Oh hey Reader-

If you’ve been side-eying those new AI Overviews at the top of Google and wondering, how do I get in there?

You’re asking the right question.

Because while AI Overviews don’t appear for every search, they’re showing up more and more, especially on informational queries (things like “how do I…”, “what is…”, or “best way to…” questions…basically, when someone’s looking for a clear, direct answer or a quick explanation).

So yeah, they matter.🤷🏻‍♀️

But the path to getting featured there? It’s not quite the same as ranking in regular search.

Similar goals, but the systems behind them are different.

Organic search still leans more heavily on traditional SEO signals: keywords, internal linking, crawlability, site structure.

You optimize your pages so Google can index and rank them.

AI Overviews work differently.

They pull content from across the web to generate those answer boxes.

You don’t “rank” for them, you get “selected”. And how you get selected? It’s a little more opaque.

Here’s what tends to matter most:

✔️ Strong brand reputation across platforms
✔️ Clear, consistent messaging (Google needs to know what you do)
✔️ Structured, high-quality content that answers real questions (use your sub-headlines!)
✔️ Schema markup (yep, structure helps machines summarize)
✔️ “Off-site” credibility (think: backlinks and media features)

So while both systems care about things like content quality and expertise, the weighting is different.

AI Overviews look more at how your content can support a broader summary, and that puts extra emphasis on clarity, reputation, and structure.

If you want to show up in both places? You need a recognizable, trustworthy brand, demonstrated expertise, and a site that’s technically sound and search-optimized.

I walked through all of this (and more) on Cubicle to CEO with Ellen Yin.

🎧 Listen to the episode here​

Give it a listen on your next walk, and if you’re still fuzzy on how AI Overviews work, or what you can actually do to show up, I’m happy to help.

Laura