{"id":1987,"date":"2026-05-26T11:00:03","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T11:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/26\/what-ai-overviews-mean-for-seo-website-traffic\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T11:00:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T11:00:03","slug":"what-ai-overviews-mean-for-seo-website-traffic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/26\/what-ai-overviews-mean-for-seo-website-traffic\/","title":{"rendered":"What AI Overviews mean for SEO &amp; website traffic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re worried about what AI Overviews mean for SEO, let me remind you of the panic over featured snippets circa 2017. Remember how that turned out? At first, bloggers and SEOs bristled over these quick-glance summaries at the top of the Google SERPs, fearing they\u2019d steal all our traffic. Eventually, however, we adapted and started optimizing content to\u00a0get mentioned in them. I believe the same will be true of AI Overviews. I mean, it\u2019s already happening: The internet is now filled with the latest advice on how to get cited in AI Overviews (including this article).<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"cta_button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hubspot.com\/cs\/ci\/?pg=9dd5e54b-fbef-4dd0-bc44-1689feb1ea18&amp;pid=53&amp;ecid=&amp;hseid=&amp;hsic=\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I wrote this guide for SEO and marketing leaders seeking practical frameworks to overcome declining clicks and optimize content for Google AI Overviews. Find out what triggers an AI Overview, how AIOs will change SEO playbooks, and where AI Overview optimization fits inside an existing SEO program. I\u2019ll include lots of research and examples, too.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/webdev\/comments\/9ef0hr\/featured_snippets_in_google_show_the_necessary\/\"><em>Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>A 2018 Reddit post about how featured snippets could \u201ckill the regular internet\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><em>A 2023 Facebook post from a blogger praising featured snippets and sharing how to capture them<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Table of Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/what-ai-overviews-mean-for-seo#what-are-ai-overviews\">What are AI overviews?<\/a><br \/>\n <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/what-ai-overviews-mean-for-seo#what-triggers-an-ai-overview\">What Triggers an AI Overview<\/a><br \/>\n <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/what-ai-overviews-mean-for-seo#how-to-get-cited-in-google-ai-overviews\">How to Get Cited in Google AI Overviews<\/a><br \/>\n <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/what-ai-overviews-mean-for-seo#what-ai-overviews-mean-for-seo\">What AI Overviews Mean for SEO<\/a><br \/>\n <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/what-ai-overviews-mean-for-seo#measuring-and-diagnosing-ai-overview-impact\">Measuring and Diagnosing AI Overview Impact<\/a><br \/>\n <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/what-ai-overviews-mean-for-seo#frequently-asked-questions-about-ai-overviews-and-seo\">Frequently Asked Questions About AI Overviews and SEO<\/a><br \/>\n <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/what-ai-overviews-mean-for-seo#beyond-ai-overviews-tracking-your-visibility-across-all-answer-engines\">Beyond AI Overviews: Tracking Your Visibility Across All Answer Engines<\/a> <\/p>\n<p><a><\/a> <\/p>\n<h2>What are AI overviews?<\/h2>\n<p>AI Overviews are AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of the Google search results page, giving a direct answer to your query, synthesized from multiple websites. There may be a few images, links, and a \u201cshow more\u201d button you can click to get more details. You can also click the cited sources to read those webpages.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s an example of an AI Overview that the HubSpot Blog shows up in. Notice that HubSpot is featured <em>four<\/em> times above the fold: as two in-line citations within the AI Overview\u2019s summary, as a clickable snippet to the right of the summary, <em>and<\/em> as the first blue link in the traditional search results below. Winning the AIO and first position means a brand can multiply the surface area it occupies in Google\u2019s new SERP design.<\/p>\n\n<p>AI Mode, on the other hand, is the full AI chatbot experience of Google Search. You can access it by clicking the \u201cAI Mode\u201d tab at the top of Google. Unlike the one-shot nature of AI Overview, AI Mode allows you to continue the conversation in multiple turns, similar to ChatGPT or Claude. The rest of this article will focus specifically on AI Overviews.<\/p>\n\n<p>Importantly, the links that show up as sources in an AI Overview do not always overlap with the top 10 results on the SERP. That means your webpage can rank number one in Google and <em>still<\/em> get overlooked for an AI Overview. In fact, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.semrush.com\/blog\/ai-overviews-study\/\">Semrush study of 200,000 AI Overviews<\/a> found that the number one search result appeared in the AIO only 34% of the time on mobile and 46% of the time on desktop.