Online search as we know it has changed forever. Instead of scrolling through endless links, users are now getting instant, AI-generated answers from tools like Google Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Microsoft Copilot. These AI Overviews summarize the web for you. sometimes without you ever needing to click a single link.
For marketers and SEO experts, this is both exciting and a little unsettling: How do you get your brand to appear inside these AI answers? And how do you stay visible in a world where users might not even visit your website? Let’s not panic and explore what’s happening and what we can do to stay visible.
What are AI Overviews?
AI Overviews are Google’s new way of showing information directly at the top of search results as a short, AI-generated summary that combines text, facts, and links from multiple sources.
Think of it as an evolution of featured snippets. But smarter, longer, and powered by generative AI. Which means it’s working pretty well already.
Meanwhile, other tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini act like conversational search engines. You type a question, and they pull answers from trusted web pages, research papers, and brand sites, weaving them into one coherent response.
This new behavior is called Generative Search, and it’s quickly becoming the way people find information online.
How does this matter to me? Or my brand?
If AI tools can summarize everything, users might never see your website — unless your content becomes part of the summary. That is a big challenge and that’s why a new concept has emerged: GEO, or Generative Engine Optimization
It’s SEO for the era of ChatGPT and Gemini.
In this new world, success means:
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Your brand is mentioned, cited, or quoted inside AI-generated answers.
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Your content is recognized as an authoritative source worth referencing.
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Your messaging still reaches users — even if they don’t click through.
In other words, GEO is about visibility within the answer, not just in the search results. AI models pull data differently than traditional search engines: They value sources with strong expertise, consistent facts, and real-world trust signals, clear headings, bullet points, FAQs, and schema markup make it easier for AI to really understand your page. Unlike classic SEO, AI wants to justify its answers. That means i often prefers sources that are well-referenced, data-backed, or frequently cited elsewhere. And, that’s what I think is one of the most important things: AI doesn’t favor overly promotional wording. So it usually summarizes factual, balanced copy instead. In other words, don’t try to make your content as flashy as possible.
How to Optimize for AI Overviews and Generative Search
- Write for clarity and structure, using concise paragraphs, H2/H3 headings, numbered lists, and bullet points. The cleaner your content, the easier it is for AI to extract meaning.
- Google’s E-E-A-T principle (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust) still applies. Include bylines, case studies, client results, or original data that show real knowledge (not generic content).
- Structured data (like FAQ, HowTo, Product, Review schema) helps AI engines understand what your content contains.
- Optimize for questions, not just keywords, because AI Overviews respond to natural questions (“How does Android Enterprise work?”) rather than short keywords. Include those questions + answers directly in your content.
- Monitor the progress: Try searching your brand or topics in ChatGPT (Browse), Perplexity, Gemini, or Bing Copilot. Check what’s shown, what’s cited, and where your competitors appear. Semrush recently released their AI Visibility Tool that helps track how often your domain appears in AI-generated results (Currently available in the US).
The Bottom Line
AI Overviews aren’t actually killing SEO, they’re redefining it. The next stage of search isn’t about chasing clicks, but about earning presence in the conversation by being the brand AI trusts enough to cite, quote, or summarize. So don’t fight the shift. Embrace it, and make your content structured, factual, trustworthy, and genuinely helpful (Just like you did before actually). Because in the era of ChatGPT and Gemini, your best SEO strategy is to teach the AI to trust you.
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