How do you get your business into Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode?

What Google says it takes

From Google's own page, AI features and your website:

• "There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary."
• A page has to be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet to be a supporting link. There are no additional technical requirements.
• "There's also no special schema.org structured data that you need to add", and "You don't need to create new machine readable files, AI text files, or markup to appear in these features." (More on llms.txt.)
• Its best practices: allow crawling in robots.txt and in your CDN or hosting, make content findable through internal links, keep important content in text, make structured data match the visible text, and keep Business Profile information up to date.

AI Mode in Australia

AI Mode is Google's conversational search. Google says it started rolling out to Australians on 8 October 2025 (Google). Both AI Overviews and AI Mode may use "query fan-out": running several related searches across subtopics to build one answer (Google). That is one reason a page answering a narrow, specific question can be cited for a broader one.

The steps

1. Let Googlebot in. Make sure robots.txt, your CDN and your hosting firewall all allow Googlebot. Google lists this first in its guidance for AI features.
2. Get the key pages indexed. Use the page indexing report and URL Inspection in Search Console. Only an indexed page that can show a snippet can be a link in an AI Overview.
3. Answer one question per page. Put the question in a heading the way people ask it, and answer it in the first paragraph, in text rather than only in images or video.
4. Link the pages together. Link each answer page from your service pages and menus, so Google can find it through internal links.
5. Keep your Business Profile current. Hours, services, areas and phone number up to date, and the same as on your site.
6. Check the same questions every month. Search your list of questions on Google and record whether your site is linked in the AI Overview, and which sites are linked instead.

How to see it in Search Console

Google reports traffic from AI features inside the Performance report, under the "Web" search type (Google). There is no separate AI Overview filter, so the only way to know whether a given question shows your page in its AI Overview is to search it, and to keep a record.

If you want less of your page shown

Google says the nosnippet, data-nosnippet, max-snippet and noindex controls limit what is shown from your pages in Search, AI features included (Google). Use them with care: a page that can't show a snippet can't be a link in an AI Overview.

What we see in our checks

In our Australian AI Overview Index (scan of 23 Oct 2026: 40 Australian questions across five industries, 3 runs each), Google showed an AI Overview in 119 of 120 runs, each listing about 7 to 10 sources. An individual business's own website was among the sources in 116 of those 119. The Index measures Google's AI Overviews only, on a fixed list of general questions (all published in the Index); it doesn't measure ChatGPT, and it doesn't measure any one business. Industry by industry, the other sources differ: government and court sites for law, accounting and health questions, social media, video and directories for building and trade questions. The full Index, its questions and the CSV.

Questions people ask

Do I need special schema or an llms.txt file?

No. Google says there is no special schema.org structured data to add and no need for "AI text files" (Google). Structured data that matches what the page says is still good practice.

Can I see AI Overview clicks separately in Search Console?

No. Google counts them in the Performance report's "Web" search type, together with ordinary results.

Does every search show an AI Overview?

Not every search. On the 40 general questions in our Index, one appeared in 119 of 120 runs (scan of 23 Oct 2026). Google doesn't publish how often they appear overall.

Can I pay to appear in an AI Overview?

Not as an organic source. The sources are chosen from Google's index; for local results, Google says "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google" (Google Business Profile Help).