In short: to get your pages to show up as sources/links in ChatGPT answers (when web search is enabled) and in Google AI Overviews / AI Mode, you need content that answers specific sub-questions, has a clear, scannable structure, and is technically eligible for snippets (indexed + snippet-eligible). (Google for Developers)

How does ChatGPT “pull” websites into an answer?

When ChatGPT Search is used, it can browse the internet and generate answers with links to relevant web sources. It may also rewrite one query into several more “targeted” queries for search providers. (OpenAI Help Center)

How does Google AI Overviews / AI Mode choose supporting links?

Google explicitly describes the query fan-out approach: the system expands a query into multiple sub-queries and selects pages that best answer those refinements, showing more “supporting” links than classic search. (Google for Developers)

8 rules that actually increase your chances of appearing in AI answers

1) How to think in “sub-questions” instead of “a topic”?

The winner isn’t a “universal article about everything,” but a page that precisely and with proof answers one key aspect (a sub-question) — that fits the fan-out logic perfectly. (Google for Developers)

Instead of: “SEO in 2026”
Build pages for sub-queries like:

• “What are AI Overviews and when do they appear?”
• “Why might a page be not eligible for a snippet?”
• “How to check nosnippet / max-snippet limits?”
• “How to see this in Search Console?”

Template: 1 page = 1 main question + 5–9 follow-up questions (FAQ).

2) What page structure gets an advantage in AI search?

AI search prefers content that’s easy to parse: a short intro, H2/H3 questions, lists, checklists, FAQ. This matches Google’s guidance: make pages technically correct, genuinely helpful, and keep the important content in text. (Google for Developers)

Minimal structure (works almost everywhere):

1. 1–2 sentences: what the page is about
2. H2 question → answer in 2–3 sentences
3. Then: steps / checklist / table
4. “Common mistakes / what to check”
5. FAQ (5–7 questions)

3) Why must the important stuff be in text (not hidden in visuals)?

Google specifically recommends keeping key content in text form (not only in images or video). That’s crucial for AI citations: it needs clear text fragments it can quote without distortion. (Google for Developers)

Practical tips:

• Infographic → add 5–7 text takeaways underneath
• Video → add timestamps + a short summary
• PDF/presentation → create an HTML page with the main points

4) Why a supporting link is often not your “main page” or a 5,000-word longread

AI blocks usually need the most precise answer to one sub-query, with steps and specifics. With fan-out, Google selects what best closes a specific refinement, not a broad “everything in one guide.” (Google for Developers)

Conclusion: sometimes it’s better to publish a separate micro-page for one question than to bury it inside a huge guide.

5) How internal linking helps fan-out “find” your pages

Google directly recommends making content easy to discover via internal links. If a page is buried deep and nothing links to it, Google may crawl it less often and it may be “picked up” less frequently. (Google for Developers)

What to do:

• Add a “Related reading” block between relevant articles
• Build a chain: pillar guide ↔ checklist ↔ FAQ ↔ case study
• 1 hub page + 6–12 supporting pages

6) What technical must-haves do you need for AI Overviews / AI Mode?

To be a supporting link, a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown with a snippet. There are no special “AI requirements.” Even if everything is correct, indexing and visibility are never guaranteed. (Google for Developers)

Quick technical checklist:

• no noindex
• canonical doesn’t point elsewhere
• robots.txt / CDN doesn’t block access
• content is accessible without login / without broken rendering
• the page isn’t thin content and isn’t a duplicate

How to check:

• URL Inspection in Search Console shows the indexed version of a URL, indexing status, allows a “live URL” test, and lets you request indexing. (support.google.com)
• If you suspect noindex, Google recommends verifying this via URL Inspection (what HTML Googlebot actually saw). (Google for Developers)

7) Which directives can kill your chances of being cited in Search/AI?

If you restrict snippets, you may remove yourself from formats that rely on short extracts. Google describes nosnippet, max-snippet, and data-nosnippet as snippet control tools. (Google for Developers)

Most risky:

• noindex (page won’t be in the index) (Google for Developers)
• nosnippet (disables snippets) (Google for Developers)
• max-snippet (too small a limit can make the page unusable for an extract) (Google for Developers)
• data-nosnippet (you can accidentally hide the best part) (Google for Developers)

8) How to measure impact if AI blocks “eat” your CTR?

