How to Write to Get Featured in a Google AI Overview
You know what’s funny? In my research for this article, as I was going through SEMRush, I saw that most of the keywords surrounding Google’s AI Overview, the ones with the most volume, were overwhelmingly negative.
Some great ones were “turn off AI Overview Google,” “How to turn off AI Overview Google,” and “How to disable AI overview Google.”
This is both amusing and validating to me, since I’ve been critical of AI since the start. I’ve posted about this at length, and the frustration that other users have with AI is neither alien nor unrelatable to me.
I mean, seriously, just look at this humorous entry I pulled from the AI Overview just the other day.
It’s real, it showed up on my browser (that’s not a snapshot from a meme page or anything) and as far as I know, you can find it on Google to this day.
Here’s another:
Dear reader, Andrew Johnson, esteemed 17th President of the United States, died in 1875. That would make him the first President to have graduated posthumously from UW not once, but eleven times.
With outputs that hilariously (and offensively) bad, I’m hardly surprised that the search terms with the most volume surrounding this monstrosity have to do with how to disable it.
It’s not the only one like it. Check out some of these absurd (and real) Google AI Overviews.
They range from funny to patently false and outright dangerous, and it’s a sin that this is what we’re dealing with in 2024.
Nonetheless, my job, to the letter, is to furnish information to willing readers, and that’s what this post is going to attempt to do.
So if you’re here because you want to learn how to write copy that has a chance of getting scraped by and featured in the AI Overview, buckle up.
What Is a Google AI Overview?
In a nutshell, Google’s AI Overview is an AI-powered iteration of the venerable Featured Snippet. But whereas the Featured Snippet is taken directly from preexisting copy on some page that was ostensibly authored by an actual person with subject matter expertise, the AI Overview is a synthesized, amalgamated summary drawn from multiple sources that attempts to succinctly answer a query, as directly as possible, without relying on a Featured Snippet for the purpose.
In other words, you ask Google a question, and the AI Overview is Google’s (puerile) attempt to give a direct, succinct answer.
Results may vary as to the reputability and accuracy of the outputs, but that is what the AI Overview is.
Now, considering my thus-far trenchant observation regarding the matter, you might wonder why I’d be writing this post.
First, because I expect the functionality of the AI Overview to improve. Secondly, because, whether I like it or not, this thing is probably here to stay. People are going to use the AI Overview to answer their questions, and since I’m in Search Engine Marketing, I have to live with that.
Thirdly, because I’m adaptable. There’s no reason for me to hate Google’s AI tools, inchoate and feeble though they may be, when I can use them for my benefit. If I can write copy that’s so good it gets featured in Featured Snippets and People Also Ask entries, I should set my sights on showing up in the AI Overview.
So, here are some things I’ve learned (firsthand, real examples to follow in this post) about how to write copy that gets featured in Google’s AI Overview.
(Spoiler alert, a lot of what I mention here is just “SEO best practice” anyway, but more drawn out, as you will see in a moment.)
With no further ado, here are four suggestions that are proven by results to get your copy featured in the AI Overview.
Focus on Long-Tail Queries
You’re not going to see many Google AI Overviews generated pursuant to short tail queries. I’m not entirely sure what the reason for this is. It could be that it takes an insane (and untenable) amount of power to churn out just one AI Overview; but more likely, my guess is that short tail queries are too vague.
When you search for something short tail, it’s hard for a search engine to know just what it is you’re looking for. And so, you get a whole bunch of outputs. Actually, the truth is there usually aren’t featured snippets for short tail keywords either. Same thing.
By contrast, the longer the tail of the keyword, the more it resembles a traditional question, and the better AI-powered models can grasp what the answer could (or should) be.
And so, while it is conventionally easy to optimize a page for a short tail keyword, optimizing a page, a blog, or an article using the same methods won’t work for the AI Overview.
You’ll still want to use target keywords in the copy (just like “conventional” search engine optimization) but for the AI Overview, you need to go a layer deeper.
