Google AI Overviews.In plain English.

Google began rolling AI Overviews out to everyone in the US in May 2024, and by March 2025 said they were used by more than a billion people.

Google shows them only when it judges them helpful and says they often don't trigger. To appear as a supporting link, a page must be indexed and eligible to show in Google Search with a snippet, and there are no additional requirements.

Google says you can apply the same foundational SEO practices to AI features as to Search overall, and asks owners to keep their Business Profile information up to date. Snippet controls such as nosnippet and noindex also apply to AI features.

Example: someone asks Google how to stop a tankless water heater going cold. An AI Overview answers in a few lines and links to the pages it drew on, which can include a plumber's how-to page.