Google AI Overviews optimisation is work aimed at one outcome: when someone in the UK types a search that Google now answers with an AI-written summary, your page is one of the sources linked beside it. The same work covers AI Mode, Google’s conversational search tab, which draws on the same index and shows the same kind of supporting links.
It is the most Google-specific part of my AI search optimisation work. If your worry is ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini recommending competitors instead of you, generative engine optimisation fits better. If you would rather understand how AI answers choose their sources before hiring anyone, my guide to AI search optimisation explains it in plain terms.
What AI Overviews and AI Mode change
An AI Overview sits above the ordinary results and answers the search in a few short paragraphs, with a handful of links to the pages it drew on. For many research and comparison searches, that summary is now the first thing a buyer reads. Some get what they need there and never scroll. Others click one of the cited sources, which are not always the pages ranked first underneath.
The shift usually shows up in two ways. Impressions in Search Console hold steady or rise while clicks fall, because your page is still shown but fewer people need to visit it. And a competitor ranked below you ends up named in the summary while you are not. The aim of this work is to be among the cited pages for the searches that lead to enquiries, and to stop pouring effort into searches the summary now settles on its own.
Google’s page on AI features and your website is unusually plain about the basics. There is no special markup and no separate submission: a page has to be indexed and eligible to appear with a snippet in normal search. Google also explains that these features may run several related searches in the background, which it calls query fan-out, and build the answer from what comes back. So a page can be cited for a sub-question it answers well, even when it does not rank for the headline search.
Who this suits, and who it does not
It suits UK businesses whose important searches now open with an AI Overview, which is most common where people research before they buy:
- accountants, solicitors and financial advisers, whose prospects ask how something works or what it costs before choosing who to ring;
- private clinics and health services, where people search treatments, recovery times and aftercare;
- software and B2B suppliers, whose buyers search comparisons, alternatives and how-to questions;
- online shops in categories where people look for buying advice before they look for a product.
It is the wrong place to start if Google is not indexing your important pages, or if the site has little beyond service headlines. Then technical SEO or a content plan comes first, because a summary can only cite pages Google is already prepared to show. It is also of limited use to a plumber whose customers search for an emergency plumber nearby. Those searches usually lead with map results, and local SEO is the work that moves them.
What the work covers
Finding the searches that matter
I list the searches your buyers use at each stage, from early questions through to comparisons, and check each one from a UK location. For every search I record whether an AI Overview appears, which sources it cites and how it frames the topic. Summaries change from week to week and do not appear for every query, so I date each check and repeat it rather than treating one screenshot as the truth.
Eligibility and access
A page cannot be cited if Google cannot crawl it, has not indexed it, or has been told not to quote it. I check robots rules, noindex tags, canonicals, how the page renders, and any nosnippet or max-snippet settings left behind by a developer or plugin. I also clear up a common mix-up: blocking Google-Extended governs whether Google may use your content for its Gemini models, and Google states it has no effect on inclusion in Search. It is not the switch for AI Overviews.
Covering the questions behind the question
Because a summary is assembled from several related searches, the pages it cites tend to be the ones that also answer the follow-ups: cost, timescale, eligibility, risks, alternatives, and whether the rules differ in Scotland. I map those sub-questions for each priority topic and decide which existing page should answer each one, so you extend pages you already have instead of publishing thin new ones. Where a genuinely new page is needed, it is planned through content SEO so it has one clear job.
Passages that are easy to cite
A section that gives its answer in the first sentence or two, then the detail and the conditions, is easier for Google to lift and easier for a reader to trust. I rework the key passages on priority pages that way, add the specifics a summary needs (UK figures with a named, dated source, the regulation that applies, the exceptions) and cut introductions that bury the answer. Shaping answers for featured snippets and voice results is a separate job, covered under answer engine optimisation.
Who stands behind the page
On topics that affect people’s money, health or legal position, Google’s guidance asks for clearer evidence of who wrote the content and why they can be trusted. That means named authors with relevant experience, an about page that says who runs the business, a publication or review date, and business details that match across the web. I check those signals and, where it helps, add structured data that matches what the page visibly says. Schema does not win a citation on its own, but it removes doubt about who you are.
Measuring what changed
Search Console counts AI Overview and AI Mode appearances inside its ordinary web search figures, with no separate filter. So I track a fixed set of priority searches over time, recording citations alongside rankings, clicks and click-through rate, and read the two together. Enquiries and sales from organic search remain the measure that counts.
How I run it
- Scoping call. We agree which services or products matter most and the searches that lead to them.
- Baseline. I record which of those searches show an AI Overview or an AI Mode answer, who is cited, and where you rank in the ordinary results.
- Diagnosis. For each priority search I note why you are or are not cited: access problems, missing sub-answers, a weak page, or a stronger competing source.
- Plan. A ranked list of changes per page, each with the reason for it. You decide what to keep in-house and what to hand to me.
- Changes. I rewrite or brief the priority pages, work through technical blockers with your developer and add structured data where it is missing.
- Recheck. Once Google has recrawled the changed pages, I repeat the baseline and report what moved and what did not.
What I can and cannot promise
Nobody can promise a citation. Google picks sources search by search, the selection shifts often, and two people typing the same phrase can see different summaries. What I can do is remove the reasons your pages are being passed over, put clearer and better-supported pages in front of Google, and show you plainly what changed.
Being cited does not always bring more visits either. On some searches the summary answers the question so completely that even the cited sources get few clicks. I will tell you when a search is worth pursuing and when your effort is better spent on searches where people still need to compare options and get in touch.
Problems I see most often on UK sites
- Service pages that describe the business but never answer what buyers search for, such as cost, timescale or who qualifies.
- Advice articles with no named author and no date, on subjects where readers want to know who wrote them and when.
- Prices, thresholds or rules left untouched for years, so the page now contradicts the sources Google relies on.
- A plugin or theme setting that adds nosnippet or noindex to whole sections without anyone noticing.
- Copy written for the American market, with dollar prices and US rules, competing for UK searches where the summary cites UK sources.
- Several thin pages on one topic splitting attention, where a single thorough page would serve readers better.
What you receive
- A baseline sheet of your priority searches: whether each shows an AI Overview, which sources are cited, and the date checked.
- An eligibility check covering crawling, indexing and snippet controls, with fixes in priority order.
- A sub-question map for each priority topic, naming the page that should answer each question.
- Rewritten passages, or detailed briefs if your own team writes the copy.
- Structured data recommendations, or the implementation itself if you prefer.
- A recheck report comparing citations, rankings and clicks before and after the changes.
Next step
Send me your website address and the three or four searches that matter most to your business. I will look at whether they show an AI Overview, who is being cited and what is most likely holding your pages back, then tell you honestly whether this work is worth doing now or whether something else should come first. The quickest way is to book a call with me.