<\/p>\n<p>Because AI overviews seek to instantly and directly answer the query, searchers often do not need to scroll or click further to get their answer. Their query is immediately satisfied. As you can imagine, this can have a devastating effect on click-through rates (CTR) and website traffic.<\/p>\n<p><a><\/a> <\/p>\n<h2><strong>What AI Overviews Mean for SEO<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>AI Overviews correlate with lower click-through rates and higher zero-click searches, meaning you can expect to see less organic traffic from Google. On queries where AI Overviews appear, average outbound organic clicks dropped 38% and zero-click searches rose from 54% to 72%, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/papers.ssrn.com\/sol3\/papers.cfm?abstract_id%3D6513059\">working paper<\/a> published in April 2026 by researchers from the Indian School of Business and Carnegie Mellon University.<\/p>\n<p>And AI Overviews are increasingly the norm: As of February 2026, they triggered on nearly half (48%) of tracked queries, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brightedge.com\/resources\/weekly-ai-search-insights\/ai-overviews-one-year-presence-size-citing\">BrightEdge<\/a>. And when broken down by industry, that rate could be even higher: AI Overviews triggered on 84% of 1,000 B2B queries analyzed by AEO agency <a href=\"https:\/\/withfanout.com\/offsite-aeo-report\">Fan Out<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>From our own data, HubSpot customer organic traffic was down 27% year-over-year globally as of February 2026 (though I don\u2019t know how much of that, if any, was due to Google AI Overviews). But what I\u2019m saying is this: If you\u2019re seeing consistent declines in traffic, you\u2019re definitely not alone.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So, what do AI Overviews mean for SEO?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Success metrics have to shift.<\/strong> With the rise of zero-click searches, clicks are a poor measure of success. Now, it\u2019s about <em>influencing<\/em> buyers even <em>when they never click through<\/em> to your site. Instead of obsessing over <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/seo-site-keyword-optimize-ht\">keyword optimization<\/a>, positions, and traffic, focus on brand visibility score, mentions, and citations. <\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/seo\">Traditional SEO<\/a><\/strong><strong> still matters.<\/strong> AI Overviews are heavily influenced by the SEO fundamentals you already know: <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/technical-seo-guide\">technical SEO<\/a>, quality content, and topical authority. After all, <a href=\"https:\/\/search.google\/pdf\/google-about-AI-overviews-AI-Mode.pdf\">Google has explained<\/a> that \u201cAI Overviews use a customized Gemini model, which works in tandem with our existing Search systems.\u201d Ranking well in Google\u2019s SERP will help you win AI Overviews (though it\u2019s not guaranteed). <\/p>\n<p><strong>Adding AEO is essential.<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/answer-engine-optimization\">Answer engine optimization<\/a> (AEO)\u00a0is separate from but complementary to SEO. Some AEO tactics have no SEO equivalent. For example, SEO has historically optimized for ranking on specific keywords, while AEO emphasizes topical breadth across the conversational, fan-out queries that answer engines generate behind the scenes. And while SEO is primarily focused on driving traffic to your site, AEO leans heavily on off-site presence \u2014 building entity signals through authentic mentions on platforms like Reddit, YouTube, and industry publications \u2014 so your brand surfaces in AI answers even when no one clicks through. <\/p>\n<p><a><\/a> <\/p>\n<h2>What Triggers an AI Overview<\/h2>\n<p>Not every query will trigger an AI Overview in Google Search. Here\u2019s what we know triggers an AI Overview, based on large-scale studies from <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-overview-triggers\/\">Ahrefs<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.semrush.com\/blog\/semrush-ai-overviews-study\/\">Semrush<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>1. Informational Intent Keywords<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p>The majority of AI Overviews come from informational intent keywords (from top-of-funnel users who just want to learn), but over the past year, AIOs have been moving down the funnel, according to the latest Semrush data. Semrush\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.semrush.com\/blog\/semrush-ai-overviews-study\/\">analysis of 10M+ keywords<\/a> found that the share of informational queries triggering AI Overviews dropped from 91.3% in January 2025 to 57.1% by October 2025. Over the course of 13 months:<\/p>\n<p> Commercial queries grew from 8.15% to 18.57%. These indicate mid- to bottom-of-funnel users evaluating a potential purchase.<br \/>\n Transactional queries grew from 1.98% to 13.94%. These indicate bottom-of-funnel users looking to make a purchase immediately.