Google AI Overviews.
And who gets the link.
Search a question on Google and the top of the page is sometimes a paragraph Google's AI wrote, with a few links set beside it. That is an AI Overview. Ask a harder question in AI Mode and the search becomes a conversation. For a business, two questions follow: how does a page become one of those links, and does anyone still click? Here is what Google itself says, what one independent study measured, and a checklist to run on your own site today.
Every claim here about how Google's AI features behave is cited to Google's own pages, read on 30 September 2026. The outside figures all come from one named study, with its method. Nobody can promise you a place in an AI Overview, and this guide does not. Updated 30 September 2026. 9-minute read. How we write these guides.
The short answer.
Google AI Overviews are AI-generated snapshots that appear in some Google results, with links to the pages behind them[1]. AI Mode is a separate, conversational search for longer, more complex questions[2]. Google says a page is eligible to be a supporting link in either if it is indexed and eligible to show with a snippet, with no special markup required[3]. Being eligible is not being chosen, and nobody can promise inclusion.
What are AI Overviews and AI Mode?
Google describes an AI Overview as an AI-generated snapshot with key information and links to dig deeper[1]. It appears inside ordinary results when Google's systems decide generative AI can be especially helpful, and a searcher cannot switch it off: Google calls it a core Search feature, like a knowledge panel[1].
AI Mode goes further. Google built it for longer, more complex questions, and it works by breaking a question into subtopics and running many searches on the searcher's behalf[2].
When Google launched AI Mode in Australia, it said early testers were asking queries nearly three times the length of traditional searches. [2]
| Compare | AI Overviews | AI Mode | Classic results |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | An AI-generated snapshot with links to dig deeper[1] | A conversational search for longer, more complex questions[2] | A list of text links, which the Web filter shows on its own[1] |
| When it shows | When Google's systems decide it will help[1] | When the searcher opens it, including from an AI Overview on a mobile device, where both are supported[1] | On the same page as any AI features, or alone under the Web filter[1] |
| How it gathers sources | May run several related searches, a query fan-out[3] | Breaks the question into subtopics and runs many searches[2] | One query, one ranked list of pages |
| Links shown | A wider, more diverse set than a classic search, Google says[3] | The same, though the links can differ from an AI Overview's[3] | Pages ranked for the query |
| What your page needs | Indexed and eligible to show with a snippet[3] | Indexed and eligible to show with a snippet[3] | Indexed; the snippet is optional |
| In Australia | Rolling out Australia wide from 29 October 2024[4] | Rolling out in English from 8 October 2025[2] | Before both |
On Google's own account, every supporting link has cleared the same bar as an ordinary result with a snippet[3]. The AI features do not open a side door. They choose from pages ordinary Search could already show.
What does Google say a page needs?
Google's answer is short. To be eligible as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode, a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet[3]. There are no extra files or special structured data to add[3], a point the AEO guide makes too. Beyond that, Google points back to ordinary search practice. Its list for AI features includes:
- Crawling allowed in robots.txt, and by your hosting or CDN[3].
- Content that internal links make easy to find[3].
- Important content in text, supported by good images and video[3].
- Structured data that matches the visible text on the page[3].
- An up-to-date Business Profile, and product data if you sell online[3].
- A good page experience for the people reading it[3].
Eligible is not chosen. Google says AI Overviews and AI Mode may use different models and techniques, so the responses and links they show will vary[3]. Its people-first guidance says its ranking systems are designed to prioritise helpful, reliable information created to benefit people, and asks whether a page offers original information, reporting, research or analysis[5]. For a trade business, original usually means the jobs you have actually done and the answers you already give on the phone.
How do I limit what Google uses?
Some owners want the links without their words in a summary. Google offers five controls, and they differ.
| Control | Effect on AI features | What else it changes |
|---|---|---|
| nosnippet | Stops the page being a direct input for AI Overviews and AI Mode[6] | No text snippet or video preview in ordinary results either[6] |
| max-snippet | Limits how much of the page may be a direct input[6] | Caps snippet length in ordinary results; a value of 0 equals nosnippet[6] |
| data-nosnippet | Named by Google among the controls that limit what Search shows[3] | Keeps the marked part of the page out of snippets[6] |
| noindex | Out of both, since a supporting link must be indexed[3] | Out of Google's results altogether[6] |
| Search generative AI control | Manages inclusion in AI Overviews, AI Mode and AI features in Discover[7] | Nothing, Google says: it is not a ranking or inclusion signal for other parts of Search[7] |
The Search generative AI control in Search Console is the default setting for every property, which means content is included. Google says an exclusion generally takes a few days to apply. [7]
The pattern is worth seeing. Every snippet control trims your ordinary listing as well. Only the Search Console setting takes you out of the AI features and leaves the blue link alone[7]. None of these is a lever for getting in: they control what Google may use, not whether it chooses you.
Do people still click?
The evidence conflicts, and the two main sources measured different things.
What Google says
Google says clicks from results pages with AI Overviews are higher quality, meaning people are more likely to spend more time on the site[3]. In August 2025 its head of Search wrote that total organic clicks to websites had been relatively stable year over year, with slightly more quality clicks, defined as clicks where people do not quickly come back. The post publishes no figures or method, and says traffic is shifting, down for some sites and up for others[8].
What Pew measured
Pew Research studied the browsing of 900 US adults in March 2025, across 68,879 Google searches. On results pages with an AI summary, people clicked a traditional result in 8% of visits, against 15% without one. They also ended their browsing session more often after an AI summary, 26% against 16%[9].
