Google AI Overview Optimization Service
Google is featuring AI Overviews at the top of more of its search results. These AI response results slightly differ from the traditional SEO results you get on Google search, which is why companies are focusing on getting into these answers along with the top organic results. Plus, Google has its AI mode (Generative AI), which allows searches to deepen their search query, which is why ranking in this summary is critical.
The Google AI Answers service is an add-on to the Local SEO Service / National SEO Service that I provide to my clients. The best clients also have me manage their Google Ads and Bing Ads accounts, so I have the full picture of their performance.
Key Summary
- What is the AI Overview? Google has AI-generated answers and summaries at the top of more of its results, which will push down traditional SEO results on the page.
- Do SEO Rankings Mean I Will Rank Here? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. In my experience, great SEO is critical for ranking on page 1 of Google, but AI-generated summaries may not even mention your brand.
- How Do You Track? I use Otterly.AI to track a handful of prompts in Google AI Overview for Brands. I also use Bing Webmaster Tools (for Bing), SEMrush, and Google Analytics 4 to measure overall organic traffic.
- What Is Your Strategy? I focus on upper-funnel and lower-funnel content that is missing from your site to rank in these answers. For example, “what are the best sandals to wear to a bachelorette party or to the pool” is perfect for the upper funnel. A lower-funnel option would be “comfortable women’s sandals,” since that is closer to a purchase decision.
- What is the Cost? The Google AI overview optimization falls under the AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and GEO (Generative Optimization Engine) packages, starting at $900 per month.
What I Focus on for Google AI Overview Optimization Services
The price starts at $900 per month, as it also focuses on Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity, ChatGPT, and Google AI overviews.
- Monitoring 20 daily discovery prompts using Otterly.AI
- Making changes to your existing landing pages to help with AI visibility. Those changes can include key summaries, the removal of jargon, the creation of tables, and more.
- Creating new AI SEO content around gaps in your funnel. I use Claude, ChatGPT, and Clearscope to create the first AI-generated content draft before sending it over to you to review
- I review third-party citations in which your competitors are cited in the AI overview. For example, I might notice that your competitors are on the Times Union website, Yelp, Saratoga.com, so I would focus on getting you listed there too. Usually, there is a price associated with that.
- Reporting on your Google Analytics 4 traffic data. Most direct AI Overview clicks in the SERP count as organic traffic, whereas someone diving deeper into the AI Mode on Google counts as an AI visit.
- And more!
Google AI Overview Optimization Service
In this video, I’m Greg Kristan from TM Blast, and I break down how Google AI Overviews are changing local search visibility for businesses. I’m seeing more question-based searches, such as “Who is the best AC repairman in Albany, NY?” or “Who are the best plumbers in Albany, NY?”, trigger AI Overviews near the top of Google. When that happens, the traditional Map Pack can be pushed farther down the page. If your Google Business Profile is down year over year in phone calls, bookings, website clicks, directions, or profile views, it may be worth checking whether competitors are appearing inside these AI-generated results.Example AI Featured Snippet in Google
For TM Blast, I rank number 1 in SEO for “hourly SEO consultant” and am regularly featured in the AI Overview. Both of those ranks give my business more chances to get leads looking for Hourly SEO. However, while my business does rank number 1 in SEO for this keyword phrase, you are not guaranteed to rank in the AI Overview, which is where this service comes into play.
Otterly.AI Tracks Brand Mentions on Google
Otterly.AI is the primary tool that I use for my keyword research / prompt tracking for my clients. While SEMrush can show me whether we rank in the AI results, Otterly takes it a step further by showing me a cached memory of whether we are mentioned and, more importantly, whether it is favorable. Otterly uses a Brand Sentiment score, which lets me see how likely Google is to recommend your product or brand to users in search results. Step 1 is to be mentioned or featured in the results, but step 2 is to be favorably recommended, which comes down to the strategy I implement for my clients.