<br \/>\n Navigational queries skyrocketed from 0.84% to 10.33%. These are typically from users who are Googling a name to reach a website. <\/p>\n<p>Informational pages are still the most likely AIO targets, but the gap is closing fast. Don\u2019t assume your comparison, pricing, or branded pages are safe from AIO disruption because, increasingly, they aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>2. Questions, Especially Those Starting With \u201cWhat,\u201d \u201cHow,\u201d and \u201cIs\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p>Ahrefs found that 57.9% of all question queries triggered an AIO. Further, Semrush found that among the question keywords that triggered AI Overviews in its sample, those starting with \u201cwhat,\u201d \u201chow,\u201d and \u201cis\u201d appeared most frequently.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>3. Queries about Science and People &amp; Society<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p>Science and People &amp; Society are consistently among the industries most likely to trigger an AI Overview, per both Ahrefs and Semrush. Ahrefs found that 43.6% of Science queries and 43.0% of Health queries triggered an AIO \u2014 more than double the 21% baseline across all keywords. Semrush\u2019s analysis of November 2025 data placed Science, Computers &amp; Electronics, and People &amp; Society among its top-cited industries.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>4. Long Queries (7+ words)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p>The longer a query, the more likely it is that an AI Overview will appear. Forty-six percent of queries that are seven or more words trigger an AI Overview, according to Ahrefs data. The research also found that the chances of an AIO appearing increase incrementally as query length increases, starting at 9.5% for one word and maxing out at 46.4% at 7+ words.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>5. Non-Branded Queries<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Ahrefs found that non-branded queries are 1.9x more likely to trigger an AIO than branded queries (24.9% versus 13.1%). Here\u2019s an example: When I enter the non-branded query of \u201ccalorie tracking app,\u201d I get this AIO:<\/p>\n\n<p>But when I enter the branded query of \u201cMacroFactor,\u201d I don\u2019t get an AIO at all. Instead, I get MacroFactor\u2019s website.<\/p>\n\n<p>This makes sense when you think about intent (which we talked about earlier): Someone typing in \u201cMacroFactor\u201d probably has navigational intent \u2014 they\u2019re trying to get to that specific brand\u2019s website. But someone typing in \u201ccalorie tracking app\u201d likely has informational or maybe even commercial intent \u2014 they\u2019re trying to get more information about an app and\/or they\u2019re considering buying.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, if an AI Overview appears for a query, users are far less likely to click any links. That means the goal now is to get cited in the AI Overview to win the visibility and traffic you can. The next section will show you how to do just that.<\/p>\n<p><a><\/a> <\/p>\n<h2>How to Get Cited in Google AI Overviews<\/h2>\n<p>Let\u2019s start with the bare minimum, without which you won\u2019t be able to show up in AI Overviews or Google Search at all:<\/p>\n<p> Your site can\u2019t be blocking GoogleBot, Google\u2019s crawler.<br \/>\n Your content shouldn\u2019t be in violation of any of Google\u2019s policies.<br \/>\n The page should load (return an HTTP 200 success code as opposed to, for example, a 404 error). <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/appearance\/ai-features\">Google insists<\/a> that, beyond those listed above, there are no further technical requirements to be eligible for an AI Overview. However, what the search giant does <em>not<\/em> explicitly share is <em>how to optimize<\/em> for AI Overviews (i.e., increase your chances of getting chosen for an AIO).<\/p>\n<p>For that, we\u2019ll need to turn to industry experiments and <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/best-content-for-sge\">best practices for AI search content<\/a>. Most of the evidence below is based on actual analysis of thousands of AI citation data points reported in <a href=\"https:\/\/offers.hubspot.com\/state-of-aeo\">HubSpot\u2019s State of AEO 2026<\/a>. I\u2019ll also cite more of the research from the report I mentioned earlier from AEO agency Fan Out.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>1. Focus on publishing blog content.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Across eight content types, blog posts\/informative articles are the most-cited for AI Overviews, with a 42% citation rate, according to HubSpot\u2019s State of AEO 2026. The least cited content types in AI Overviews are news (non-evergreen articles) at 5% and PR at 6%.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/offers.hubspot.com\/state-of-aeo\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This makes sense based on the other content types analyzed in the report and what we already know about what triggers AI Overviews: 57.1% of queries that trigger AIOs are informational, and compared to other content types \u2014 like comparisons, which lean toward commercial intent and are favored by ChatGPT \u2014 blog posts are highly informational. So, if you\u2019re specifically trying to win AIOs, blog posts should be your focus.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>2. Optimize your titles.