How do I show up in Google AI Overviews?

Google AI Overviews sit above the classic results and answer the question before anyone scrolls. For a lot of buyers, that generated paragraph is the search now — they read it, pick a name, and never touch the ten blue links. So "how do I show up in AI Overviews" is really asking: how do I become the business the overview names?

The overview lifts liftable answers. Google generates it from pages that state the answer to the query cleanly and back it with structure the model trusts. A page that opens with the direct answer, uses clear headings, and cites real specifics gives the overview something to quote. A page that opens with "for over 20 years we've been committed to excellence" gives it nothing — so it quotes a competitor who was clearer.

What actually earns the mention:

• A first-line answer. Say the answer to the buyer's real question in the first sentence, in plain words — not a windup.
• Structure the model reads. Real headings, short declarative sentences, and schema that labels what the page is. The overview trusts pages it can parse.
• Proof it can point to. Named specifics — a place, a number, a concrete example — beat adjectives. "Best-in-class" is not liftable; a real fact is.

PRAGMA shapes the page — then checks the overview.

You can't tell from inside your own tab whether Google's overview names you; the result is personalized and generated. PRAGMA measures it directly — running the real buyer questions and recording whether AI Overviews names your business. The neutrality is in the method: we publish the ruler and make it reproducible. Then we shape the page into a liftable answer and re-measure to prove the mention.