How to Optimise your Website for Google’s AI Overviews

According to Search Engine Journal, AI Overviews now appear in 42.5% of Google search results. With such a big change to the search landscape well on its way to becoming a dominant feature, how can you make sure your content still appears for relevant searches and – more importantly – continues to generate traffic to your site? Let’s take a look at some best practices to increase visibility and improve your changes of appearing in this enhanced new search results format.

What is Google’s AI Overview Feature?

First, a quick recap of what exactly AI Overviews are. Essentially, they’re AI-generated ‘answers’ that appear at the top of the search results page, designed to summarise key information front and centre. They’re produced by AI, which extracts, summarises and presents relevant information from ‘high quality’ content found on actual websites. The information is often presented as a ‘snippet’ which gives a quick answer to a question, with a citation link that shows which website the information was taken from. As an example, if I search for ‘what are the health benefits of running’ I get the following AI answer, with citation links to trusted online properties:

Why Optimising for AI Overview Matters

Simply put, AI Overviews are the way things are going and we expect to see them appearing in more searches as time goes on. They’re sure to evolve over time like all Google features, but as a website owner it’s something to be aware of and start optimising for. Being featured in an AI Overview increases your chances of getting clicks from Google, and also sets you up as an authority on a particular topic.

So how do I Optimise for AI Overviews?

1. Create High-Quality, Well-Structured Content

The foundation of optimisation for Google’s AI Overview feature lies in creating high-quality, informative content. This means that your content must be:

• Relevant: SEO basics come into play here. Focus on topics that are frequently searched and highly relevant to your target audience; you know your users best, but keyword gap analysis is also useful here to identify niches that people are searching for.
• Clear and Concise: Google’s AI extracts snippets from content that answers questions directly and succinctly. Avoid lengthy paragraphs and focus on providing clear answers in a concise manner.
• Well-Structured: Google’s AI prefers content that is organized and easy to scan. Use headers (H1, H2, H3) and bullet points to break up content into digestible sections.

For instance, if you’re writing a blog post or an article that provides a “how-to” guide, be sure to list the steps clearly and concisely as this type of content is often pulled for AI-generated snippets.

2. Use Structured Data (Schema Markup)

Schema markup is a form of code that you can add to your website to help Google understand the context of your content. It is especially useful for providing more detailed information to Google’s AI systems and making it easier for the AI to read. By incorporating it into your website, you can help Google identify key elements such as:

• Products and prices
• Reviews and ratings
• Articles or blog posts
• FAQs
• Events and dates

For example, if you run an e-commerce site, using schema to mark up product pages helps Google understand the product’s attributes, increasing the likelihood of your page being selected for an AI Overview snippet.

To implement schema, you can use tools like Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper or Schema.org to ensure your content is properly marked.

3. Answer Common Questions in Your Content

Similar to point one above, it’s all about providing the most useful content to the end user, so to increase your chances of being featured in an AI Overview, you should identify and answer common questions in your niche. Some tips to do this effectively include:

• Research Common Queries: Google’s “People also ask” section is useful for this, as is Google Trends. Your own customer service team if you have one is usually a goldmine for consumer feedback and finding out common questions.
• Use Direct, Answer-Based Formatting: After identifying key questions, create content that directly answers them. You can format answers as short paragraphs, bullet points, or numbered lists – whatever makes it easiest to digest.
• Optimise for Featured Snippets: Featured snippets often contain clear, direct answers. Include key information (such as step-by-step processes, definitions, or lists) at the top of your content so Google can easily extract it.

For example, if your site is about health, you could write a blog post titled “What are the top benefits of meditation?” and list those benefits in a bulleted list format.

4. Optimize for Natural Language and Conversational Search

As Google’s AI systems have become more advanced, they now better understand natural language and conversational search. This means users are increasingly asking questions in a conversational manner rather than using short keywords. We’re also seeing AI Overviews predominantly for this type of natural language query. To optimise for this:

• Write in a Conversational Tone: Just like you would in a normal conversation with one of your customers, avoid overcomplicating things and write in more of a natural tone. Hopefully this isn’t too detached from your brand’s tone of voice, and even if you have very formal brand guidelines you can still humanise your content to an extent.
• Focus on Long-Tail Keywords: Long-tail keywords are typically more conversational and closely resemble the types of queries users are typing into search engines. For example, instead of “running benefits,” focus on “What are the benefits of running for mental health?”

5. Focus on Mobile Optimisation

Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning it prioritises mobile versions of websites for ranking purposes. Since Google’s AI Overview feature is designed to be a user-friendly, efficient experience, it’s critical that your website is mobile-responsive.

• Responsive Design: Ensure your website automatically adjusts to different screen sizes, giving an optimal experience across all devices.
• Fast Loading Speeds: Google’s AI prioritises websites with fast load times, particularly on mobile. Compress images, leverage browser caching, and minimise HTTP requests to improve loading speeds.

7. Regularly Update and Refine Your Content

Google’s AI constantly evaluates the freshness and relevance of content. Regularly updating and refining your pages helps maintain their relevance in the ever-changing digital landscape.

• Revisit Popular Content: Look at your high-performing pages and update them with the latest information, statistics, or changes in trends.
• Improve Older Pages: Google favors fresh, up-to-date content, so regularly revise older posts with new insights, links, and more value-added content.

Conclusion

AI Overviews look like they’re here to stay, so optimising your website for them is crucial to future-proof your SEO. Luckily, the tactics you can use are things you should be doing anyway – writing useful content for users, using schema markup where appropriate, and making sure your site is fast to load and easy to digest for both humans and search engines. By focussing on natural language queries and a user-friendly format, you can increase your chances of appearing in AI Overviews and gaining that all-important citation link to your website.