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How to show up in Google AI Overviews and Gemini

Google's AI answers are built on Google Search. If you're indexed, eligible for a snippet and well described on Google, you're in the running.

Updated 21 Oct 2026 · 3 official sources

How does Google AI Overviews & Gemini find businesses?

AI Overviews and AI Mode are part of Google Search. Google's own guidance is short: to be shown as a supporting link, a page must be indexed and eligible to appear in Search with a snippet. There are no extra technical requirements, and meeting them doesn't guarantee you'll be shown.

For local questions, Google's answers lean heavily on Google Maps and Business Profile data: categories, hours, reviews, photos and the details businesses add themselves. The Gemini app is a separate product; how your content may be used there is controlled by the Google-Extended token, not by Googlebot.

Which crawlers matter for Google AI Overviews & Gemini?

Google AI Overviews & Gemini crawlers and what to do with them
User agentDo
Googlebot
Search

Crawls for Google Search, including AI Overviews and AI Mode. Blocking it removes you from both.

Allow
Google-Extended
Training

A robots.txt token (not a separate crawler) for whether your content helps improve Gemini apps and Vertex AI. Google says it does not affect inclusion or ranking in Google Search.

Your choice

robots.txt you can copy

User-agent: Googlebot
Allow: /

# Optional: opt out of Gemini apps / Vertex AI use.
# This does NOT remove you from AI Overviews.
# User-agent: Google-Extended
# Disallow: /

Not sure what your file says now? Check it free: it reads your robots.txt rule by rule for Googlebot, Google-Extended and 19 other AI bots.

What should you fix, step by step?

  1. 01Confirm your pages are indexed

    Verify your site in Google Search Console, submit your sitemap, and use URL Inspection on your homepage and main service pages. "URL is on Google" is the bar. If key pages aren't indexed, nothing else on this list matters yet.

  2. 02Don't switch off your own snippets

    Pages with nosnippet, max-snippet:0 or data-nosnippet on the important text can't be used as supporting links. These sometimes get added by SEO plugins or a developer years ago. The SEO Health Snapshot flags robots meta tags.

    Also check Search Console under Settings → Search generative AI. Google rolled out a control there in 2026 that excludes a site from AI Overviews, AI Mode and generative features in Discover. The default is "Include"; make sure nobody changed it.

  3. 03Complete and verify your Google Business Profile

    For "near me" and "in [city]" questions this is usually the biggest lever. Verify the profile, choose the most specific primary category, add every service, set accurate hours (including holidays), add real photos, and keep the website link pointing at the right page.

    Reply to reviews, and post updates when something changes (new service, holiday hours). Google has replaced the old Q&A section with an AI "Ask" feature that answers from your profile and reviews, so the profile itself has to contain the answers. More in how AI Overviews pick local businesses.

  4. 04Put your key facts in plain HTML text

    Googlebot reads the HTML your server sends. Facts that only exist inside images, PDFs, sliders or text loaded later by JavaScript are easy to miss. Your homepage and service pages should say, in ordinary text: what you do, for whom, where (city and areas served), how to book, hours, and typical prices if you can share them.

    One page per main service, with the questions customers actually ask answered on it, gives an assistant something specific to quote. Run the SEO Health Snapshot for the basics, and see AI crawlers and JavaScript.

  5. 05Add LocalBusiness schema that matches your listings

    Structured data (JSON-LD) states your facts in a form machines don't have to interpret: business type, address, phone, opening hours, area served, price range and your profile links in sameAs. It doesn't guarantee a mention, but it removes ambiguity, and it must say exactly what your listings say.

    Use the most specific type that fits (Dentist, Plumber, Attorney…). Our free Schema / JSON-LD Generator writes it for you.

  6. 06Earn real reviews where this engine looks

    When someone asks for "the best" or "a trusted" business, assistants lean on review platforms and third-party lists rather than your own claims. For local results Google draws on your Business Profile reviews first, and its AI answers often also cite review sites and local roundups.

    Ask happy customers for reviews as part of your normal process, reply to reviews (good and bad) and fix the issues they raise. Never buy or script reviews: platforms remove them, and it can get a listing suspended.

  7. 07Make your name, address and phone identical everywhere

    AI answers are stitched together from many sources at once: your site, your listings, review sites and directories. When they disagree (an old phone number, a previous address, "St." on one and "Street" on another plus a different suite), the assistant has to guess, and it often picks the version that appears most.

    Write down one canonical version of your business name, address, phone, hours and website, then make every profile match it: Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business, Yelp, Facebook, and the directories for your trade.

  8. 08Check what Google says about you, then re-check monthly

    Ask Google the questions your customers ask ("best emergency plumber in Leeds", "dentist open Saturdays near Austin"), not just your business name. Note who gets named, what's said about you, and which sources are cited. Search your main questions in Google (AI Overviews only appear for some queries) and in AI Mode, and look at the linked sources in the panel.

    Our free AI Visibility Quick Scan does a first pass, and this guide shows how to test by hand.

  9. 09Optional: add an llms.txt

    llms.txt is a proposed plain-text summary of your site for AI tools. None of the major assistants has said it uses llms.txt to choose what to cite, so treat it as a cheap extra, not a fix. It takes ten minutes with our llms.txt Generator. More in Does llms.txt actually help?

Sources

We update this guide when Google AI Overviews & Gemini changes how it works. Something out of date? Tell us.

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