Google notes that impressions in AI features are included in overall Search Console traffic (Performance → Web). (Google for Developers)
So it’s important to track not only clicks, but quality: time on page, conversions, scroll depth.

In practice:

• In analytics: time on page, scroll depth, conversions
• In GSC: queries with strong positions but dropping CTR → possible AI feature impact
• Compare pages that get “picked up” vs pages that don’t

2 micro-page examples you can publish on the 3DW site (easy to cite)

Example 1: “Why your page doesn’t appear in AI Overviews: 12 causes + checks”

URL slug: ai-overviews-why-not-eligible
Format: checklist + a table “symptom → cause → how to verify → how to fix”

H2 questions:

• What does “indexed + snippet-eligible” mean? (2–3 sentences) (Google for Developers)
• What are the 12 most common causes?
• How to check via URL Inspection? (support.google.com)
• Which directives most often block you (noindex/nosnippet/max-snippet)? (Google for Developers)

Table (minimum 8 rows):

• “You get traffic, but no citations” → “content doesn’t answer a sub-question well” → “rebuild H2 questions”
• “Not indexed” → “noindex/robots/canonical” → “URL Inspection + verify the <head>” (Google for Developers)

Example 2: “How to build a citation-ready page for fan-out: a structure template”

URL slug: citation-ready-page-template
Format: ready-to-use template + block examples

Inside:

• Intro template (2 sentences)
• 10 H2 question ideas for service pages (SEO / WP / design)
• “Short answer in 2–3 sentences” — 5 examples
• “Mistakes / what to check” block
• A 7-question FAQ block

Content plan: 10 supporting pages for fan-out (one topic cluster)

Pillar page (this article): yak-potraplyaty-u-vidpovidi-chatgpt-ai-overviews

#	Page topic	URL slug	Main query	Format
1	What AI Overviews are and when they appear	ai-overviews-what-when	“what is AI Overviews”	Q&A + examples
2	Query fan-out: how Google splits a query into sub-questions	query-fan-out-explained	“query fan out meaning”	short + diagram
3	Supporting links: how to appear there	supporting-links-how-to	“how to appear as supporting link”	checklist
4	“Eligible to be shown with a snippet”: what it means	snippet-eligible-explained	“eligible for snippet”	definition + steps (Google for Developers)
5	Nosnippet / max-snippet / data-nosnippet: how not to cut yourself off	nosnippet-max-snippet-guide	“nosnippet max-snippet”	solutions table (Google for Developers)
6	How to check indexing via URL Inspection	url-inspection-how-to	“URL Inspection tool”	steps 1–7 (support.google.com)
7	Internal linking for fan-out: hub examples	internal-linking-for-ai-search	“internal links for seo ai”	structure + examples (Google for Developers)
8	How to turn key info from PDFs/videos into text	turn-visual-into-text-summary	“text summary for infographic”	block templates (Google for Developers)
9	How to measure AI feature impact in Search Console	measure-ai-overviews-search-console	“AI Overviews Search Console”	metrics + examples (Google for Developers)
10	20 ready H2 questions for service pages (agency/studio)	h2-question-bank-services	“service page faq headings”	heading library

How to interlink: pillar → (all 10) + each supporting page → back to pillar + 2–3 links between related pages. (Google for Developers)

Quick pre-publish checklist (copy into Trello)

• Intro: 1–2 sentences “what this page covers”
• H2 = a question, followed by a 2–3 sentence answer
• Lists/steps/table included
• Key points are in text (not only visuals) (Google for Developers)
• Page is indexed (URL Inspection) (support.google.com)
• No noindex / no harmful snippet directives (Google for Developers)
• Internal links added (Google for Developers)
• “Updated” date + author/team

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If you want, we at 3DW can

• build a cluster of 10 supporting pages around your key sub-questions,
• run a technical audit for indexing + snippet eligibility (noindex/canonical/robots/snippet controls),
• reshape your longreads into a citation-ready structure with H2 questions, checklists, and FAQ.