How to Optimise Your Website for AI Overviews

What are Google AI Overviews?

If you’ve used Google recently, you’ve seen them. Before any website links appear, Google now generates a short AI-written summary that directly answers the search query. That block of text at the very top — with small source citations underneath — is called an AI Overview (previously known as Search Generative Experience, or SGE).

Google’s AI reads pages from across the web, pulls out the most relevant information, and writes a fresh answer. It then cites a small number of sources — usually three to six websites — that it drew from. Those cited businesses get a clickable link displayed under the summary, which drives high-intent visitors to their site.

AI Overviews now appear on a large portion of informational and commercial searches in Australia. They’re especially common for “how to,” “what is,” “best way to,” and comparison queries. For most industries, if your competitors are being cited inside AI Overviews and you’re not, they’re getting traffic and brand exposure that you’re missing entirely.

Why AI Overviews matter for your business

Here’s the real-world impact: when a potential customer types “best plumber in Melbourne” or “how do I choose a financial planner,” they now see an AI-generated summary before anything else. That summary answers their question. Many people read it and move on — they’ve got what they needed. But the businesses cited inside that summary? They get the click when the customer wants to know more.

Being cited in AI Overviews is increasingly the difference between being found and being invisible. It’s not a bonus feature of good SEO — for many industries, it’s become the primary way customers discover businesses through search. And right now, most Melbourne businesses haven’t optimised for it at all. That’s a gap you can close.

How Google actually picks which websites to cite

Understanding why Google chooses some pages and not others is the whole game. It’s not random, and it’s not purely about who ranks highest in traditional SEO — though that’s a factor. Google’s AI evaluates pages on several overlapping criteria before deciding whether to pull from them.

One thing worth understanding: you don’t need to rank number one to appear in AI Overviews. Google pulls from pages that score well on content quality and structural clarity, even if they sit at position 5 or 6 in traditional organic results. This is a real opportunity — especially for newer or smaller websites that haven’t yet built the backlink profile to dominate page-one rankings but do have excellent, well-structured content.

Write content that Google’s AI actually wants to cite

Content is where most of the AI Overview optimisation battle is won or lost. Not because content is the only factor, but because bad content is the reason most websites never get cited — no matter how technically polished they are.

Lead with your answer

The single most impactful change you can make to most web pages is moving the answer to the top. Google’s AI extracts content that states the answer clearly and quickly. If your page spends three paragraphs explaining background context before actually answering the question, the AI will often skip it entirely in favour of a page that gets straight to the point.

The pattern that works: answer the question in one or two sentences in your very first paragraph, then use the rest of the page to add depth, nuance, examples, and detail.

Write for people, not for algorithms

Google’s AI is very good at detecting content that was written to game a system rather than genuinely help a reader. Write the way a knowledgeable colleague would explain something to a customer. Use plain language. Say what you mean. Use real examples from your work. Specificity is a trust signal — it tells the AI that your content is grounded in real experience.

Cover a topic properly — not just briefly

Thin content rarely appears in AI Overviews. Google’s AI pulls from sources that comprehensively address a query. This doesn’t mean writing 5,000 words for the sake of it. It means making sure your page genuinely covers all the important angles of the topic it’s targeting — cost ranges, what affects price, different types, what’s included, timelines, and any relevant local regulations.

Prove you know what you’re talking about

Google applies E-E-A-T — Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness — when assessing content for AI citations. Practical ways to demonstrate this: name the author and their credentials on the page, cite specific statistics, mention real projects and outcomes, and include details that only someone with genuine experience would know.

Structure your pages so Google can extract answers easily

Even brilliant content can miss AI Overviews if it’s structured in a way that makes it hard for Google’s AI to identify which section answers which question. These are the structural changes that make the biggest difference.

Use question-based headings

Most websites use vague headings like “Our Services” or “Important Information.” Replacing them with question-based headings — “How much does a kitchen renovation cost in Melbourne?” or “How long does installation take?” — gives the AI a clear map of exactly what question each section addresses.

Add a proper FAQ section

Dedicated FAQ sections are one of the highest-impact additions you can make to a service page. They give Google a structured set of question-and-answer pairs to work with. Your FAQ should cover the real questions your customers ask — pull from your sales calls, your enquiry emails, your Google reviews.

Schema markup: the technical signal most businesses skip

Schema markup is code you add to your website pages that tells Google’s AI exactly what type of content is on the page and what each element means. Most Melbourne businesses have none at all. This is one of the fastest ways to improve your AI Overview presence — because it removes ambiguity.

The schema types that matter most for AI Overviews

• FAQPage

  Applied to FAQ sections. Explicitly marks up each question and its answer so Google can extract them directly into AI Overviews and featured snippets.

• Article

  Applied to blog posts and guides. Tells Google the title, author, publish date, and update date. Pairing this with Author schema strengthens E-E-A-T signals.

• HowTo

  Applied to step-by-step instructional content. Explicitly marks up each step, making it easy for Google to extract and display your process.

• LocalBusiness

  Critical for Melbourne businesses. Confirms your trading name, address, phone number, service area, and operating hours.

• Service

  Applied to individual service pages. Useful for tradespeople, clinics, agencies, and any business with distinct service offerings.

• AggregateRating

  Marks up your customer review scores. Businesses with clearly marked review data are treated as more trustworthy by AI systems.

Build the kind of authority Google’s AI trusts

Great content and clean structure will only take you so far. The third dimension of AI Overview optimisation is authority — the signals that tell Google your website is a trustworthy, credible source worth citing.

Technical fixes that directly affect AI Overview eligibility

No content strategy survives a website that Google can’t properly crawl and render. These technical factors aren’t glamorous, but they’re prerequisites — if Google can’t reliably access your pages, it won’t cite them.

AI Overview optimisation for Melbourne local businesses

AI SEO is not just for large brands and enterprises. Local search through AI is one of the most underdeveloped spaces in digital marketing right now — which means Melbourne’s local businesses have a genuine first-mover window that won’t last.

Your Google Business Profile is foundational

Your Google Business Profile (GBP) is the single most important entity signal for local AI Overviews. Google pulls heavily from your GBP data to construct answers about local businesses. Make sure your GBP includes: the correct and complete business name, your primary and secondary business categories, a detailed business description, every service listed individually, your precise address and service area suburbs, accurate trading hours, and at least 10–15 quality photos.

Create suburb-specific content

For businesses serving multiple Melbourne suburbs, creating dedicated location pages significantly improves AI Overview citations for local queries. A plumber with a page titled “Emergency Plumbing in Ringwood — Same Day Service” that genuinely describes their work in that area will outperform a generic “We Service All Melbourne Suburbs” page almost every time.

The local AI SEO checklist

• Google Business Profile fully completed — categories, services, photos, Q&A, regular posts
• Consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone) across every directory listing and social profile
• LocalBusiness schema implemented on your website with correct service area markup
• Suburb-specific landing pages or service area content for your key Melbourne areas
• Review generation strategy — volume and recency of Google reviews are AI trust signals
• Listings in Australian industry directories (hipages, ServiceSeeking, HealthEngine, etc.)

The most common AI Overview mistakes we see

Frequently asked questions