Google AI Overviews: what they are and what they mean for your business
Short answer: Google AI Overviews are summaries that Google writes with generative AI and shows at the top of search results, with links to the sources. They appear when Google judges an AI summary to be especially helpful, usually for questions that need information from several sources. They cannot be switched off, they have been in the UK since August 2024, and they mean fewer people click through to the ordinary results.
What are AI Overviews?
An AI Overview is a box at the top of Google's results page with a short AI-written summary and links to learn more. Google describes it as a snapshot of key information, shown when its systems judge that generative AI is especially useful, for example to quickly understand something that draws on several sources (Google Search Help).
The feature cannot be turned off. If you only want ordinary links, you can choose the Web filter after searching (Google Search Help).
To build the answer, Google runs several related searches in the background, a technique it calls query fan-out. That is why an overview can link to pages that do not rank at the top of the ordinary results (Google Search Central).
AI Overviews and AI Mode in the UK
- AI Overviews launched in the US in May 2024 and came to the UK on 15 August 2024, together with India, Japan, Indonesia, Mexico and Brazil (Google). By May 2025 they were available in more than 200 countries (Google).
- AI Mode, a more conversational search page where you can ask follow-up questions, became available on Google Search in the UK in July 2025 (Google UK).
With Google handling around 91 percent of UK searches (StatCounter), AI Overviews now shape a large share of how British customers find businesses.
When do they appear?
According to Pew Research Center, 18 percent of the searches US users made in March 2025 produced an AI summary. Searches phrased as questions got one 60 percent of the time, and searches of ten words or more 53 percent of the time. Searches of one or two words got one only 8 percent of the time (Pew Research Center).
The types of query are widening. According to Semrush, 91 percent of searches with an AI Overview were informational in January 2025, against 57 percent in October that year. The share of commercial searches, where people compare products and services, rose from 8 to 19 percent (Semrush).
What happens to clicks?
| Study | Result |
|---|---|
| Pew Research Center, 2025 | Users clicked an ordinary result on 8 percent of visits with an AI summary, against 15 percent without. They clicked a link inside the summary on 1 percent. |
| Ahrefs, 2026 | Click-through rate for position one was 58 percent lower for keywords with an AI Overview than expected without. |
| Seer Interactive, 2025 | Organic click-through rate on searches with an AI Overview fell 61 percent. Brands cited in the overview got 35 percent more organic clicks than brands that were not. |
| Authoritas via Press Gazette, 2025 | For UK news publishers, click-through fell 47.5 percent on desktop and 37.7 percent on mobile when an AI Overview appeared. Google called the study inaccurate. |
Google paints a different picture. According to Google's head of Search, Liz Reid, total organic clicks from Google have been relatively stable, and the clicks that do come are higher quality, meaning visitors who do not bounce straight back (Google). Google has not published the data behind that claim.
The takeaway for a business: for general "what is" and "how does" questions, fewer people will click. It becomes more important to be the source that gets cited, and to be visible on the searches where customers are ready to choose.
How to appear in AI Overviews
Google says there are no extra requirements and no special optimisation needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. The page must be indexed and eligible to be shown with a snippet, and the same SEO fundamentals apply (Google Search Central). In practice that means:
- Answer directly. Start important pages with a short, clear answer to the question.
- Write what nobody else can. Your own figures, examples and experience make you a source worth citing.
- Structure the content. Clear headings, lists and tables make it easy to lift out the right part.
- Cover the follow-up questions. Because Google runs several related searches, pages that answer the questions around the main one win.
- Make sure the page can be indexed and does not carry nosnippet or noindex by mistake. Read Google indexing: how to get your pages indexed.
- Build trust off your site. Reviews, mentions and a complete Business Profile make you a more credible source. See Google reviews for business.
The same principles apply to ChatGPT and other AI tools, which we cover in How to appear in ChatGPT.
Can you opt out?
Today you can stop a page from being used with nosnippet, data-nosnippet, max-snippet or noindex, just as for ordinary results, but that also limits how the page appears in normal search (Google Search Central). That is set to change in the UK. In June 2026 the Competition and Markets Authority imposed a conduct requirement on Google that gives publishers, in a world first, the ability to opt out of their content being used to power AI features in Google search (CMA). For most businesses, though, the goal is the opposite: to be cited, not hidden.
How to measure the effect
Traffic from AI Overviews and AI Mode is counted in Search Console's Performance report under the Web search type and is not shown separately (Google Search Central). A practical way to follow it:
- Compare impressions and clicks for your most important queries over time. If impressions rise while clicks fall, AI Overviews are a likely explanation.
- Search your most important questions and note whether an AI Overview appears and which sources it cites.
- Track whether enquiries fall, not just traffic. Fewer but better visits can bring the same number of customers.
Read more about AI search optimisation.
Frequently asked questions
What are Google AI Overviews?
AI Overviews are summaries that Google writes with generative AI and shows at the top of search results, with links to the sources. They appear when Google judges an AI summary to be especially helpful.
When did AI Overviews come to the UK?
On 15 August 2024. AI Mode, Google's more conversational AI search, became available in the UK in July 2025.
Can you turn off AI Overviews in Google?
No. Google describes them as a core part of Search that cannot be switched off. If you only want ordinary links, choose the Web filter after searching.
Do AI Overviews reduce traffic to my website?
Often, for general questions. Studies show that clicks on ordinary results roughly halve when an AI Overview appears. Sites cited in the overview, however, get more clicks than those that are not.
How do I get my website into an AI Overview?
No special steps are needed. The page must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet. Answer clearly and directly, use your own facts and examples, structure the content and cover the follow-up questions.
Sources
- Find information in faster and easier ways with AI Overviews, Google Search Help
- New ways to connect to the web with AI Overviews, Google
- AI Mode now available on Google Search in the UK, Google UK
- AI Overviews expansion, May 2025, Google
- AI features and your website, Google Search Central
- AI in Search is driving more queries and higher quality clicks, Google
- Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears, Pew Research Center
- AI Overviews reduce clicks, Ahrefs
- AIO impact on Google CTR, Seer Interactive
- AI Overviews study, Semrush
- Google AI Overviews cut publisher clickthroughs, Press Gazette