The Strategy
There is no one-size-fits-all strategy that I use for my clients. My strategy will need to evolve as algorithms change, competitors improve, and other factors require daily reviews. Below are some of the traditional ways I work on improving the AI visibility on Google for my clients
- Updated existing landing pages to make the content easier to understand for AI agents / LLMS. For example, I may add key summaries, remove jargon, create tables, add external links, and more.
- Create new GEO-specific pages on the website to address our gaps. For example, I would create a discovery blog post if we were not ranking well for something like “what are the best AI tracking tools that are not SEMRush,” if I were working on the strategy for a platform that tracks these results, not named SEMRush.
- Third-party mentions are critical for competitive markets. Otterly. AI shows me what third-party sites my competitors are listed on that are regularly featured in Google’s AI overview. If those results are being brought into Google, we need to work on getting on them as well.
- Schema markup is a small but still important ranking factor for Google. If schema is not present, I will add that with both a description/reviews from Trustindex.io.
- Proper SEO (search engine optimization) is still a must for this strategy. SEO best practices like clear architecture, image optimization, internal linking, crawlability, and more are necessary to rank in the AI overview. I use Google Search Console to monitor how Google’s crawler reviews your website for errors.
- Responsive design / clean website design/content structure are also important for better rankings. You can’t paste a 2k word blog post from Claude on your site and call it a day. Having a great search generative experience with key summaries, a clean look and feel, and more are just as important.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Google AI Overview?
A Google AI Overview is the AI-generated summary Google places above the traditional blue links for many searches, pulling together and citing a handful of sources to answer the query directly. Getting cited inside that box is a different game than ranking #1 — it depends on how clearly and authoritatively your content answers the underlying question, not just your standard SEO rankings.
What exactly is included for $900?
The $900/month starting package includes daily tracking of 15 prompts to see when and how your brand shows up in Google AI Overviews (via Otterly.AI); on-page changes to existing pages to improve their odds of being cited; new content built specifically to answer the questions Google’s AI is summarizing; a review of which competitors are getting cited instead of you; and monthly GA4 reporting. It’s sold as an add-on to an existing Local SEO or National SEO package, not a standalone service.
How much does Google AI Overview optimization cost?
Plans start at $900/month and include tracking for 15 daily prompts to monitor your visibility inside Google AI Overviews. Businesses that want broader prompt coverage can add more for an additional monthly cost.
How do you measure success?
Success is measured primarily through Otterly.AI, which tracks up to 15 daily prompts — a mix of service-based and question-based searches, adjusted for location on local businesses — to see how often and how favorably your brand appears inside Google’s AI Overviews. We pair that with GA4 traffic and conversion data and a monthly brand-sentiment review, since AI Overview visibility and referral traffic don’t move in lockstep the way traditional rankings do.
How do you track attribution and website traffic from Google AI Overviews?
We use Google Analytics 4 to measure sessions and conversions tied to AI Overview-driven visits. Attribution is inherently incomplete in this channel, though — Google’s AI Overview frequently cites or names a business without a clickable link back to the site, so traffic data is treated as directional, not a complete picture of impact.
What results should I expect, and how fast?
Early goals center on increasing how often your brand appears in Google AI Overviews and how positively it’s described, not hitting a fixed traffic number. Because AI Overview attribution works differently than traditional SEO tracking, mention frequency and sentiment are treated as the leading indicators, with traffic and conversions reported alongside them.
What does brand sentiment mean, and how do you improve it?
Brand sentiment is how favorably Google’s AI Overview describes your business when it cites you — not just whether you’re mentioned, but what’s said about you. We improve it by generating more customer reviews and securing mentions on reputable third-party sites, since Google’s AI leans heavily on both when forming and summarizing an opinion of a brand.
Do you use Otterly.AI or Local Falcon to track Google AI Overview visibility?
We use both, for different jobs. Otterly.AI runs your daily prompt tracking and tells us when and how you’re showing up in Google AI Overviews (and other AI platforms, for context); Local Falcon is used for Google Business Profile optimization and local keyword discovery that feeds the map pack. Together they cover AI Overview visibility and traditional local search visibility.