What's a Good Web Content Strategy in the Age of SEO and AIO?

Google’s new AI Overview (AIO) pulls info from across the web — including your reviews — to generate instant summaries at the top of search results. It’s a major shift in how people find businesses, and the way your customers talk about you could now decide if you show up.

How AI Reads Reviews (and What It Rewards)

We’ll break down how AI interprets your reviews, what Google rewards, and how to start showing up for the searches that actually matter to your business.

How to Ask for the Right Reviews

We’ll show you how to ask for reviews in a way that gets you the kind of content AI loves — detailed, relevant, and full of the details that help your business rise to the top.

With the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity, more users are asking complex, multi-part questions, instead of focusing on keywords. And, instead of digging through multiple links, people want summaries that pull everything together in one shot. AIO was built to do just that — using generative AI to stitch together info from across the web, including reviews, business profiles, and third-party content.

Google has called it “a whole new way to search,” and they’re betting on AI as the future of how people discover businesses online. While the rollout started in 2024, it continues to grow — especially in searches related to local services.

Why Reviews Are Getting So Much Attention

While Google hasn’t laid out every detail of its ranking signals for AIO, early insights from SEO experts and analysis from platforms like Search Engine Journal show that reviews are becoming a major trust and relevance signal. AI Overviews rely on content that reflects real experiences — and reviews are one of the few sources that offer that in the customer’s own words.

They’re full of service-specific keywords, locations, outcomes, and timing; the exact stuff AI models use to decide what’s relevant to the user’s search. Basically, reviews give AI the context it needs to understand what your business actually does and whether it’s worth citing in the summary.

Where We Think AIO Is Headed with Reviews

While Google hasn’t spelled everything out, it seems that search intent plays a big role in the future of AIO. Search intent is basically what someone really wants when they type something into Google — not just the keywords, but the meaning behind them. For example, someone searching “burst pipe emergency” isn’t just browsing — they want an urgent, local solution for a specific problem.

And more and more, people are searching like this — longer, more detailed queries that sound more like the way they’d talk to a person or a tool like ChatGPT. That shift tells us AIO is designed to understand not just what someone is asking, but why — and match results accordingly. That’s why we believe AIO is favouring businesses whose reviews reflect those kinds of real-world, intent-rich searches — things like “same-day furnace repair” or “roof leak fix in Brossard.” When your reviews mirror what people are actually typing into the search, you’re far more likely to be seen as relevant.

Remember, Google’s main objective is to provide the best answers. That is to say, the most relevant and top quality results. For example, when someone types something like “emergency drain cleaning near me” into Google, the AI doesn’t just check your website to see if you’re a relevant match. When it comes to quality, it looks everywhere — your Google Business profile, directories, and especially your customer reviews for positive experiences. If those reviews include that exact kind of language — “fantastic drain cleaning services,” “quality same-day plumbing,” or “they helped me resolve this emergency” — you’re signalling to Google that you’re a credible and trustworthy result to that search.

Think of it like this: your future customers are typing in their problems using specific words. If your past customers used those same words in their reviews, the AI connects the dots and cites your business in its summary. It’s all about letting the real work you’ve done speak for itself in the same language people are searching with.

What Google’s AI Is Actually Looking For

When it comes to featuring your site in its AI Overview, Google looks at everything. It pulls your reviews apart line by line, scanning for signals that help it understand what you do, where you do it, and how often.



But it’s not only about what’s in the review — it also looks at where the review is posted, how recent it is, and whether there’s any sign that your business is still active and engaged. Here’s what helps you show up:

• Mix of First-Party and Third-Party Reviews: Reviews on your own website and on third-party platforms like Google, Yelp, Facebook, etc. give AI a richer, more credible picture of your business. The more sources backing you up, the more trustworthy you look.

• Constant Stream of Fresh Reviews: Google doesn’t just care that you had a good reputation — it wants to know you're still out there doing the work. A steady flow of recent reviews shows you’re active, relevant, and still worth recommending.

• Experience-Based Language: AI favours reviews that describe real experiences — what was done, how it went, how fast, and where. These kinds of reviews are more likely to get cited in AI Overview and third-party summaries (like in “People Also Ask” or on platforms like Perplexity).

• Replies to Your Reviews: Responding to reviews shows engagement — and keeps people reading longer. That extra dwell time signals to Google that your reviews are worth paying attention to.
  

Most people aren’t sure what to say in a review — so they default to something short and generic. But if you give them a little nudge in the right direction, you’ll start getting reviews that are way more useful for your business (and for Google’s AI). Ideally, you want them to share what you helped them with; where you helped them; and why they appreciated their experience with you. Try something like:

• “Would you mind mentioning what we helped you with?”: When someone says what the work was — like “repaired our leaking roof” or “installed a new hot water tank” — that gives Google context. It helps connect your business to those specific services.

• “If you can include your neighbourhood or city, that really helps!”: Google loves local. When reviews include place names like “in Laval” or “our place in NDG,” it reinforces your visibility for location-based searches. Plus, it shows potential customers you’re active in their area.

• “A few words about how fast or how the experience went would be amazing.”: Details like “they came the same day” or “done in under 2 hours” help show responsiveness and professionalism. These little touches make a big difference — for both the AI and the person reading the review.
  

Where to Get Reviews That Google’s AIO Will Notice

Not all reviews carry the same weight in Google’s eyes. If you want to rank, your reviews need to live in places where Google’s AI actually looks. That means having reviews across a mix of platforms — not just one.

• Google Business Profile: This one’s non-negotiable. These reviews are the most visible and often the first thing people (and AI) see.

• Third-party platforms: Yelp, Facebook, Houzz, HomeStars — depending on your industry, these can give you extra credibility. Google pulls from them too.

• Your own website: If you collect first-party reviews on your site and use proper schema markup (little bits of code that help Google understand the content), AI treats them like real data points. Plus, you’re in control of how they’re presented.