How AI Overviews Choose Which Websites to Feature

Google’s AI Overviews are showing up more often, and the big question most teams have is simple: why are they citing that website and not mine? The helpful (and sometimes frustrating) truth is that AI Overviews don’t live in a separate universe from Search. They’re built on top of Google’s existing ranking and quality systems, then assembled in a way that makes it easier for users to get a fast summary and click out to supporting sources.

If you’re trying to earn more “featured” placements, the goal isn’t to game a new algorithm—it’s to become one of the best, clearest sources available for the exact questions people are asking. Below, we’ll walk through what “featured” really means, what selection signals matter most, and what you can do to increase your odds.

What “Featured” Means in an AI Overview

When your website is “featured” in an AI Overview, it usually means Google is showing your page as a supporting link (a citation) next to the AI-generated summary. In other words, you’re not just ranking somewhere on the page; you’re being used as part of the evidence behind the answer. Google’s own overview of the feature emphasizes that AI Overviews are meant to provide a snapshot with links so people can explore more on the web, not stop searching entirely (see Google’s explainer on AI Overviews ). If you’re trying to show up in those citations more consistently, this pairs well with the mindset in Oyova’s guide on AI Search Optimization, because it frames visibility as “being useful enough to be referenced,” not just “being ranked.”

How AI Overviews Choose Which Websites to Cite

The easiest way to think about AI Overviews is that they’re still powered by the same core Search systems that decide what ranks. If your content isn’t eligible to show up well in regular Search, it’s unlikely to be pulled in as a supporting citation. Google explains this from a site-owner perspective in its Search Central documentation on AI features and your website, which is why improving your overall SEO foundation still matters. For many businesses, that “foundation first” work looks like tightening technical + on-page relevance through a service page like Oyova’s SEO Services. Because citations tend to follow sites that are consistently crawlable, understandable, and competitive in core results.

Why Subtopics Matter More Than Ever

One of the most overlooked parts of AI Overviews is that they can be assembled from multiple related angles, not just a single “main keyword.” Google describes how Overviews use generative AI with links to dig deeper in its PDF explainer on how AI Overviews work , which maps closely to what we see in practice: you can get cited because you answered a supporting question better than anyone else. That’s why structured, question-forward sections (definitions, steps, mistakes, comparisons) often create more citation “entry points.” If you want one internal resource that pairs perfectly with this approach, Oyova’s post on foundational schema types for small business sites is a strong companion. Less because the schema is a magic key, and more because a clean structure helps both users and machines interpret your page quickly.

What Google Doesn’t Require (And What People Waste Time On)

A lot of teams spiral into the idea that there must be a special “AI Overview optimization trick.” In reality, there isn’t a magic schema type or secret markup that flips you into AI Overviews. What tends to matter more is whether your content is genuinely helpful, specific, and built to satisfy the query. Google’s guidance on creating helpful, reliable, people-first content is still one of the clearest north stars here: if your page feels written “for rankings,” it’s harder to trust as a citation source. And when you’re producing content with citation goals, it’s worth treating it as a strategy, which is exactly what a service like Oyova’s Content Marketing is built to support.

What Actually Increases Your Chances of Being Featured

If you want more citations, you need to make your page easier to trust and easier to summarize. That usually starts with a clear answer near the top, followed by a supporting explanation that’s grounded in real experience and proof. In higher-stakes topics (money, health, legal risk, safety), credibility becomes even more important. Google’s quality rater guidelines aren’t a direct ranking checklist, but they do show what “trustworthy” looks like at a content level, especially around Experience/Expertise and page quality (see the Search Quality Rater Guidelines PDF ). If you want an internal piece that complements this “build trust + clarity” approach, Oyova’s article on foundational elements for SEO with AI does a solid job of reinforcing that AI-era visibility still rewards the basics done extremely well.

How to Track AI Overview Visibility Without Guessing

Tracking AI Overviews can feel frustrating because most analytics tools weren’t built for this shift. What you can do is build a reliable proxy system: identify the pages that should be cited for your highest-value topics, then monitor impressions/clicks trends and watch for patterns where visibility rises without a proportional click increase. For feature behavior and user-facing context, Google’s help documentation on AI Overviews in Search is a useful external reference. On the internal side, if you’re targeting local visibility where AI answers often show “best” and “near me” style results, Oyova’s post on AI SEO for St. Petersburg businesses is a practical example of how to align content with conversational, locality-driven queries that AI summaries frequently reference.