--- title: "AI Overviews" url: https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/ai-overviews type: Page --- # AI Overviews AI Overviews explained: when they launched in the US and UK, how they affect clicks, how often cited pages rank, and what it takes to appear in them. GEO glossary ## AI Overviews AI Overviews are AI-generated summaries that Google shows at the top of some search results pages. They answer the query in a few paragraphs or a list and link to the web pages used as sources, so a page can be cited without ranking first. ## When did AI Overviews launch? Google began rolling AI Overviews out to everyone in the US on 14 May 2024, after testing generative answers in Search Labs. On 15 August 2024 it expanded them to the UK, India, Japan, Indonesia, Mexico and Brazil. On Alphabet's Q2 2025 earnings call in July 2025, Sundar Pichai said AI Overviews had more than 2 billion monthly users, across 200 countries and territories. ## Why it matters AI Overviews change how many clicks a ranking is worth. Ahrefs compared 300,000 keywords in March 2024 and March 2025 and found the top-ranking page had a 34.5% lower average click-through rate when an AI Overview appeared. Google's position is that clicks from AI Overviews are higher quality, with visitors more likely to spend longer on the site. Ranking still affects selection. In a July 2025 study of 1.9 million citations, Ahrefs found 76% of pages cited in AI Overviews ranked in the top 10. A larger rerun reported in March 2026 put the figure at 38%, though Ahrefs had changed its parsing method, so the two numbers are not directly comparable. ## How to appear in AI Overviews Google says there are no additional requirements or special optimisations for AI Overviews. A page needs to meet the normal technical requirements for Search: crawlable, indexable and returning a 200 status code. Traffic from AI features is included in the Web search type of the Search Console Performance report rather than shown separately. We find that cited passages usually answer one narrow question in a sentence or two that still makes sense when read out of context. ## Example For the query 'how long does a boiler service take', an AI Overview might give a time range, list what the engineer checks and cite a manufacturer guide, a trade body page and a heating company's blog. The heating company is visible in the answer even if it sits fifth in the organic results. ## Related terms - [Google AI Mode](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/google-ai-mode) - [Query fan-out](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/query-fan-out) - [AI citations](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/ai-citations) - [Generative engine optimisation (GEO)](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/generative-engine-optimisation) ## Further reading - [How to Measure Performance in AI Search](https://marketingsignals.com/insights/how-to-measure-performance-in-ai-search) - [Google NavBoost Explained: How Click Behaviour Affects Rankings and How to Track User Engagement](https://marketingsignals.com/insights/google-navboost-explained-how-click-behaviour-affects-rankings-and-how-to-track-user-engagement) Our [AI SEO & GEO](https://marketingsignals.com/service/ai-search-optimisation) service puts this into practice for brands in the UK and US. ## Sources - [Generative AI in Search: Let Google do the searching for you, Google (14 May 2024)](https://blog.google/products/search/generative-ai-google-search-may-2024/) - [Expanding the helpfulness of AI Overviews, Google (15 August 2024)](https://blog.google/intl/en-in/products/explore-communicate/expanding-the-helpfulness-of-ai-overviews/) - [Google's AI Overviews have 2B monthly users, TechCrunch (23 July 2025)](https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/23/googles-ai-overviews-have-2b-monthly-users-ai-mode-100m-in-the-us-and-india) - [AI Overviews Reduce Clicks by 34.5%, Ahrefs (17 April 2025)](https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overviews-reduce-clicks/) - [76% of AI Overview Citations Pull From the Top 10, Ahrefs (21 July 2025)](https://ahrefs.com/blog/search-rankings-ai-citations/) - [Google AI Overview citations from top-ranking pages drop sharply, Search Engine Journal (2 March 2026)](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-ai-overview-citations-from-top-ranking-pages-drop-sharply/568637/) - [Top ways to ensure your content performs well in Google's AI experiences on Search, Google Search Central (21 May 2025)](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2025/05/succeeding-in-ai-search) - [AI features and your website, Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features) ## Ready To Get Found In AI Search? Get in touch for a friendly, informal chat with our team about how we can help your business thrive online.