AI is the new front page of Google, whether we like it or not. That means formatting your articles so web crawlers can find them easily. Rank for those AI overviews by answering one specific question within the first paragraph, using question-based headings, and making your information concise and easy to understand.

Summary:

How to Rank for AI Overviews:

Put the answer first
Address one topic per article
Keep it short and simple
Use question-based headings
Use lists
Be useful

Person overlooking a desert canyon landscape from a mountain viewpoint in Utah.

Why Bother at All?

Whether you hate AI with a burning passion or you’re a big fan of what it can do, the fact remains that running a website has changed. SEO still matters, but being found online is becoming much more competitive. Search engines and AI tools are prioritizing content they consider clear, helpful, and trustworthy. So if your content isn’t up to par for AI, that usually means fewer visitors, lower engagement, and lower returns from your website efforts overall.

That’s why, my friend, we’re going to learn what AI likes and how to rank in it. Let’s roll with the punches and keep learning, growing, and succeeding. We can do this.

How to Rank in Google's AI Overviews?

Desert cliffside landscape with wild plants in the foreground and rocky terrain in the background.

1. Put The Answer First

Just as I’ve done here, you should do too. Sure, crawlers can read your entire article to find the answers tucked throughout, but it’s much easier to find when the answer is simple, upfront, and in your face at the top of the page.

Readers should know the basis of the answer they're looking for within 5 seconds of reading, but not at the expense of your article. Keep the top answer short and sweet, so human readers click your links to read and learn more.

2. Address One Topic Per Article

Instead of including a handful of topics related to one another in a single guide, break them all into their own small articles that link back to one another. Not only does this make your purpose, intention, and value clear to crawlers, but it also looks good for SEO.

One winding road through rolling desert hills with trees and canyon views in the distance.

3. Keep it Short and Simple

Being a Chatty Kathy is fine; just learn to avoid it when writing with the goal of teaching or educating. People like personality, but they also like their questions being answered quickly–and funny enough, so does AI.

Make sure your sections, steps, or paragraphs aren’t too long, wordy, or full of fluff. Try to find a good balance between all of it.

Close-up photograph of a single yellow wildflower against a blurred green background.

4. Use Question-based Headings

The goal is to mimic searches made by real people. The closer you get to what people are searching for, the more likely you are to rank for those overviews.

5. Use Lists

If you’ve ever worked with generative AI, you’d know it loves lists. Take that information, and apply it! Include lists in your articles, particularly for steps, summaries, and directions before expanding on each point. But be careful: similar to keyword stuffing, having too many lists might make your content seem less valuable to people and more AI-optimized.

6. Be Useful

I’ve saved the best for last–in honor of the original article-writing code–and it’s both simple and more challenging than you’d expect. The top secret to ranking for anything is to be useful to the reader. If people have to skim half the page before finding their answer, they probably lose interest by the time they do find it (I’m looking at you, cooking blogs).

The goal of writing articles is to offer valuable information to your reader in an easily accessible and digestible way. That means:

Addressing the topic they're searching for immediately.
Making the reading experience smooth, easy, and simple.
Not overcomplicating by including vaguely related topics.

A person teaching another person how to fly fish outside in a grassy field with tall wild grass in the foreground.

Above all else, ranking online is an increasingly challenging balancing game that requires study and trying different things to see what works for you. AI is changing things rapidly, including how our websites are seen by other humans; but I have every intention of rolling with the punches together. For now, just focus on the six steps we discussed today. Putting the answer first, addressing one topic per article, keeping things short and simple, using question-based headings, including lists, and being useful.