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Across eight title patterns, \u201cWhat is [X]\u201d is the top performer for AI Overviews, while \u201cBest [X]\u201d lists and How-tos work well too. Including the year in H1s and meta titles also correlates with higher citation rates in AIOs.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/offers.hubspot.com\/state-of-aeo\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Ideal title for AI Overview:<\/strong> \u201cWhat is the best website builder for beginners in 2026?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Not ideal title for AI Overview:<\/strong> \u201cThe complete guide to website builders for beginners\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><strong>3. Add FAQ sections to your pages.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Pages with FAQ sections are more likely to be cited in AI Overviews, according to the State of AEO 2026. Adding schema markup (a type of structured data you add as code snippets) to those FAQ sections correlates with higher citations in Google AI Mode, Gemini, and Perplexity. Now, having said that, let me be clear: AI Overviews do not <em>require<\/em> schema markup.<\/p>\n<p>Below is what a good FAQ section looks like, courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/website\/hubspot-content-hub-pricing\">HubSpot\u2019s Content Hub pricing guide<\/a>. Notice the descriptive H2 heading (\u201cFrequently Asked Questions About Content Hub Pricing\u201d) and the questions formatted as H3s \u2014 the State of AEO report found that this combination could provide a citation boost.<\/p>\n\n<h3><strong>4. Build EEAT signals in each page.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>AI Overview is among the most responsive to <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/google-eeat-update\">EEAT signals<\/a> compared to any of the other answer engines the State of AEO report analyzed. It makes sense, given that the EEAT framework came from Google.<\/p>\n<p>Specifically, the State of AEO found the following page elements are tied to an increase in AI citations (so adding these to your content might help you get cited in more AIOs):<\/p>\n<p><strong>Outbound links<\/strong> (especially true for AIOs and Gemini) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Statistics and data<\/strong> (especially true for AIOs and ChatGPT) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Author bio<\/strong> on page (slightly higher citation impact than the author name alone)<br \/>\n A visible <strong>\u201cLast updated\u201d date<\/strong> (a stronger citation predictor than the original publish date) <\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s dissect an excellent example of building EEAT signals into a page from NerdWallet, a company that State of AEO\u2019s analysis identified as one of the most cited B2C brands in its dataset. NerdWallet wins the AIO for the highly competitive query \u201chow to track expenses,\u201d showing up not once, but twice.<\/p>\n\n<p>Now, let\u2019s click through to the blog post and see how NerdWallet nails EEAT signals on-page. First, there\u2019s an author byline which, upon hover, triggers a pop-up with the author bio (the author bio is also available at the bottom of the article). Within that bio, there\u2019s a wealth of credibility signals: the author\u2019s years of experience, areas of expertise, and even the publications she\u2019s been published in. On top of that, the page clearly displays when the post was last updated.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nerdwallet.com\/finance\/learn\/tracking-monthly-expenses\"><em>Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><strong>5. Apply traditional SEO principles too.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>And last but certainly not least is our old friend, SEO. No, it hasn\u2019t gone anywhere. In fact, a strong SEO foundation is essential to building a successful AEO program \u2014 and <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/seo-predictions\">SEO expert<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/seo-predictions\">predictions<\/a> point to that same overlap between traditional ranking and AI visibility.<\/p>\n<p>I spoke with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/berreby\">Elie Berreby<\/a>, head of SEO and AI search at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.adorama.com\/\">Adorama<\/a>, which was named \u201cTop Overachiever\u201d in consumer electronics AI brand visibility by Similarweb in 2026. This means Adorama \u201cranks significantly higher in AI visibility than in branded search demand,\u201d according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/2026-genai-brand-visibility-index\/\">Similarweb\u2019s report<\/a>. Berreby reiterated the interdependence of traditional search and AI Overviews. \u201cIf you are not optimizing for Googlebot, obviously, you are ignoring the entire Google ecosystem, and you\u2019re going to suffer in Gemini, in AI Mode, and in the AI Overviews.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the State of AEO report:<\/p>\n<p> From the dataset, HubSpot found that <strong>pages that rank high in Google are more likely to be cited in an AI Overview<\/strong> than other answer engines.