How Google AI Overviews and AI Mode pick the businesses they show

No special tricks, just eligibility

Google states there are no additional requirements or special optimisations needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and that you don't need new machine-readable files, AI text files or markup. To be shown as a supporting link, a page must be indexed and eligible to appear in Google Search with a snippet.[1]

Google also says indexing and serving isn't guaranteed, and that recrawling after a change can take anywhere from several days to several months.[1]

Site owners control what Google can show using Googlebot rules in robots.txt and the nosnippet, data-nosnippet, max-snippet and noindex controls.[1]

How Google ranks local businesses

For searches for a business or place nearby, Google shows local results on Maps and Search, ranked mainly on relevance (how well a Business Profile matches the search), distance (how far the business is from the searcher) and prominence (how well known it is).[2]

Google says prominence is also based on information such as how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have, and that more reviews and positive ratings can help. Businesses with complete, accurate information are more likely to show up, and verifying your business makes it more likely to appear.[2]

There is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google.[2]

What that means for a local business

The same work that earns a place in Google's ordinary results (a page that clearly answers what your customers ask, a complete and verified Business Profile, genuine reviews, and other sites mentioning you) is what Google points to for its AI answers. Anyone selling a special "AI Overviews file" or markup is selling something Google says you don't need.