Google AI Overviews and AI Mode in Romania: what changes for local businesses

In Romania too, Google now shows AI-generated summaries above the classic results (AI Overviews), and in October 2025 it launched AI Mode in Romanian, a conversational way to search. For a local business, what matters is no longer just your position in the list of results, but also whether you appear in the generated answer.

What AI Overviews and AI Mode are

AI Overviews are Google’s AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of the results page for some searches. The answer is put together from several pages and includes links to the sources it used, with the regular results shown below.

AI Mode is a separate section of Google Search, powered by the Gemini model. The user asks a question, gets a longer answer and can keep going with follow-up questions, as in a conversation. Google announced its launch in Romania, in Romanian, in October 2025, on google.com and in the Android and iOS apps.

The practical difference is simple: AI Overviews appear automatically on ordinary searches, while AI Mode is something the user turns on, usually for more complex questions.

What changes for local businesses

Until recently, the main question was where your website ranked for a given keyword. Now there is a second question that matters just as much: does your business appear in the generated answer, or are your competitors the ones being recommended?

• Fewer visits for some searches. When the full answer is right there on the results page, some users never click through to any website. The effect is strongest for informational questions.
• Better-informed visitors for others. People who reach your site from an AI-generated answer have already read a summary and arrive with a clearer intent.
• Cited sources matter. The answer includes only a handful of links. If your website is one of them, you gain visibility even if you are not in first place in the classic results.
• The format changes often. Google keeps testing new variations, such as answers that expand automatically for certain topics. That is why your strategy should not depend on a single format.

How Google chooses the sources it cites

Google does not publish separate rules for AI Overviews. Its official guidance says the same principles apply as in classic search: indexable pages, useful content written for people, and clear, verifiable information. In the audits we have run, cited pages usually share a few traits:

1. The answer comes first. The page answers the question in its first few lines, and the details follow.
2. Each topic has its own page. A service or a procedure gets a dedicated page, not a paragraph on a general page.
3. The information is specific. Prices or price ranges, timeframes, steps, conditions. Vague wording is hard to use in an answer.
4. Business details are consistent. Your name, address, opening hours and services match on your website, in your Google Business Profile and in directories.
5. Structured data is correct. Schema.org markup describes your business and services in a format that is easy to interpret. See our guide to structured data for details.

A plan for the next 30 days

You do not need a large project to get started. The steps below are the ones we recommend to our own clients.

Week 1: assess where you stand

Pick 10 questions your customers ask often and search for them on Google. Note whether an AI summary appears, whether you are cited and who appears instead of you. Repeat the test in AI Mode and in ChatGPT. The full method is described in our article on how to check whether ChatGPT recommends your business.

Week 2: fix the technical basics

Check in Google Search Console that your important pages are indexed. Make your business details consistent across your website and Google Business Profile, and complete the structured data for your business and services.

Week 3: rewrite three key pages

Choose the pages tied to the questions where your business does not appear in answers. Put the main answer in the first paragraph and add prices or price ranges, the steps of the process and an FAQ section.

Week 4: run the test again

Check the same 10 questions again. Results do not always change within a single month, but you will see the direction and know where it is worth pushing harder.

Common mistakes

• Accidentally blocking crawlers. An overly strict robots.txt file or a security plugin can block crawlers, including the ones used by AI assistants. More in our article on llms.txt and robots.txt.
• Generic copy with no useful information. Long pages about “quality” and “professionalism” with no prices, steps or conditions.
• Information available only as PDFs or images. Menus, price lists or schedules published as images are harder to use in an answer.
• Tracking rankings only. Rankings are still useful, but they do not tell you whether you are being recommended in a generated answer.

Where GEO comes in

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), meaning optimization for AI assistants, brings together the practices that make a business easy to find, understand and cite for AI assistants: Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity. It starts from SEO but adds three things: a clearly defined business identity (what we call an entity), content that is easy to use in answers, and measuring your presence in those answers. You will find a full overview in our article what is GEO, and how it applies to the Romanian market in the GEO guide for Romania.

Frequently asked questions

Do AI Overviews appear for every search?

No. Google shows them only for some searches, usually informational or complex questions. They appear less often when someone searches for a business by name.

Can I pay to appear in AI Overviews?

There is no paid option to be cited in the generated summary. Google may show ads separately, in areas marked as sponsored, but being cited in the summary depends on the content and quality of your pages.

If I rank first on Google, am I cited automatically?

Not necessarily. Well-ranked pages have a better chance, but the answer can also cite pages further down the results if they answer the question more clearly.

How do I find out whether I am cited?

The most reliable method is a test repeated monthly on the same set of questions. You can start with the free GEO score or with a Free GEO audit, in which we analyze 10 real questions from your industry.