<br \/>\n Pages that rank for more Google search terms and rank highly in SERPs are more likely to be cited by answer engines in general.<br \/>\n With an ideal keyword range of 50+, AIO was tied with Perplexity for the highest preferred number of keywords of any of the AI answer engines in the dataset (including Gemini, AI Mode, Copilot, ChatGPT, and SearchGPT). <\/p>\n<p><strong>Takeaway:<\/strong> If you want a page to win an AI Overview, cover more subtopics and answer more subquestions in that one piece than you would have before.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pro tip:<\/strong> To write a comprehensive piece that\u2019s AIO-worthy, AEO strategist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kaleighmoore\/\">Kaleigh Moore<\/a> recommends owning the topic by thinking holistically about the questions your buyers might ask. \u201cHow do we think about topical ownership for our specific customer trying to solve this very specific problem?\u201d Moore says. \u201cWhat are the types of questions they\u2019re asking at this stage of the buyer\u2019s journey? And how do we create content that proactively answers those questions?\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><strong>6. Create content for and get mentioned on Reddit and YouTube.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>For off-site strategy, <strong>YouTube is the first place marketers interested in appearing in more AI Overviews should invest.<\/strong> Sixty-one percent of YouTube citations in Fan Out\u2019s analysis came from AIOs. And given that Google owns YouTube, I\u2019m not at all surprised that AIO prefers this platform most. To put that favoritism in perspective, of the 1,000 queries in Fan Out\u2019s dataset, ChatGPT Plus cited <em>no<\/em> YouTube links at all.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s some of what Fan Out\u2019s report reveals and recommends for optimizing YouTube for AEO:<\/p>\n<p> Comparisons and tutorials dominate, so create content in these categories. Specifically, Fan Out names problem-solution, comparison, and best-of as the top three YouTube video types.<br \/>\n 13.7% of the YouTube citations had timestamps, so Fan Out recommends adding chapter markers and timestamps to your videos.<br \/>\n Optimize your video descriptions to help LLMs understand what your video is about. <\/p>\n<p>In my own experience, AIOs almost always cite a YouTube video for \u201chow to\u201d queries, whether that\u2019s \u201chow to bake banana bread:\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>Or \u201chow to use a crm for sales.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>Therefore, I recommend that if you want more AIO citations, create YouTube content targeting \u201chow to\u201d queries, or even partner with YouTube influencers to create content on behalf of your brand.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reddit is the second-best place to optimize for AIOs.<\/strong> In Fan Out\u2019s analysis of over 33,000 AI citations across Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and ChatGPT Plus, Reddit surfaced as the #1-cited off-site platform overall. However, Reddit was by far most favored by AIO, which made up a 51% share of the Reddit citations (substantial, but still less than YouTube).<\/p>\n<p>Fan Out data reveals this about Reddit:<\/p>\n<p> Posts are far more likely to be cited by AI engines than comments.<br \/>\n The top three content types are best-of, alternative-seeking, and review-opinion.<br \/>\n Engagement on a Reddit post doesn\u2019t matter nearly as much as content structure and topical relevance. <\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the power of Reddit on AIOs in real life: I Googled \u201cbest crms for small business\u201d and HubSpot was recommended first, thanks to a Reddit post that HubSpot didn\u2019t even create or comment on.<\/p>\n\n<p><a><\/a> <\/p>\n<h2><strong>Measuring and Diagnosing AI Overview Impact<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Queries that led to <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/appearance\/ai-features%23:~:text%3Dsites%2520appearing%2520in%2520AI%2520features%2520(such%2520as%2520AI%2520Overviews%2520and%2520AI%2520Mode)%2520are%2520included%2520in%2520the%2520overall%2520search%2520traffic%2520in%2520Search%2520Console.\">AI Overviews are included in the overall performance report<\/a> in Google Search Console, but they\u2019re aggregated with the rest of your SEO keywords, so you cannot filter to see <em>only<\/em> the metrics related to AIOs. To do that, you\u2019ll have to use a third-party tool. Here are two that I recommend.<\/p>\n<h3><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/brand-radar\">Ahrefs Brand Radar<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Best for:<\/strong> answering the question, \u201cWhat queries are triggering AI Overviews for this specific page or domain?\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>Enter any URL and Ahrefs Brand Radar shows you the queries where it was cited in an AI Overview, including an estimated average monthly search volume for the query, the content of the AI Overview, and a list of the cited domains included in that AIO.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re already using Ahrefs for SEO research and tracking, then it makes sense to use its Brand Radar too for the AEO piece.