By Sumit Nautiyal, Founder · 7 min read · updated 3 October 2026
How to rank in Google's AI Overviews
Short answer
AI Overviews are generated from Google's own index, so the inputs overlap heavily with local search — a complete Google Business Profile, consistent categories, strong reviews and crawlable service pages. This is the one AI surface where existing SEO work carries over, which is also why being strong here tells you nothing about ChatGPT.
Short answer
AI Overviews are the surface most operators already have a head start on, and the one they most often assume is separate.
Because Overviews are generated from Google’s index, the inputs look a lot like local search: a complete and correctly categorised Google Business Profile, reviews, consistent business data, and pages Google can actually read. If your practice already ranks in the local pack, you are closer to appearing in an Overview than you would be to appearing in ChatGPT.
The trap is assuming the reverse holds. It does not.
Why this engine is different from the others
Four engines, four indexes:
| Engine | Resolves through |
|---|---|
| Gemini / AI Overviews | Google’s index and Business Profile |
| ChatGPT | Bing, plus directories |
| Copilot | Bing, plus editorial |
| Perplexity | Its own index, weighted toward community discussion |
Only one of those is Google. That is the whole reason a practice can dominate AI Overviews and be entirely absent from ChatGPT — and why a report showing one number for “AI visibility” hides more than it explains.
What decides whether you are pulled into an Overview
Google Business Profile completeness. Not just claimed — complete. Hours, categories, service list, attributes, photos, Q&A. The service list matters more than most operators think: Overviews answer treatment-level questions, and an untagged service cannot be matched to one.
Primary category accuracy. One wrong primary category quietly removes you from a whole class of queries. Check it against what competitors who do appear are using.
Review depth on the specific thing being asked about. An Overview answering “where can I get Invisalign in Tampa” favours businesses whose reviews actually mention Invisalign. Volume alone does not do this — the words in the reviews do.
Content that answers the question directly. Overviews extract. A page that states a clear answer in its first two sentences is far more extractable than one that builds to it over six paragraphs. Headings phrased as questions help for the same reason.
Structured data. LocalBusiness or the more specific MedicalBusiness / Dentist types, service markup, and FAQ markup where it is genuinely a FAQ. This does not force inclusion; it removes ambiguity about what you are.
Crawlability. Google-Extended controls whether your content can be used for Gemini grounding. Blocking it removes your own site from consideration while leaving your Business Profile in play — a strange half-presence worth avoiding deliberately rather than by accident.
The part that surprises people
Ranking first in the classic blue links does not guarantee inclusion in the Overview above them, and appearing in the Overview does not require ranking first. They are related surfaces drawing on the same index with different selection logic.
This cuts both ways. A practice that has never ranked well organically can still be cited in an Overview on the strength of its Business Profile and reviews. And a practice ranking well can watch its click-through fall as an Overview answers the question without anyone needing to visit.
What to do, in order
- Audit the Business Profile properly — every field, not just the ones that are filled in. Compare against two competitors who do appear.
- Fix the primary category if it is wrong. Everything downstream depends on it.
- Add the service list with the treatment names patients actually search.
- Get reviews that mention specific treatments. Ask for them that way: “if you have a moment, mentioning which treatment you came in for really helps other patients.”
- Rewrite your top service pages answer-first — state the answer, then explain it.
- Confirm Google-Extended is not blocked in
robots.txt. The crawler checker will tell you.
What this will not fix
None of it improves your position in ChatGPT or Copilot, which read Bing. If your goal is coverage across engines, this is one of four jobs — see how AI engines choose which business to name for how the others differ.
It also will not stop Overviews reducing clicks. That trend is not reversible by optimisation; being named in the answer is the response to it.
The caveat
Google has not published how Overview sources are selected, and the surface has changed repeatedly since launch. What is written here reflects observed behaviour and correlations documented across the industry, not confirmed ranking factors. Re-check it rather than trusting it indefinitely.