What works by provider
Each LLM product has different crawl behaviour, retrieval architecture, and synthesis preferences. Select a provider for targeted guidance.
Google Search AI Overviews
Crawler: Googlebot (full JS rendering)
Top-10 organic ranking is the foundation, AI Overviews overwhelmingly cite existing top results.
Use schema markup (Organization, FAQPage, Article) for entity disambiguation.
Featured-snippet style: one clear paragraph (40–60 words), then supporting detail.
Keep key pages fresh, AI Overviews filter by freshness for time-sensitive queries.
Multi-modal signals (images, video) can increase inclusion in some verticals.
Google AI Overviews surface answers above traditional results. Their system heavily weights existing organic rankings and E-E-A-T. Content that already ranks in the top 10 for a query is more likely to be retrieved and cited. Focus on featured-snippet style answers: one clear paragraph (40–60 words), then supporting detail. Use schema (Organization, FAQPage, Article) so Google can understand your entity. Freshness matters for time-sensitive queries; keep key pages updated. Avoid thin or purely promotional content; depth and evidence win.