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pricing:<\/strong> Brand Radar is included in <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/pricing\">paid Ahrefs subscriptions<\/a>, which start at $129\/mo, but there are limitations on the number of prompts you can track. Alternatively, Brand Radar is available as a <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/brand-radar\">standalone tool<\/a> starting at $199\/mo for one AI platform (such as AI Overviews\/AI Mode) but doesn\u2019t include custom prompt tracking. To get custom prompt tracking, you can purchase an add-on package.<\/p>\n<h3><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/otterly.ai\/\">Otterly<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Best for:<\/strong> answering the question, \u201cIs this domain getting cited in AI Overviews for the tracked prompts I care about?\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>Otterly tracks prompts across six answer engines, including Google AI Overviews, surfacing both citation data and brand sentiment. I\u2019ve tested Otterly quite a few times for other articles, including one on the <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/aeo-rank-trackers\">best AEO rank trackers<\/a>, and I really appreciate its ease of use and the fact that it\u2019s a dedicated AEO tool (as opposed to doing both AEO and SEO). For brands focused on AI visibility, Otterly will be more straightforward and affordable than Ahrefs Brand Radar.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pricing:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/otterly.ai\/pricing\">Otterly pricing<\/a> starts at $29\/mo for 15 tracked prompts across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot.<\/p>\n<p><a><\/a> <\/p>\n<h2><strong>Frequently Asked Questions About AI Overviews and SEO<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3><strong>Can you fully opt out of appearing in AI Overviews?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>No, you cannot opt out of having your website appear in AI Overviews specifically, but there is a workaround: <strong>Inserting the <\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/crawling-indexing\/robots-meta-tag%23:~:text%3DThis%2520applies%2520to%2520all%2520forms%2520of%2520search%2520results%2520(at%2520Google%253A%2520web%2520search%252C%2520Google%2520Images%252C%2520Discover%252C%2520AI%2520Overviews%252C%2520AI%2520Mode)%2520and%2520will%2520also%2520prevent%2520the%2520content%2520from%2520being%2520used%2520as%2520a%2520direct%2520input%2520for%2520AI%2520Overviews%2520and%2520AI%2520Mode.\">\u201cnosnippet\u201d robots meta tag<\/a><\/strong> prevents pages from being included in snippets not only for AI Overviews\/AI Mode but also for Google\u2019s traditional search (e.g., it wouldn\u2019t show up for a featured snippet).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Page-specific. <\/strong>Paste this code between &lt;head&gt; and &lt;\/head&gt; of the HTML on <em>every individual page<\/em> that you don\u2019t want appearing in AI Overviews. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Code: <\/strong>&lt;meta name=\u201dgooglebot\u201d content=\u201dnosnippet\u201d&gt; <\/p>\n<p><strong>Sitewide: <\/strong>If your site uses a template, you can paste this code in the template header if you don\u2019t want any of the pages that use that template to appear in AI Overviews:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Code: <\/strong>&lt;meta name=\u201dgooglebot\u201d content=\u201dnosnippet\u201d&gt; <\/p>\n<p><strong>Pro tip:<\/strong> Do not mix up \u201cnosnippet\u201d with \u201cnoindex.\u201d Adding the \u201cnoindex\u201d robots meta tag would prevent the affected pages from showing up in <em>all<\/em> of Google Search (not just AI Overviews), so it is extreme, ill-advised, and would hurt the affected pages\u2019 SEO.<\/p>\n<p>Now, on the flip side, as a searcher, you can\u2019t really opt out of <em>seeing<\/em> AI Overviews when you perform a search in Google. Here\u2019s what <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/websearch\/answer\/14901683?hl%3Den%23:~:text%3DAI%2520Overviews%2520are%2520a%2520core%2520Google%2520Search%2520feature%252C%2520like%25C2%25A0knowledge%2520panels.%25C2%25A0Features%2520cannot%2520be%2520turned%2520off.\">Google says in its help center<\/a>: \u201cAI Overviews are a core Google Search feature, like knowledge panels. Features cannot be turned off.\u201d However, there are a couple of workarounds:<\/p>\n<p> Add \u201c-ai\u201d at the end of your query. This usually prevents AI Overviews from appearing in your Google search results, but it\u2019s not guaranteed.<br \/>\n Click the \u201cWeb\u201d tab filter at the top of the Google results page. This will show you only the web results, minus the AI Overviews. <\/p>\n<h3><strong>How do you track clicks from AI Overviews specifically?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Right now, it isn\u2019t possible to reliably isolate clicks from AI Overviews in Google Search Console. The best you can do at the moment is track AIO visibility, and to do that, you\u2019ll need a third-party tool. Ahrefs Brand Radar supports AI Overview coverage and can help you find queries where AI Overviews mention your brand, cite your website, or both. From there, you can compare those visibility signals with GSC and analytics data to estimate the impact AIOs are having on your organic traffic.