Google AI Mode Optimisation in Burgos — Appear in Google's AI-generated answers

For more than 25 years, Google results were a list of ten blue links. AI Mode breaks that paradigm: Google now generates a synthesis response in natural language that summarises information from the best sources before showing the organic results. This change already affects a growing proportion of searches in Spain. Websites appearing as AI Mode sources capture additional visibility; those that do not see their traffic reduced even if they maintain their organic positions.

Google AI Overviews works as a generative AI layer over the traditional search engine. When it detects that a query can benefit from a synthesised response, the model analyses the best-positioned pages and generates its own response citing the sources. The factors determining which websites are used as sources are similar to traditional SEO factors — technical quality, authority, relevance and E-E-A-T — but with additional weight for content format: direct and structured responses are cited more frequently than dense, unstructured text.

SGE (Search Generative Experience) was the name of Google's experimental project that evolved into the current AI Mode. Classic organic results still exist below the AI Overview, but they receive fewer clicks when AI Mode directly answers the query. For informational and comparison searches, AI Mode can reduce organic traffic to top positions by between 15% and 40% according to industry studies. For transactional local searches, like "plumber in Burgos", AI Mode has less presence.

2025 and 2026 studies show that in searches where AI Overview appears, clicks to organic result number 1 can fall by up to 34% compared to the same searches without AI Overview. For high-intent informational searches, websites cited as AI Mode sources capture additional clicks that partially compensate for this loss. Not appearing in AI Mode on these searches means losing visibility both to the user and to Google.

This is the most common scenario we find in our audits: websites that have been in first position on Google for their main keywords for years and have seen organic traffic fall since AI Mode arrived, without losing positions. The AI Overview answers the user's question before they reach the first organic result. For businesses in Burgos that depend on informational traffic to capture leads, optimising for AI Mode has become a priority.

The vast majority of businesses in Burgos have not yet adapted their content to be a source for AI Mode. This creates a real window of opportunity: companies that optimise their content now with the criteria Google uses to select AI Overview sources will position themselves with an advantage that their competitors will take time to recover. The time to act is before AI Mode is fully consolidated, not after.

We analyse the most important searches in your sector in Burgos and Spain to identify which ones trigger AI Mode and whether your website is being cited as a source. The result is an AI Overview visibility map: searches where you appear as a source, searches where you should appear but do not, and searches where your competitors appear in your place. This audit defines the content strategy for AI Mode.

Content that Google selects as an AI Overview source has defined characteristics: direct answers to specific questions, clear structure with headings, verifiable data, identified authorship and coherence with what other authoritative sources say about the topic. We create content specifically designed to meet these criteria in the highest-value searches for your business.

E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority and Trust) is the framework Google uses to evaluate the quality and reliability of sources it cites in AI Mode. We work all four dimensions: content signed by identifiable experts, company mentions in authoritative media, a history of relevant content on the topic and trust signals like verified reviews and clear contact information.

Schema Markup in JSON-LD makes it easier for Google's AI Mode to understand and process your website content in a structured way. We implement FAQ Schema, Article Schema with author and date data, and sector-specific schemas to increase the likelihood of Google selecting your content as an AI Overview source. Structured data is one of the technical factors most directly related to appearing in AI Overviews.

We monitor monthly the searches in your sector to identify whether your website is being cited in AI Overviews, what fragments of your content are used as sources and how your visibility evolves relative to your competitors. Results are included in the monthly report and guide content strategy adjustments for AI Mode.

Topical authority is the most determining factor for appearing in AI Mode. Google selects as sources websites that demonstrate they are references in their field, not just those that are well-positioned. Building topical authority in a sector involves creating a coherent and deep body of content on key topics, obtaining mentions in relevant media and maintaining an identified and accredited author profile.

Content format directly influences the likelihood of being cited in AI Mode. Google preferentially selects text fragments that directly and concisely answer a specific question, without preambles. Content structured in questions and answers, with the direct answer in the first paragraph, is the format AI Mode processes and cites most easily.

Google evaluated E-A-T (Expertise, Authority, Trust) for years and in 2022 added the first E for Experience, recognising the value of content created by people with direct experience on the topic. For AI Mode, E-E-A-T is especially important because the system needs to trust that the source is reliable before citing it. Work E-E-A-T from all dimensions: who writes, what it is based on, where else your company appears and what trust signals your website has.

Google cannot cite as an AI Mode source a website it cannot crawl and index correctly. Page speed, mobile accessibility, absence of indexation errors and correct Google bot access are basic technical requirements for appearing in AI Mode. A site that passes Core Web Vitals well and has no technical crawling problems has a solid foundation for AI Mode to consider it a valid source.

We identify which searches in your sector trigger Google AI Mode and whether your website is being cited as a source in any of them. We also map which competitors are appearing in the AI Overviews of the most valuable searches for your business. This analysis defines the starting point and strategy priorities.

Not all searches activate AI Overviews. We map the queries in your sector where AI Mode appears and prioritise those with the greatest purchase or contact intent for your business in Burgos. These are the target queries: the ones we will work on for Google to select your website as a source.

We create or adapt the content of your key website pages to meet AI Mode selection criteria: direct-answer format, clear heading structure, verifiable data, identified authorship and Schema Markup implemented. Each piece of content is simultaneously optimised for classic organic positioning and AI Mode.

Google AI Mode evolves with each search engine update. We monitor the target searches monthly to detect changes in which sources are cited, adjust content according to new detected patterns and add new target queries as AI Mode expands to more searches. Continuous monitoring is fundamental in such a rapidly changing environment.