---
type: "Article"
title: "AI Search Optimisation | AI search visibility"
description: "Google AI Search Optimisation: the official guidance on AI Overviews and AI Mode, plus the myths (llms.txt, chunking, AI writing style) it debunks."
resource: "https://www.laurelinlabs.com/frameworks/google-ai-search-optimisation"
tags: ["ai-search-optimisation", "ai-search-visibility", "ai-overviews-optimisation"]
generated: { by: "laurelin-site-build/2026-08-25", at: "2026-08-25T12:00:00+00:00" }
status: "stable"
stale_after: "2027-02-25T00:00:00+00:00"
sources:
  - id: "stat-1"
    resource: "https://blog.google/products/search/ai-overview-expansion-may-2025-update/"
    title: "Google"
  - id: "stat-2"
    resource: "https://blog.google/products/search/ai-overview-expansion-may-2025-update/"
    title: "Google"
  - id: "stat-3"
    resource: "https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/search-gallery"
    title: "Google for Developers"
---
# Google AI Search Optimisation

Google’s official guidance is blunt: AI features pull from the same standard search index, so there are no AI-specific shortcuts, file formats or markup. Optimising for AI Overviews and AI Mode is optimising for human value, clarity and SEO fundamentals, and explicitly not the fads being sold around it.

## How do Google AI features choose what to cite?



- The index is shared, AI features use publicly crawlable content from the standard Google index, not a separate one.
- Retrieval and grounding, to reduce hallucination, AI features find high-quality pages, extract the relevant information and format it into a natural answer with supporting links.
- No guarantees, meeting every guideline makes you eligible, never guaranteed, to be cited.

## What should you not do, according to Google\u2019s own guidance?



- You do not need llms.txt, markdown copies of pages or AI-specific markup, standard HTML is preferred.
- You do not need to chunk content into tiny fragments, the systems understand multiple topics on one page.
- You do not need a flattened "AI writing style", write naturally for humans.
- More pages for every keyword variation violates the scaled-content-abuse policy, a few comprehensive, authoritative pieces win.

## Key figures

| Metric | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| AI Overviews reach | 200+ countries, 40+ languages | Google[^stat-1] |
| Monthly users of Google AI Overviews | 2 billion | Google[^stat-2] |
| Rich result types Google supports via structured data | 35+ | Google for Developers[^stat-3] |


## FAQ

### Is there a special markup or file for Google AI Overviews?

No. Google\u2019s AI features guidance states there are no additional technical requirements and that you do not need new machine-readable files, AI text files or markup. AI Overviews and AI Mode draw on the standard search index, so the work is indexability, clear answer-first content, accurate structured data and demonstrable expertise.

### Does llms.txt help with Google AI search?

No. Google has said it does not use llms.txt, and the AI features guidance explicitly says no new AI text files are needed. Laurelin\u2019s audit register flags it as wasted effort.


Hub: [AI Search Visibility (AEO / GEO / LLMO)](/topics/ai-search-visibility.md)

[^stat-1]: Google
[^stat-2]: Google
[^stat-3]: Google for Developers