In the same Pew study, people clicked a link inside the AI summary itself in 1% of visits to results pages that showed one. [9]
Neither measured your business. Google's claims cover all of Search with no published method[8]. Pew's panel was American and searched in March 2025[9], months before AI Mode reached Australia[2]. We know of no independent, published click figure for Australian trade businesses, so this guide offers none.
What you can measure is your own. Search Console counts traffic from AI features inside the ordinary Web search type[3]. Its Generative AI performance report counts impressions, meaning how many times links to your site were shown in AI Overviews and AI Mode. Google's help page for it does not mention clicks, and not every property has the report yet[10].
What can I check on my site today?
Seven checks, each against something Google has written down. Start with the page that brings in the most work.
Find the page on Google
Search Google for a distinctive sentence from the page, in quotation marks. If the page never comes back, it may not be indexed, and a supporting link must be[3].
Look for snippet blockers
View the page source and search it for nosnippet, max-snippet, noindex and data-nosnippet. Each limits what Google may show or use[6]. If you find one nobody chose on purpose, ask whoever built the site why it is there.
Open your robots.txt
Type your address followed by /robots.txt. Google lists crawling allowed in robots.txt, and by your host or CDN, as a practice that still applies to its AI features[3]. A Disallow line over your service pages works against you.
Check the Search Console setting
Under Settings, open Search generative AI. Inclusion is the default[7], so confirm nobody switched it off.
Put the answer in text
Hours on a photo of the shop door, prices in a graphic, a service area drawn on a map: Google asks for important content in textual form[3]. Write it as words, under a heading that matches the question.
Ask your customers' questions
From a phone, search five questions customers ask you. Note whether an AI Overview appears and whose links sit beside it, then try AI Mode, which can show different links[3].
Rather not open your robots.txt yourself? The free audit scans your own site at our end, checks your robots.txt, and tests whether it lets AI crawlers such as GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot in, then emails you the report.
What does our own site do?
Our robots.txt has one general rule, which allows every crawler, and no separate rule for Googlebot. It also names Google-Extended and allows it. That is a separate decision about Gemini training and grounding in the Gemini apps, and Google says Google-Extended does not affect a site's inclusion in Google Search[11]. Every page is sent as finished HTML, so the important content Google asks for in textual form[3] is there before any script runs. None of that is a result: it makes our pages readable, and whether Google shows one as a link is Google's decision.
Can anyone get me into one?
No. Google publishes what makes a page eligible[3] and the controls for keeping content out[6][7]. It publishes no way to apply for a place, and nobody outside Google decides which links sit beside an AI Overview. Treat a promise of inclusion as a reason to ask how.
What can be done is removing the reasons a page gets passed over: a stray nosnippet, a blocked crawler, answers locked inside images, facts that disagree with your Business Profile. That is ordinary search work done carefully, which is how our SEO, AEO and GEO work treats it. SEO vs AEO vs GEO shows where AI Overviews sit among the three, and the GEO guide covers the assistants beyond Google.
Questions and answers.
Can I turn off AI Overviews in Google?
Not as a searcher. Google calls AI Overviews a core Search feature that cannot be turned off, though the Web filter shows only text links[1]. As a site owner you can keep your pages out: the Search generative AI control covers AI Overviews and AI Mode without touching your ordinary listings[7], while nosnippet also removes your snippet[6].
Is AI Mode available in Australia?
Yes. Google announced AI Mode rolling out in Australia, in English, from 8 October 2025[2]. AI Overviews began rolling out Australia wide on 29 October 2024[4], and Google's help page lists Australia among the places where AI Overviews are available[1].
Do I need schema markup for AI Overviews?
No. Google says there is no special schema.org structured data you need to add to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode[3]. What it does ask is that any structured data you have matches the visible text on the page[3]. The AEO guide covers where structured data still earns its place.
Does blocking Google-Extended remove me from AI Overviews?
Google does not say so. It describes Google-Extended as a control over whether crawled content may be used to train future Gemini models or to ground answers in the Gemini apps, and says it does not affect a site's inclusion in Google Search[11]. The controls Google names for AI Overviews and AI Mode are nosnippet, data-nosnippet, max-snippet and noindex[3], plus the Search generative AI control[7].
Sources.
- Find information in faster and easier ways with AI Overviews in Google Search, Google Search Help. Read 30 September 2026.
- Google Search: Introducing AI Mode in Australia (Hema Budaraju, 8 October 2025), Google Australia. Read 30 September 2026.
- AI features and your website, Google Search Central. Read 30 September 2026.
- Introducing AI Overviews in Australia (29 October 2024), Google Australia. Read 30 September 2026.
- Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content, Google Search Central. Read 30 September 2026.
- Robots meta tag, data-nosnippet and X-Robots-Tag specifications, Google Search Central. Read 30 September 2026.
- Search generative AI control, Google Search Console Help. Read 30 September 2026.
- AI in Search is driving more queries and higher quality clicks (Liz Reid, 6 August 2025), Google. Read 30 September 2026.
- Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results (Athena Chapekis and Anna Lieb, 22 July 2025), Pew Research Center. Read 30 September 2026.
- Generative AI performance report (Search), Google Search Console Help. Read 30 September 2026.
- Google's common crawlers, including Google-Extended, Google Search Central. Read 30 September 2026.
See what Google can read on your site.
Start with the checks you can see happen: thirty of them, weighted, run live in your browser against our own site. Then give us your address, and we scan your own site at our end and email you the report. Nothing to pay, and nobody rings you unless you ask.