Quick answer
Google's documentation says AI features in Search draw on the same foundations as Search: pages should be indexed and eligible to appear with a snippet, and site owners do not need special markup to be included. Google also advises following its usual helpful content and technical guidance.
What is stated in the documentation?
- AI Overviews and AI Mode show links to supporting pages.
- A page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet to be a supporting link.
- Site owners can control snippets with existing robots directives.
- Existing SEO best practice applies.
Method note
The statements, in Google's own words
Three statements in Google's documentation carry the most weight. On eligibility, a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet, fulfilling the Search technical requirements. On extra requirements, there are none beyond those. And on special files or markup:
You don't need to create new machine readable files, AI text files, or markup to appear in these features.
The controls Google names
- Snippet controls: nosnippet, data-nosnippet, max-snippet and noindex limit what is shown.
- Access: robots.txt directives for Googlebot are the control site owners use to manage access.
- Reporting: sites appearing in AI features are included in overall search traffic in Search Console, within the Performance report under the Web search type.
What the behaviour data adds
Google's documentation describes eligibility. It does not describe what happens to clicks. Independent evidence from Pew Research Center, using the March 2025 browsing data of 900 U.S. adults, found that users clicked a traditional result link in 8% of visits when an AI summary appeared and 15% when it did not, and clicked a link inside the summary in 1% of visits.
8%
of visits included a click on a traditional result when an AI summary appeared
15%
of visits included one when no AI summary appeared
1%
of visits with an AI summary clicked a link inside the summary
These figures come from Pew Research Center's analysis of the browsing data of 900 U.S. adults during March 2025. They describe Google searches in one country and one month, and they measure clicks, not influence. A person who reads a brand name in an AI summary and searches for it later will not appear in these numbers at all.
26%
of pages with an AI summary were followed by the end of the browsing session
16%
of pages with only traditional results were followed by the end of the session
58%
of respondents had at least one Google search in March 2025 that produced an AI summary
These figures are from one country and one month and concern Google search behaviour. They should be read alongside, not instead of, your own Search Console data for the queries that matter to you.
Turning the guidance into a checklist
- 1Confirm that your key pages are indexed and not blocked from snippets.
- 2Check that robots.txt does not block Googlebot from pages you want to appear.
- 3Write direct answers on the pages that target questions.
- 4Use structured data that matches visible content, if it suits the page, without expecting it to guarantee inclusion.
- 5Monitor the Performance report for the queries where AI features appear, and track inclusion separately.
Method note
Does this apply to other platforms?
No. Each platform publishes its own guidance. See the platform pages for what each says.
Is there a separate Search Console report for AI Overviews?
According to Google's documentation, traffic from AI features is included in the overall Performance report under the Web search type, rather than in a separate report.
Does this apply to ChatGPT or Perplexity?
No. Each platform publishes its own guidance. See the crawler research note and the platform playbooks for what OpenAI, Perplexity and Anthropic document.
Sources
- 1. Google Search Central: AI features and your website (Accessed Sep 2026)
- 2. Pew Research Center: Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results (Published 22 Jul 2025; browsing data from March 2025)
Cite this page
BrandWater AI Research. (2026, 24 September 2026). What Google says about AI Overviews, AI Mode and your website. https://brandwaterai.in/research/what-google-says-about-ai-features
How we work
Figures are dated and linked to their sources. Where none exist we say so. Read our methodology and AI transparency pages.