More and more often a Google results page starts not with a list of websites but with an answer written by AI. For a business this is a new situation: you can rank on the first page and still get no click, because the customer read the summary and closed the tab. Below we explain what AI Overviews and AI Mode are, where they take their sources from and what you can realistically do to make your website the one they cite.
Two different things: AI Overviews and AI Mode
AI Overviews are summaries shown above the regular results. Google generates them for part of the queries, especially those phrased as questions: “how much does…”, “how to…”, “is it worth…”. Below the text you can see a few cited pages. The user gets an answer before seeing the first classic result.
AI Mode is a separate search mode in which you talk to Google like to an assistant: you ask, follow up, narrow down. Answers are longer, and sources appear as cards next to the text. AI Mode uses the same index as regular search, but splits the question into several sub-queries and assembles the answer from many pages at once.
The common denominator is simple: both features cite pages that answer the question directly and concretely. They do not reward volume or keywords, only passages that can be quoted as an answer.
How many queries already have an AI summary? Our own data
For several months we have been checking, every week, a set of queries that matter for our own website: from “web development Kraków” to “website maintenance contract”. For each one we record whether an AI Overview appears in the results.
In the measurement from 21 September 2026 an AI summary was displayed for 25 out of 30 queries. The only ones without it were strictly local queries (“websites Kraków”, “interactive agency Kraków”). Every query asking about price, maintenance cost, an audit or taking over a website had an AI Overview.
What this means in practice shows up in Google Search Console: our article about website maintenance costs gets hundreds of impressions a month at good positions, and far fewer clicks than the position would suggest. Part of the answer the user gets from the summary. Position has stopped being the only measure; what also counts is whether you are a cited source.
Where AI Overviews take their sources from
Google has not published the algorithm, but the behaviour is fairly consistent and matches what we see in measurements for clients:
- The page has to be indexed and accessible to crawlers. Blocking AI bots in robots.txt does not switch off AI Overviews, because they rely on Googlebot. Blocking Googlebot switches off everything.
- Passages are cited, not pages. Google picks the paragraph that answers the user’s question. A page with a price in a table and the sentence “a company website costs from PLN 4,900 net” has something to be cited for. A page saying “individual quote” does not.
- Question in the heading, answer right below it. Sections written as “How long does a website repair take?” with a two-sentence answer get cited more often than the same information spread across a long paragraph.
- Consistency of facts. If your website shows a different price, a different number of years in business or a different rating than your Google Business Profile and directories, AI picks one version. Not always yours.
- Structured data helps but does not replace content. FAQPage, Service or Organization markup makes it easier for Google to understand the page. Without a concrete answer in the text they add nothing.
Why a top 10 position is not enough
An AI Overview usually cites from three to a dozen or so sources, and they are not simply the first organic results. In our measurements we have seen a page from the second results page being cited because it had a clear answer, while the ranking leader only had a generic service description. The opposite also happens: a company at position 3 does not make it into the summary at all.
This changes priorities. Instead of asking “what position are we at”, it is worth asking: “for the questions our customers ask, does Google show an AI summary, and are we cited in it?” The answer to the second question can be measured and improved.
What to do to get cited: five steps
- Check which of your queries have an AI Overview. Type them into Google and note whether a summary appears above the results and whom it cites. Do this for questions, not only for service names.
- Answer each of those questions directly on your website. A heading with the question, below it two or three sentences of answer with specifics: price, timeline, scope, terms. Elaboration comes after.
- Give the numbers customers are looking for. Starting price, delivery time, working hours, service area. A page without numbers has nothing to be cited for when the question is about a number.
- Tidy up the facts outside your website. Google Business Profile, industry directories, social profiles: the same years in business, the same name, the same address and phone number.
- Update and show the update date. Content with a visible, recent date is cited more readily for questions where freshness matters, such as prices or regulations.
What cannot be “fixed” for AI Overviews
There is no way to pay for a presence in the AI summary, and there is no file that switches it on. Mass-generating content for every conceivable question does not help either: Google cites pages that users actually visit and trust. If someone promises guaranteed presence in AI Overviews within a week, they are promising something they do not control. We write more about what can and cannot be promised in AI search optimization — what it is and how it differs from SEO.
How we measure it
As part of the SEO and AI search optimization service we check three things for a fixed set of questions: whether Google shows an AI Overview, whom it cites and whether you are among the sources. On top of that come ChatGPT’s answers to the same questions, asked several times. The result takes the form “company cited in 4 out of 12 questions”, not “you are visible”. The first measurement is free: 8–10 of your customers’ questions, a PDF within 3 business days, no website access needed. It shows whether the problem lies in the content, in the consistency of facts, or simply in the fact that Google does not yet show summaries for your queries.