An AI Overview is the generative summary that sits above traditional search results and synthesizes an answer with citations. It is useful as a visibility surface: buyers often read the overview before any blue link, so being named and linked there shapes who enters the shortlist.
Whilst teams celebrate ranking under the overview, in practice you can rank on page one and still be absent from the summary. For example, three competitors are cited in the overview while your stronger page sits as organic result four. We often recommend spot-checking AI Overviews on the same prompt set you use for ChatGPT and Perplexity — and fixing answer clarity and proof, not only title tags.