You can either embed the keyword in a longer query, or back-form the whole query around it. Either way, don’t get hung up on volume here. If your goal is to secure a Google AI Overview entry, you need to worry more about the quality of the question and the directness of the answer than about that.
Which brings me to my next point.
Forget About Keyword Volume
Traditionally, in eCommerce SEO, we look at two important metrics when we’re doing keyword research: search volume and difficulty.
Keywords with high search volume are attractive because they will generate more impressions. Keywords with low difficulty are attractive because it’s easier to rank for them. Put them together and you have the magic combo.
Not here, though. Admittedly, these things still come into play, but the fact of the matter is if your goal is to get featured in the AI Overview, you need to be so specific in your copy that there’s probably going to be negligible search volume for that query anyway.
There’ll be a modicum of searches for it and related keywords, but very few overall.
Your goal needs to be about authority and building credibility, not about getting more eyes on your website. At least for the purposes of this specific initiative.
Now, this actually comes back to the traditional maxims of eCommerce SEO. In this capacity, we’re aiming to show up in the overview, which will only happen with good, reputable copy (most of the time).
That builds a little something called “E-E-A-T.” The more reputable, authoritative and trustworthy your website is, the better its chances will be of ranking for shorter tail, more commercial and transactional keywords in the future.
So you see, these things are interrelated. Anyway, I digress. Again, make it about the quality of your copy, not just about getting visitors to your website that want to buy something. You’re answering a question here, not selling, at least for the time being.
Answer More Than One Question in the Post
As important as it is to focus on answering one question (see below) to increase your chances of showing up in the AI overview, I suggest answering a whole lot of other questions in the post.
For instance, if you’re going to write a CMS page about how to clean a pair of boots, don’t just write about how to clean them; write about why it’s important to keep them clean in the first place. Do you have suggestions on what not to do? Put them in the same post.
The more thorough you can be, the more value you will offer potential readers. Google’s AI is (supposed to be) able to interpret this, and will analyze and compile its AI Overviews accordingly.
Not to suggest that one single entry with a lot of information on a single topic won’t get featured, just that the more comprehensive you can be regarding the vertical, the better are the chances the algorithm will consider you an authority.
Be Detailed, Offer Personal Insight
As is the case in SEO, the more accurately you can answer a question, and the more detailed you can be, the better your chances are of showing up in the search results, in this case, in the AI overview.
But there’s more to this than just stuffing the entry full of relevant details (although that is good advice and I stick to it).
If you can offer personalized insight, from experience, that no one else has (or which few others have, as a close second) do that. The more you can speak from experience, the less likely it is that there’s going to be an entry to rival you.
Do not underestimate how much copy out there, in the wilds of the internet, has been researched and regurgitated by people that have no idea, fundamentally, what they’re actually talking about.
I myself am guilty of it sometimes. It is possible to research a topic about which I know nothing and still speak with a shred of credibility, if I have been assiduous in my research and cross-referencing. But I know better than anyone that the copy I have written from personal experience performs the best and carries the best weight with an audience that knows what they’re reading about.
The point is, when I write from experience (as I am doing in this post) and talking about things that I have done with my own hands (so to speak) I know I’m offering value that isn’t somewhere out there on the internet in another blog or news article.
That is, no one could poach it without coming to me first, and that makes me the original source. The authority, if you will.
And that’s what you want to do for your copy. Anywhere and everywhere you can, write from experience. Your copy won’t just show up more competitively in the organic search results, it will be more likely to show up in an AI Overview for some or other relevant query.
Which brings us to the crux of the article, which is why you can trust these pointers in the first place.
Let’s go over some actual AI Overviews that have been generated from my work.
Don’t Just Take My Word for It: Here’s the Proof
Naturally, you’ll want to know if the suggestions I’ve outlined here work, right? To quote Cervantes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Let’s start with one that’s only a few months old as of the time of this publication:
You can see what the search query is, along with the fact that Google references my post (and a separate pillar page) in its bid to generate solid answers to the question.
