Steps in this guide
Step 1
Understand what triggers AI Overviews
Google AI Overviews appear for informational and comparison queries, not navigational or brand-name searches. Queries like 'best project management tools for startups' or 'how to choose a CRM' are likely to trigger AI Overviews. Direct searches for your brand name usually do not.
Step 2
Audit which queries in your category show AI Overviews
Search for 20 of your target category queries in Google. Note which ones show an AI Overview above organic results. These are your priority targets - they represent queries where Google has decided to answer directly, and appearing in that answer is more valuable than ranking first organically.
Step 3
Analyze what is included in existing AI Overviews
For queries that already show AI Overviews, expand the overview and read the sources. Click through to the cited pages. Google AI Overviews pull from trusted, structured sources - identify the pattern in what they cite.
Step 4
Ensure your key pages have strong structured data
Add SoftwareApplication, Product, and FAQ schema markup to your core pages. Google uses structured data to understand what your product is, what category it belongs to, and what questions it answers. Well-structured pages are more likely to be cited in AI Overviews.
Step 5
Create content that directly answers the query
AI Overviews favor pages that clearly and directly answer the question being asked. A page titled 'Best CRM for Small Businesses: A Comparison' that includes structured comparisons, feature lists, and explicit conclusions is more likely to be cited than a generic features page.
Step 6
Get cited by sources that Google already cites
If Google's AI Overview for a query cites G2, a specific tech publication, or a well-known comparison site, getting your product listed and reviewed on those sources increases your chance of appearing in future AI Overviews for that query.
Step 7
Monitor with Google Search Console and manual checks
GSC does not yet report AI Overview impressions separately from organic, but you can spot AI Overview impact through CTR drops on queries where you rank highly organically. Manual checks weekly give you visibility into which queries are now AI Overview dominated.
Skip the manual version of this guide
AskRank runs this exact workflow automatically across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini, on a schedule.
Google AI Overviews (formerly Search Generative Experience) now appear above organic results for a significant share of software-related queries. When someone searches “best email marketing tool for small business,” they may see an AI-generated answer with 3-5 product recommendations before ever seeing the traditional organic results.
For SaaS founders, appearing in AI Overviews is a new priority - and a new type of work. Here is how it differs from traditional SEO and what you can do about it.
How AI Overviews differ from traditional rankings
Organic SEO is about ranking your page at position 1, 2, or 3 for a keyword. AI Overviews are about having your product featured inside a synthesized answer that may draw from multiple sources.
You can rank #1 organically and not appear in the AI Overview. You can also appear in an AI Overview without ranking in the top 10 organically - if your product is mentioned in a trusted third-party source that Google cites.
This means AI Overviews require a different strategy alongside traditional SEO.
What types of queries trigger AI Overviews
Not every query shows an AI Overview. Google shows them primarily for:
- Category comparison queries (“best X for Y”)
- How-to and informational queries (“how to choose X”)
- Lists and comparisons (“top alternatives to X”)
Navigational queries (someone searching for your brand name), transactional queries (someone searching with clear purchase intent like “buy X subscription”), and local queries typically do not trigger AI Overviews.
This means AI Overview optimization is most important for the top-of-funnel discovery queries where new buyers are forming their consideration sets.
What Google cites in AI Overviews
From analyzing hundreds of AI Overviews for SaaS and software categories, the sources Google tends to cite fall into these categories:
- Review aggregators: G2, Capterra, GetApp, and similar platforms
- Tech publications: established software review sites, startup-focused publications
- Well-structured comparison pages on relevant blogs
- The product’s own pages when they have strong structured data and directly answer the query
The pattern is trust and relevance: Google cites sources it already trusts for information about software, and those sources have to actually mention your product in context.
Structured data for AI Overview inclusion
Google explicitly uses structured data to understand pages. For SaaS products:
SoftwareApplication schema on your homepage and key feature pages tells Google your product name, category, operating system, and pricing. This helps it correctly place you in category recommendations.
Product schema with offers tells Google you have a purchasable product with a specific price range.
FAQPage schema on pages that answer common product questions helps Google include your content in AI Overview answers to those questions.
HowTo schema on tutorial content makes it more likely to appear in AI Overviews for how-to queries related to your product category.
These are not guarantees - Google decides what to include - but they remove friction between your content and Google’s ability to understand and cite it.
The content structure that works
AI Overviews favor pages that directly and clearly answer the question that triggered them. If someone searches “best project management tool for remote teams,” Google wants to cite a page that:
- Has a clear title matching the query intent
- Names specific tools with honest assessments
- Includes structured comparisons (feature tables, pros/cons)
- Concludes with clear recommendations for specific use cases
Vague or overly promotional pages that do not actually answer the question are unlikely to appear.
For your own site, this means creating pages and blog posts that function as genuine resources for buyers researching your category - not just landing pages selling your product.
Third-party citations matter more than your own content
Here is the uncomfortable truth about AI Overviews: Google often trusts third-party sources more than the product’s own site for category recommendations. A product mentioned in a G2 category page with 200 reviews, featured in a Forbes Advisor comparison, and cited in a popular dev blog is more likely to appear in AI Overviews than a product with an excellent product site but no third-party citations.
This means the most impactful AI Overview work happens off your own site:
- Getting listed and reviewed on G2 and Capterra
- Getting featured in comparison articles on trusted publications
- Getting mentioned in HackerNews threads and developer forums that Google indexes
These are long-term efforts, but they compound. Each new citation source is one more place Google can learn to recommend you from.
What to monitor
Check the AI Overviews for your top 10-20 category queries monthly. Note:
- Which queries show AI Overviews this month that did not last month
- Which sources Google is citing in those overviews
- Whether your product or competitors appear in the overview text
If you see a query where an AI Overview appeared and you are not cited, identify who is and why. That analysis is the input to your optimization plan.
Note: AskRank’s Google AI Overviews tracking (which requires browser-based scraping) is available on Team and Agency tiers in V2. For now, manual monitoring is the way to track this specific channel. The blog post on AI Overviews impact on click-through rates covers what to expect from zero-click search.
See also: What is AEO, Google AI Overviews in the glossary, and How to improve your AEO.