For years, the goal of SEO was simple: rank among the ten blue links on Google's first page. In 2026 that landscape has shifted. Above the traditional results, Google increasingly surfaces an AI-generated answer — AI Overviews — and has begun rolling out a conversational search mode called AI Mode. For many queries, users get their answer without clicking on any website at all.

What are AI Overviews?

AI Overviews are AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of Google's results for certain queries. They synthesise information from multiple sources and present it directly, with a handful of links back to the originating pages. They evolved from what Google called Search Generative Experience (SGE) and have since expanded to more countries and languages.

And AI Mode?

AI Mode goes a step further: it turns search into a conversation. Instead of a list of results, it delivers an elaborated answer and lets users follow up, dive deeper and compare options within the same session. It is Google's move to compete with assistants like ChatGPT or Perplexity without users ever leaving its search engine.

The zero-click problem

The direct consequence is a rise in zero-click searches: if the AI already summarises the answer, many people never need to visit the source. For publishers, this means that ranking well no longer guarantees traffic. The challenge is no longer just showing up — it is showing up and being cited as a source inside the AI answer.

An important nuance about crawl control

Here it is worth clearing up a common misconception. Google offers the Google-Extended token so you can decide whether your content feeds its models such as Gemini. But blocking Google-Extended does not remove you from AI Overviews: AI Overviews are built from Google's normal Search index, crawled by Googlebot. Blocking Googlebot removes you from Google entirely — not just from the AI layer. Keeping these two crawlers distinct is essential to avoid decisions that backfire.

How to stay visible

There is no magic lever, but there are solid best practices:

• Answer specific questions clearly and with structure: AI cites content that resolves a clear intent most reliably.
• Strengthen your authority and E-E-A-T signals: experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness.
• Use structured data so Google fully understands your content.
• Make sure Googlebot can crawl you without obstacles: an accidental block in robots.txt or a noindex tag locks you out of both classic results and AI Overviews.

Where Spider fits in

The first step to not losing visibility is confirming that Google's bots can actually reach your content. Spider.es audits your domain against Googlebot, Google-Extended and over a hundred other crawlers, and shows you clearly who can crawl you and who cannot. Before worrying about AI Overviews, make sure the door is open for the bots that power them.