Search for something on Google today and there is a good chance the first thing you see is not a list of websites but a paragraph written by Google's AI, with small links to the sites it used. These are AI Overviews. They have been shown in the UK since 2024, and Google has since added AI Mode, a separate tab where you can have a back-and-forth conversation with search.
For a small business, AI Overviews raise two worries: will fewer people click through to my website, and how do I get mentioned in the summary? This guide answers both, based on what Google has published and what you can see for yourself in the results.
What AI Overviews and AI Mode actually are
An AI Overview is a summary Google generates for some searches, usually informational ones: “how often should a boiler be serviced”, “what does a probate solicitor do”, “can you paint over wallpaper”. It appears above the normal results and cites several web pages, each with a link.
AI Mode is a fuller, conversational version. Google describes it as breaking a question into related sub-searches (it calls this “query fan-out”), running them together, and assembling one answer. It tends to cite a wider range of pages than a single search would.
Both are built on Google's normal search index. They are not a separate system you have to submit to.
What Google says about getting included
Google's own guidance for site owners is unusually direct. It says there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and no special optimisation is needed. To be eligible as a supporting link, a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet. The same SEO good practice that applies to ordinary results applies here.
Google's guidance also notes that structured data is not required, although it remains useful for describing your business accurately. And the Google-Extended setting, which some sites use to opt out of Gemini model training, does not remove you from Google Search, so it does not affect AI Overviews either.
Which searches show an AI Overview, and which do not
Not every search gets one. From watching UK results, the pattern is broadly this, though Google adjusts it often:
| Kind of search | Example | AI Overview? | What usually decides who gets the customer |
|---|---|---|---|
| How-to and explanation | “why is my boiler losing pressure” | Often | Pages that answer clearly get cited; some readers then look for a local business |
| Comparison and cost | “how much does a loft conversion cost uk” | Often | Specific, well-sourced pages with real figures and caveats |
| Local “near me” and “in [town]” | “hairdresser near me”, “accountant exeter” | Less often; the map pack usually leads | Google Business Profile, reviews and proximity |
| Brand or business name | “[your business] opening hours” | Sometimes | Your own website and Business Profile being accurate |
| Buying a specific product | “buy oak worktop 3m” | Varies | Shopping listings and product pages |
Will AI Overviews take my clicks?
For some searches, yes. If someone asks a simple question and the summary answers it, fewer of them will click on anything. That mostly affects informational content, such as how-to articles and definitions, and it hurts publishers far more than it hurts a local business.
Most small businesses do not earn their living from informational clicks. They earn it from people who are ready to buy, book or call, and those searches are still dominated by the map pack, business listings and ordinary results. A person searching “emergency plumber Plymouth” wants a phone number, not an essay.
Where a small business does lose out is if it relied on a helpful guide or two to bring in visitors. Those guides are still worth writing, but they need to earn their place by being the best, most specific answer, the one the AI Overview cites and the one a reader clicks when they want more detail.
Practical changes worth making
- Make sure your important pages are indexed. Search Console (free) shows which pages Google has and has not indexed, and why.
- Do not block snippets. A “nosnippet” tag or an aggressive max-snippet setting stops your page being used as a supporting link.
- Answer the question in the first two sentences of a page, then explain. AI summaries and human readers both reward this.
- Use the words your customers use, including the questions they ask you on the phone. Turn common questions into short, specific FAQ answers.
- Put real specifics on the page: areas covered, turnaround times, typical price ranges or what drives a price, qualifications and memberships.
- Keep your Google Business Profile complete and current, because local queries lean on it heavily. Our local SEO guides cover this in depth.
- Add accurate structured data for your business type. It is not required, but it gives Google your details in a consistent form.
What if an AI Overview gets your business wrong?
AI summaries sometimes state things that are out of date or simply wrong: old opening hours, a service you stopped offering, a price from a directory listing years ago. The Overview is only as good as the pages it reads, so the fix is almost always at the source.
Find where the wrong fact came from. The Overview's links usually show you. If it is your own site, correct the page. If it is a directory or an old listing, update or remove it. If it is your Business Profile, edit it there. Every AI Overview also has a feedback option, and reporting a clear factual error is worth the thirty seconds, but correcting the underlying page is what makes the fix stick.
It is also a good reason to state key facts plainly on your own site, in text rather than inside images: hours, areas, services and how to book. The clearer your own pages are, the less room there is for a summary to fill gaps from somewhere worse.
How to see whether you are being cited
Google Search Console includes clicks and impressions from AI features within your normal Performance report; at the time of writing it does not separate them out. So the most practical check is manual. Every month or so, search the questions customers ask about your service in your area, in a private window, and note whether an AI Overview appears and which sites it cites.
If a competitor or a national directory is cited and you are not, read their page. Usually it answers the question more directly, gives a specific figure or step you left out, or simply exists where your equivalent page does not.
If you want a site where every page is written to answer customers' real questions plainly, that is how Nerdsharks writes every website we build. The checklist above is the same whoever does the work.