How does an AI Overview work?
When a search lends itself to it, Google generates a short answer from several pages and displays it above the standard results. The sources appear as links next to the summary. Google presents the feature as a snapshot of key information about a topic, with links to explore further.
The roll-out in France, together with AI Mode, was announced in July 2026 (Blog du Modérateur, 22 July 2026).
AI Overview and AI Mode: what is the difference?
An AI Overview is a summary added to the usual results page. AI Mode is a separate, conversational search mode: the user asks a question, gets a detailed answer and can ask follow-up questions, as with an assistant.
What does it change for a startup?
On informational searches (“what is”, “how to”), some users find their answer in the summary without clicking. Traffic to these pages becomes harder to read, but being cited as a source in the overview brings a new kind of visibility, above all the results.
For a startup, the goal is no longer just to rank first, but to be among the sources Google chooses to cite. The same qualities matter: direct answers, structured content, sourced data, and a brand recognised by third-party sources.
What we measure at Linker
In Search Console, Linker's impressions in Google's AI features grew from 1,966 in July 2026 to 3,652 in August, then 7,773 in September. They have almost doubled every month since the French roll-out, while clicks have remained stable. Visibility is growing faster than traffic: exactly the effect you would expect from AI Overviews.
To go further
AI Overviews are one of the playing fields of GEO. To understand what makes a page get picked up, read the AI citation and E-E-A-T entries.
Last updated: October 2026