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Should you create pages specifically for AI Overviews?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>No. Google says there are <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/appearance\/ai-features%23:~:text%3DThe%2520best%2520practices,best%2520practices.\">no additional requirements<\/a> or special optimizations needed to appear in AI Overviews, and both <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-bing-dont-recommend-seperate-markdown-pages-for-llms-468365\">Google and Bing representatives have cautioned<\/a> against creating separate Markdown, JSON, or bot-facing versions of pages just for LLMs. Instead, focus on improving your existing content using the practices covered above: clear definition-style answers, FAQ sections, EEAT signals, and a visible \u201cLast updated\u201d date. That means optimizing for both traditional SEO and AI search visibility simultaneously, without creating separate \u201cAI-only\u201d pages.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>How do you brief executives on AI Overview impact?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>When briefing executives on the impact of AI Overviews on your website and business, reframe the challenge as an opportunity to win mindshare and shift the success metrics from clicks to visibility.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur site is losing traffic\u201d is a bad look for any marketing org. But ultimately, leadership cares about the bottom line: Is this earning the business money or not? Clicks used to be a proxy for that, but they\u2019re not anymore. It doesn\u2019t matter if your site is losing clicks if the business is actually gaining customers.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/what-13-months-of-data-reveals-about-llm-traffic-growth-and-conversions-470115\">Studies<\/a> show that LLM traffic converts at a higher rate than traditional Google-referred traffic. <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-search-traffic-conversions-ahrefs\/\">Ahrefs<\/a> found that its AI search traffic converts 23x better than traffic from traditional organic search. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.semrush.com\/blog\/ai-search-seo-traffic-study\/\">Semrush<\/a> concluded that LLM visitors converted 4.4x better than traditional organic search visitors, after analyzing over 500 digital marketing and SEO topics.<\/p>\n<p>Suggest a shift from traffic to share of voice; that\u2019s the metric that shows how your brand stacks up against competitors in AI visibility. Because sure, your site might be losing traffic, but there\u2019s a good chance that across the board in your category, competitors are losing traffic too. What matters, then, is that when a potential customer asks about your category, whether they consult Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, or Perplexity \u2014 your brand is the one they see. Communicate to leadership that by winning more AI Overviews (even if your brand isn\u2019t linked or your site isn\u2019t clicked), you\u2019re actually winning mindshare.<\/p>\n<p><a><\/a> <\/p>\n<h2><strong>Beyond AI Overviews: Tracking Your Visibility Across All Answer Engines<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>By now, I hope you see that AI Overviews, like the featured snippets that preceded them, represent a push-and-pull that has always existed between content creators and Google: The search engine constantly changes its algorithm and SERP design, and what else can we do besides adapt? AI Overviews could be an exciting opportunity to be the recommended answer to a potential customer\u2019s question \u2014 even if they never click on your website.<\/p>\n<p>I do want to caution against taking a myopic view of AEO and focusing only on AI Overviews, however. They are just <em>one<\/em> surface in the AI search landscape. You can\u2019t forget about the opportunities for your brand to show up in answers from other LLMs, such as ChatGPT and Perplexity.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hubspot.com\/products\/aeo\">HubSpot AEO<\/a> is a specialized tool that tracks citations in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini and provides recommendations to increase your visibility in each. Pricing starts at $50\/month with no other HubSpot subscription required.<\/p>\n<p>For teams running marketing in HubSpot already, AEO is included in Marketing Hub Pro and Enterprise. The integrated version uses your CRM data to suggest which prompts to track from day one, so tracking is grounded in your actual business context rather than generic category guesses. And because the recommendations connect to HubSpot\u2019s content tools, you can take action on AEO insights within the same tool.<\/p>\n<p>The takeaway: AI Overviews matter, but they\u2019re only one slice of the bigger AEO opportunity. Once you broaden the lens to every major answer engine, you can stop guessing where your visibility is leaking and start closing those gaps systematically.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re worried about what AI Overviews mean for SEO, let me remind you of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}