The structure that gets content pulled into AI Overviews is built around easy extraction: a direct answer placed near the top, headings phrased as the questions people actually ask, claim sentences that stand on their own without surrounding context, lists or tables for steps and comparisons, and specific, verifiable details rather than vague generalities. These are observed patterns rather than a published formula, so confirm them against current behavior as you produce, but as a structural blueprint they hold up.
Lead with the answer. A page that states its core answer in the first sentence or two of a section gives the system a clean chunk to lift, while a page that warms up with throat-clearing before getting to the point makes that chunk harder to find. Put the answer where it can be grabbed, then expand.
Phrase headings as questions. When a heading mirrors the query (“How long does X take?” rather than “Timeline considerations”), it signals exactly what the section answers and helps the system match a question to a passage. Question-style headings also force you to actually answer, which is half the battle.
Write self-contained claim sentences. A sentence that depends on the three paragraphs before it cannot be lifted cleanly, but a sentence that carries its own subject and qualification (“A standard residential install typically takes one to two days”) can be quoted as-is. Aim for sentences that would still make sense pulled out on their own.
Use lists and tables for anything sequential or comparative. Steps, criteria, pros and cons, and side-by-side options extract far more cleanly as structured elements than as buried prose, and they map directly onto how Overviews present that kind of information.
Finally, include specifics that can be checked: numbers, names, conditions, ranges. Verifiable detail reads as more authoritative and gives the system something concrete to cite.
Take one page and restructure it so the answer to its main question sits in a single clean, self-contained sentence near the top, under a question-style heading, with any steps or comparisons broken into a list or table.