Gemini SEO: How Google Gemini Decides What to Recommend
By Vouch5 min read
Gemini is Google's AI twice over. It is the assistant people use at gemini.google.com and in the Gemini app, and in May 2025 Google said it was bringing a custom version of Gemini into Search for both AI Mode and AI Overviews in the US. "Gemini SEO" is the work of being visible in all three.
The good news is that it is closer to classic SEO than optimising for any other assistant. The catch is that close is not the same.
How Google's AI answers choose sources
Google is unusually open about this, at least for Search.
Search's AI features are built on the normal index. Google's AI features guide says there are no extra requirements and no special optimisations needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. To be shown as a supporting link, a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Search with a snippet.
One question becomes many searches. The same guide says both features may use query fan-out, issuing several related searches across subtopics and data sources to build the answer. That widens the set of pages that can be cited, so a page that answers a sub-question well can be picked even when it does not rank for the main query. The glossary has a short definition.
It is still SEO. Google's guide to optimising for generative AI search says that optimising for it is optimising for the search experience, and therefore still SEO. It also says you do not need new machine-readable files, AI text files or special markup.
The Gemini app uses Search too, sometimes. Google's Gemini help says the app may give links to sources under a Sources button, and that not every response has them. Google's crawler documentation describes Google-Extended, a robots.txt token that controls whether content can be used to train future Gemini models and for grounding, where Search content is given to the model when it answers. Google says Google-Extended does not affect inclusion or ranking in Google Search.
Where Gemini differs from classic Google
The click is optional. AI Overviews answer on the page. Ahrefs found that by December 2025 an AI Overview correlated with a 58 percent lower click-through rate for the top-ranking page. Being the source matters even when the visit never comes; zero-click search covers what that does to brand marketing.
Recommendations shrink to a shortlist. Ask Gemini for the best options in your category and it names a few brands with reasons. Getting onto that shortlist is a different problem from ranking among ten links.
The conversation keeps going. In the Gemini app and in AI Mode, buyers ask follow-ups about downsides, trust, price and which to buy. Being named at each of those questions is the newer discipline, and what happens after the first answer walks through the six stages.
What to do
- Keep classic SEO strong. Indexing, crawlability, page quality and a snippet your pages are allowed to show. Gemini's Search features inherit all of it. Google AI Overviews and AI Mode goes deeper on that surface.
- Answer sub-questions, not just the head term. Because of query fan-out, a clear page on cost, downsides or "how it works" can be cited inside a broader answer.
- Answer directly. A heading that matches the question with the answer right under it, specifics included: the kind of passage the GEO research found generated answers favour.
- Keep your facts consistent. Name, prices, specifications and policies should match on your site, your Google Business Profile, directories and review sites.
- Decide on Google-Extended deliberately. Blocking it does not remove you from Search, but by Google's description it does cover grounding in Gemini. The free AI crawler checker shows how your robots.txt treats it, Googlebot and 12 other crawlers.
- Measure the answers, not just the rankings. Rankings will not tell you whether Gemini recommends you.
Measure both surfaces
Because Gemini sits behind both the assistant and Google's AI features, watch both. Search Console counts AI Overviews and AI Mode appearances inside the overall Web search traffic in its Performance report, as Google's AI features guide says. For the assistant, you need to track what it actually answers. How to track brand mentions in AI search shows a free way to start.
Common questions
Is Gemini SEO different from regular SEO? Mostly it extends it. Google says its AI search features rest on the same index and that optimising for them is still SEO. The extra work is being named inside the answer and through the follow-up questions.
Does ranking first on Google guarantee Gemini mentions me? No. Rankings matter, but an AI answer draws on several pages, including ones found through query fan-out, and may recommend a shortlist you are not on. Check the answers, not just the rankings.
How do I track what Gemini says about my brand? By hand, ask it your buyers' questions each month, follow-ups included, and log the results. Or use a tool that tracks mentions, citations and conversation stages over time.
See what Gemini says about you
Vouch asks Gemini through its public website, signed out, as a visitor sees it, with a fallback the methodology describes, and follows six-question buyer conversations there as well as on ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity. It tracks Google AI Overviews and AI Mode daily too, and shows the stage where buyers stop hearing about you. Our methodology explains each route.
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