Can a business be guaranteed a place in AI Overviews?

No. Google provides no mechanism that would guarantee presence in AI answers, just as it does not guarantee positions in classic results. You can systematically improve your chances with the methods described in Google's official guide. Treat any offer that comes with a guarantee with real caution.

How is GEO different from SEO?

According to Google's official guide from May 2026, in no substantial way: optimising for generative search is still SEO. AI answers are built on the same index and the same principles, so the same foundations do the work: technology, content and business facts. Google advises evaluating GEO and AEO services as carefully as any SEO.

Do I need special files or markup to appear in AI answers?

No. Google says directly that generative search features require no new machine-readable files, AI text files or special markup. The llms.txt file and structured data have real upsides, but neither is a requirement for appearing in AI Overviews.

Where do AI Overviews get information about my business?

From the same Google index that classic results use: from the content of your site and from data in Google services such as the Business Profile or Merchant Center. The foundation is therefore a site that systems can crawl and understand, with facts stated directly, plus complete business profiles.

Do AI Overviews take traffic away from websites?

Some questions now end with the answer being read, without a visit to any site, and that is a real change. All the more reason for your content to be the source of the answer and for your site to give a reason to click: specifics, tools, an offer. Alongside AI answers Google shows prominent, clickable links to source pages.

How do I check whether my business appears in AI answers?

Start with Search Console and site analytics, the same tools as in classic SEO, plus manually checking the queries you care about. Search Console has also gained a report for generative features, rolled out country by country since June 2026: it shows impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode, but not clicks or the queries behind them. We do this for clients as part of SEO and report visibility changes together with recommendations.

AI Overviews and GEO: how a business gets into AI answers, and what is a myth

← Back to blog AI Overviews and GEO - how a business gets into AI answers

Łukasz Kozubek - updated: 12 August 2026 - 7 min read

More and more business owners ask us the same question: if Google now answers on its own, at the top of the results, how do I get my business into that answer? The market instantly gave that need a name: GEO, generative engine optimisation, and AEO, answer engine optimisation. Courses, price lists and promises followed. And in May 2026 Google itself weighed in, publishing an official guide to optimising sites for the generative features of its search. It is worth knowing what that guide actually says before anyone invoices you for GEO.

What AI Overviews and AI Mode are

AI Overviews are AI-generated summaries that Google shows above the classic results for some queries. AI Mode goes a step further: it is a mode where you simply talk to the search engine, asking follow-up questions. In both cases the answers are built on the same Google index that ordinary results use, and prominent, clickable links to source pages appear alongside the answers.

For a business this means two things at once. First, a new place to show up: as one of the sources an answer is built on. Second, a new risk: some questions now end with the answer being read, without a visit to any site. All the more reason to be in those answers rather than just watch them.

GEO and AEO: where these acronyms came from

The moment there is a new place to be seen, someone starts selling ways to "win" it. GEO and AEO are sold as a new discipline, separate from SEO: special files for models, a special content format, splitting texts into chunks "digestible for AI", hunting for mentions that AI is supposed to cite.

In its May guide Google does not mince words: optimising for generative search is just optimising for search, and that is still SEO. It even advises that GEO and AEO services be evaluated just as carefully as any SEO service. There is no side door, just a good site and good content, read by the same systems.

Four myths Google has debunked

The guide deals with the most commonly sold "tricks":

Special files and markup "for AI". Not needed: no new machine-readable files, AI text files, special markup or Markdown. We covered this in more depth with the llms.txt file and structured data: both have real upsides, but neither is a ticket into AI answers.
Cutting content into chunks. There is no requirement to break texts into small fragments so AI can "understand them better". Write for people, organise logically, and that is enough.
Writing in a special style "for AI". You do not need to phrase content in any particular way for generative search. Content that is good for the reader is good for the systems.
Artificial mentions and citations. Chasing inauthentic mentions of your business around the web so that "AI cites them" does not work. It is an old trick with a new label.

What really improves your chances in AI answers

The same guide also says what to do. We would put our name to that list without hesitation, because we have worked exactly that way for years:

Content that exists nowhere else. Google puts it bluntly: do not recycle what others have already said, or what a generative AI model could easily produce itself. What counts is your own knowledge, experience and the specifics of your business: real prices, real examples, answers to the questions you hear from customers.
No technical barriers. The site must be crawlable, indexable and fast on every device. It is the same foundation we described with Agentic Browsing in PageSpeed: technical readiness for being read by machines.
Facts stated directly. Who you are, what you do, where and for how much: written in the content, organised with headings, confirmed in structured data. Systems do not guess what is not on the page.
Business data in Google services. The guide covers this separately: a complete Google Business Profile, and Merchant Center for shops, helps products and services show up in AI responses as well, not only in classic results.
Measurement instead of fortune-telling. Traffic and visibility are watched in Search Console and site analytics, the same as in classic SEO. Since June 2026 Google has added a separate report for generative features, rolled out country by country: it shows how often your pages appeared in AI Overviews and AI Mode, but with no clicks and no queries.

What we do at Studio Kozubek

GEO has no separate line in our price list and it never will, because after Google's May guide that would simply be overcharging. We do what works and what can be verified: fast, technically solid sites, business facts stated directly and in structured data, content with specifics instead of filler, complete business profiles in Google. In other words, SEO that assumes from day one that results are now read by people and AI alike.

One thing has to be said clearly: nobody can guarantee your business a place in AI Overviews, because Google provides no such mechanism. What you can do is systematically improve your chances, with exactly the methods Google described in black and white. If someone promises a guarantee, that is your cue to walk away.

In short

AI Overviews and AI Mode change how customers find businesses, but they do not change the foundations: good, original content on a fast site that machines can read. In Google Search, GEO needs no techniques beyond good SEO. That comes from Google itself. If you want to know where your site stands now and what is actually worth improving, write to us. We will look at the specifics, and we will not promise miracles.