)
Break complex topics into bullet points or numbered lists

4. Improve Your EEAT Signals

Google uses Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness as key ranking factors – and AI Overviews favour trusted sources.

Ways to show EEAT:

Link to reputable studies or data
Add author bios with credentials
Display trust signals like testimonials, ratings, or certifications

Traditional SEO vs AI-Focused SEO

	Traditional SEO	AI Overview SEO
Goal	Rank on search results	Be selected for top-of-page AI summary
Content Style	Keyword-driven, long-form	Direct, skimmable, answer-oriented
Key Techniques	Technical SEO, backlinks, meta data	H-tags, schema, concise explanations
Trust Signals	Optional	Essential (EEAT required)

They work best together – classic SEO gets you indexed, modern SEO gets you featured.

What About ChatGPT and RAG-Based AI Models?

Here’s how these tools compare to Google’s AI Overviews:

RAG-Based Models (e.g. ChatGPT with browsing)

Use Retrieval-Augmented Generation
Pull content from the live web in real time
Prioritise well-structured, source-rich content
Can surface your content even if it’s not in Google’s top results