Knowledge base

AI Overviews

In short

AI Overviews are the AI-written answers Google shows above the regular search results. Google reads several web pages for this, summarises them in a few paragraphs and adds a handful of source links. So users get the answer without having to open a website.

By the Marketingkenners team

Updated 13 oktober 2026

How do AI Overviews work?

Google decides per search query whether an AI answer makes sense. For informational and explanatory questions this happens often, for navigational and purchase queries much less. The answer is compiled from sources Google has already crawled and indexed, so you first need to be findable before you stand a chance of being mentioned.

The sources that are cited aren’t always in position 1. Google picks passages that cover the answer best, including from pages that rank lower. That’s precisely why the structure of your text matters.

What do AI Overviews do to your traffic?

For questions that fit entirely within the answer, the click evaporates. We see this in our own figures: knowledge base pages in positions 1 to 3 with a click-through rate between 0.15 and 2.9 per cent, where 10 to 28 per cent is normal. The impressions stay, the visitors don’t.

For commercial search queries the effect is smaller. Anyone searching “dakdekker Arnhem offerte” wants contact, not a summary. There, clicking remains the behaviour. That makes the difference between informational and commercial content suddenly much bigger than it was.

Can you keep yourself out of AI Overviews?

Partly. With the robots directive nosnippet or max-snippet you limit what Google may show, and Google-Extended in your robots.txt controls the use of your content for Google’s AI models. That’s usually not a good idea: you disappear from the answers while your competitor is in them, and the click doesn’t come back as a result.

How do you get in?

Give the answer in the first two sentences of your page, with no introduction.
Use headings that are literally the question people ask.
Work with concrete numbers, dates and examples instead of generalities.
Keep one topic per page, so the context is clear.
Make sure your technical setup is right: indexable, fast and with correct Structured data.

And adjust your expectations. A page cited in an AI Overview delivers awareness and authority, not sessions. So don’t judge it on visitor numbers alone.

You only get into AI answers if your foundations are right. That is where search engine optimisation starts. Also read about GEO and zero-click searches.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

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Wat is het verschil tussen AI Overviews en een featured snippet?

Een featured snippet toont een letterlijk stuk tekst van één website bovenaan de zoekresultaten. Een AI Overview is een samenvatting die Google zelf schrijft uit meerdere bronnen, met een paar bronlinks erbij. Bij allebei krijgt de zoeker het antwoord zonder te klikken.

Hoe zie je of je website in AI Overviews staat?

Zoek je belangrijkste vragen zelf op in Google en kijk of je site als bron wordt genoemd. In Search Console tellen vertoningen in AI Overviews mee in de gewone cijfers, dus een hoge positie met een lage doorklikratio is een signaal. Kijk daarvoor per zoekwoord en pagina, niet naar het gemiddelde van je hele site.

Hebben AI Overviews invloed op lokale zoekopdrachten zoals een dakdekker in de buurt?

Minder dan op uitlegvragen. Wie een vakman in de buurt zoekt wil contact en klikt door, vaak via het lokale pakket met kaart. Daar telt je Google Business Profile zwaarder mee dan een AI-samenvatting.

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