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AI Overviews and AI Mode in Google

| Article: 4 min read | SEO and search

AI Overviews are a short AI-written answer above the regular Google results, with links to sources. AI Mode is a separate search mode for more complex queries: comparisons, multi-step questions, with an extended answer and links. Both use "query fan-out": the system runs several related queries at once and shows a wider set of links.

In plain words

Google doesn't write the answer "from its head": it takes pages from its index and retells them. So you can get into these answers only the same way as into regular search: the page must be indexed and eligible to be shown with a snippet. Google says there are no additional requirements or special optimization for AI Overviews and AI Mode (Google, AI features).

AI Overviews don't always appear: only when Google's systems judge that they add value on top of classic results (same source).

Are they available in Ukraine

  • AI Overviews became available in Ukraine on 21 May 2025; Mezha writes about more than 200 countries and more than 40 languages, including Ukrainian (Mezha, 2025).
  • Google expanded AI Mode on 7 October 2025 to more than 35 new languages and more than 40 new countries (Google, 2025). The official post doesn't name the languages; Ukrainian is in the Search Engine Roundtable list (SER, 2025).

How many Ukrainian queries actually trigger an AI answer is unknown.

How this affects a store's traffic

The data disagree in details, but the direction is shared:

  • Pew Research (March 2025, 900 American adults, 68,879 searches): with an AI answer, people clicked regular results in 8% of visits, without one in 15%; they clicked a link inside the answer in 1% of visits. This is an association, not a proven cause; Google called the methodology flawed (Pew, 2025).
  • Ahrefs (February 2026; December 2023 versus December 2025; desktop only; 300,000 keywords): the CTR of a first-position page with an AI Overview is about 58% lower, second position 50.8%, third 46.4%, tenth 19.4%. The authors label this a correlation and attribute part of the drop to other result blocks (Ahrefs, 2026).
  • Google claims the opposite regarding quality: in its words, clicks from pages with AI Overviews are "higher quality", and users stay on the site longer (Google, 2025). There is no independent confirmation of this.

What about shopping queries?

Semrush (July 2026; over 600,000 keywords, US only, desktop, period November 2025 – April 2026): the share of commercial results with an AI Overview grew by 71% on average, while the share of transactional ones (with purchase intent) fell by 5%. Semrush sells SEO tools, and the study describes correlations (Semrush, 2026). The study has no separate cut for e-commerce specifically.

What to do

Google's guide (May 2026) says: ordinary SEO practices remain the foundation, you need unique "non-commodity" content, clear structure, a good page experience, quality photos and video (Google, 2026). For a store, concretely:

  1. Don't block Googlebot. Check robots.txt and your CDN or bot protection: they must not block crawling (AI features).
  2. Write for people. Your own photos, answers to buyers' questions, honest comparisons. Don't create lots of pages for query variations.
  3. Keep Merchant Center up to date. Google explicitly advises syncing its data; AI answers can contain product cards (Google, 2026). See Google Merchant Center.
  4. Markup must match the text on the page (see Structured data). There is no special markup for AI Overviews.
  5. Look at the reports. Search Console now has a generative AI report (impressions only: pages, countries, devices, dates) (Google, 2026). Clicks and queries are not shown in it; the data is also included in the overall performance report.

Can you opt out

Yes. According to a Google post of 3 June 2026 (updated 31 August 2026), Search Console has a switch with which a site owner decides whether the site appears in AI Overviews, AI Mode and AI Overviews in Discover. Sites that opt out get neither impressions nor traffic from these features; it doesn't affect ranking in the rest of search (Google, 2026). Previously, display could be limited with the `nosnippet`, `data-nosnippet`, `max-snippet` or `noindex` directives; Google warns that stricter restrictions also reduce presence in AI features (Google, 2025). The Google-Extended token controls only training and "grounding" of Gemini models and doesn't affect display in search (Google).

Whether a store should opt out depends on how many buyers come from these answers. General studies don't answer this: check your report.

Common mistakes

  • Blocking AI features without looking at the report.
  • Looking for "markup for AI Overviews": there isn't any.
  • Judging impact by rankings alone. Position and click are now less tightly linked.

FAQ

What are AI Overviews? Short AI answers above Google search results, with links to sources.

How does AI Mode differ from AI Overviews? AI Mode is a separate mode for more complex queries with an extended answer. Google notes that the models and the set of links in the two features may differ.

How do I get into AI Overviews? The same way as into search: the page must be indexed and eligible for a snippet. Google names no special requirements.

Do AI Overviews reduce traffic? Independent studies (Pew, Ahrefs) show fewer clicks on queries that have an AI answer. Google disagrees. For Ukrainian search there is no verified data.

Sources

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