Interestingly, the search query is not even that long tail. It doesn’t even take the form of a question. It’s almost more of a statement. Still, Google took enough of that into consideration before reproducing an output that answers what people who need digital marketing for cigar stores are after.
Here’s another, and a better one. If you look up “What are SEO impressions” you’ll get the following (at least at press time):
I’ll be the first to admit that it’s kind of a weird query, since most people who want to know the answer to this question know enough not to look up “SEO impressions” and just call them “impressions.”
But that’s the entire value case here. Not everyone is familiar enough with digital marketing to know what an impression is, just that it’s associated with SEO, and so when they type in the former query, my article is ready to capitalize on that unfamiliarity with a pleasantly straightforward answer.
Google’s AI engines saw that, and generated their response from my article – and their own sources, which you can see cited next to mine.
Here’s another, of which I’m considerably more proud. Let’s see you’re out there, on “the Google,” wondering how many blog posts you need to get traffic. You might ask it the following question, and you’ll get this Google AI Overview:
That’s not a particularly easy search term or query to show up for in the regular organic results as it is, so showing up in the AI Overview? That’s a feather in my cap.
For some context, that is one of the more informative and useful posts I’ve published. I answer not only the main query but many others that are relevant, along with many practical and actionable extenuating bits of information. As you might imagine, it’s not a single numerical answer – there is a lot more that goes into how many posts it takes to get traffic than how many posts you actually publish.
Last, consider the following:
The only reason I’m showcasing this one is because, as boring as the subject matter is, and as little as I enjoyed researching and writing that article that appears above, it shows that Google’s AI Overview isn’t just lusting after brand-new nonsense. That post is three and a half years old.
But, guess what, it’s good, and the information is not just accurate, it is still relevant. What’s true today will be true tomorrow. Times change, facts don’t.
And so, I tell you this because I want you to know something very important about the AI Overview and organic marketing in general. Quality is so much more important than quantity, and so much more important than recency.
Make what you publish good. It may take you a while to get results, but if you follow the best practices, you’ll get them.
Why You Might Want to Get Featured in a Google AI Overview
I’ll be completely honest and offensively direct here. I’m one of those people that would disable Google’s AI if I could. The only time I look at AI is when I want to be amused by how disconcertingly bad it is, or when I want a laugh. I simply cannot use it for research in my job because it is too unreliable, and too inaccurate [almost all of the time].
But, in the spirit of honesty, it is likely to get better, which is going to make it, as a tool, a staple of SEO in the broader sense. So while I can’t personally make use of it, there remains a use case for digital marketing in general, and it is as follows.
It is proven that the greater your domain’s authority, the better will be its organic rankings, overall. The more authoritative a source, the more users engage with it, consume and trust the content on the website, and ultimately, the more likely they are to become customers.
So, as this tool evolves, it will become a weapon in the arsenal of experienced digital marketers, and their customers, to increase credibility and trust. There’s no substitute for that in a world in which Content is King, and content is what gets featured in the Google AI Overview.
So, even though you won’t be optimizing for commercial and transactional content in your bid to show up in a Google AI Overview, the case in point is that you will be benefiting the positioning and reputability of your brand, and if I have to sit here and type out why that’s a good thing for your business, we’re both going to be talking past each other.
In a word, optimizing for the AI Overview will position your website and your business in general as an authority in its industry, and there is no substitute for that, and little more valuable.
Update on How to Show Up in the AI Overview
I’ve been waiting a bit for this to happen, but I knew it would eventually. Take a close look at that AI overview that generated in my search results in early November 2024.
Don’t mind me, that’s just my blog on how to show up in the AI overview, you know, just casually showing up in the AI overview.
That’s how it’s done. If that isn’t proof that the tips in this post are the real deal, then I don’t know what arguments I can make to convince you of the value of good copy.