# What is AI Overviews? Google AI Overviews, explained

> Google's generative answer surface.

AI Overviews are Google's generative answer feature, surfaced above the blue-link list on many queries. They synthesize an answer from multiple sources and show inline citations. Launched as Search Generative Experience (SGE) in 2023 and graduated to general availability as AI Overviews in 2024, they're now the highest-traffic AEO surface in the world.

## How AI Overviews differs from SGE, AEO, Answer Engine

Featured snippets pull a single source verbatim. AI Overviews synthesize from multiple sources with inline citations. Both reward AEO patterns; AI Overviews additionally reward GEO-style citation-friendliness.

## How Mentionwell handles AI Overviews

- AEO patterns enforced on every article: question-led H2s, 40–60 word leads, FAQPage + BlogPosting JSON-LD.
- Google-Extended explicitly allowed in robots.txt.
- Stable canonicals and Markdown mirrors so Google's generative pipeline can ingest cleanly.

## Frequently asked questions about AI Overviews

### What are Google AI Overviews?

Google's generative AI answer feature — a synthesized paragraph with inline citations shown above the blue-link list on many queries. Generally available since May 2024.

### How do I get cited in AI Overviews?

Rank well in classical SEO, lead with the answer, ship FAQPage + Article schema, allow Google-Extended in robots.txt, and tie every claim to evidence so the page is citable.

## See also

- [SGE — Search Generative Experience optimization](https://mentionwell.com/sge): Google-specific — now folded into AI Overviews.
- [AEO — Answer Engine Optimization](https://mentionwell.com/aeo): Be the answer.
- [Answer Engine — Answer Engine](https://mentionwell.com/answer-engine): Returns answers, not links.

## Sources

- [Google: AI Overviews general availability](https://blog.google/products/search/generative-ai-google-search-may-2024/) — Google, 2024

---

Canonical URL: https://mentionwell.com/ai-overviews
Live HTML version: https://mentionwell.com/ai-overviews
Site index for AI ingestion: https://mentionwell.com/llms.txt
Full reference: https://mentionwell.com/llms-full.txt