What Makes a Webpage a Good Candidate Source for AI Overviews and AI Mode? A Case Study Using My NYC Consulting Page

Are you curious what makes a webpage a good source candidate for AI Overviews and AI Mode answers?

Let’s look at a case study using a page from my website.

On July 31, 2026, I published a service page dedicated to my SEO/GEO consulting in NYC.

Eleven days later, I saw this page being used as a source in AI Overviews for a prompt I track: “Find me a list of consultants for SEO/GEO strategies in the New York City area.”

It happened again two days subsequently.

And then the following day, I saw the page being used as a source in AI Mode.

That got me curious: why is my NYC consulting page potentially a good candidate source for AI Overviews and AI Mode?

I’ve written before about the AI Overviews patent. (Feel free to check out that article for context before we begin our discussion here.)

What I’d like to do now is compare the AIO patent (Generative Summaries for Search Results) against my NYC consulting page to find out why that service page might be a good candidate source.

Caveat: A patent describes possible implementations. It does not prove that every mechanism described is currently used in AI Overviews or AI Mode.

Here are 11 reasons why my NYC consulting page might make a good candidate source for AI Overviews and AI Mode, based on the AIO’s patent:

1. The page is query-responsive for the core commercial or local intent.

A central concept in the AIO patent is selecting query-responsive search result documents. The patent says selection can consider query-dependent measures including ranking for the query, the origin or location of the query, locality, and language.

In that regard, my NYC consulting page is explicit about the entities and attributes that matter for queries such as:

• “NYC SEO consultant”
• “SEO consultant New York City”
• “GEO consultant NYC”
• “AI search consultant New York”
• “local SEO consultant Manhattan”

The page repeatedly establishes:

• Entity: Ethan Lazuk
• Profession: independent SEO/GEO consultant
• Location: New York City (northeast Midtown)
• Service: SEO/GEO consulting
• Audience: NYC businesses

Furthermore, the location isn’t buried in boilerplate. I say early on that I’m in “northeast Midtown” and “a few blocks east of Central Park,” also that I work with businesses across Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs and prefer collaborating with local businesses.

That localized content creates strong query-to-document correspondence, which maps closely to the patent’s query-dependent selection framework.

For your own webpages, think about each query’s/prompt’s intent (not just the words, but the underlying motivation for searching) and how you can satisfy that with your content.

2. The page covers a large number of related queries.

The AIO patent describes a process of expanding beyond documents responsive to the literal query and selecting related-query-responsive search result documents.

My NYC consulting page isn’t just about “SEO consulting NYC.”

It naturally covers adjacent questions like:

• What does an SEO/GEO consultant do?
• How much does my SEO/GEO consulting cost?
• What services are available?
• Whether I do local SEO, technical SEO, work with ecommerce, or track AI visibility.
• How I do content strategy.
• Whether I work with enterprise companies.
• Why hire an independent SEO/GEO consultant?
• What makes my consultancy different?
• How I’m actually located in NYC.
• How I approach SEO/GEO.
• Whether I understand AI search.

In other words, this one document has useful content for a family of semantically related queries, which aligns with the AIO patent’s concept of gathering material from the original query plus related queries.

For your own content, think beyond the initial query to related fanouts the model may generate, and try to be relevant for as many of them as possible.

3. The page answers implied questions without the user having to ask them.

The AIO patent introduces implied-query-responsive search result documents, where the system can infer additional information needs from the query, current context, recent context, or user information.

For example, a potential client searching “SEO consultant NYC” may not think to also ask:

• Where are they located?
• How experienced are they?
• What do they charge?
• What services do they provide?
• Why should I trust them?
• What makes them different?
• Do they understand AI search?
• Can they work with my type of business?

But my NYC consulting page answers all of these ancillary questions. That makes the page useful not only for the literal query but for the latent information needs behind the query, which is consistent with the patent’s implied-query framework.

For your own webpages, think beyond the initial query to subsequent follow-up intents the user may have.

4. The page contains good “verifiable portions.”

The AIO patent describes breaking a generated natural-language answer into portions and determining whether a candidate document verifies a particular portion. If it does, the system can associate that portion with a link to the verifying document.

My NYC consulting page provides clean factual statements that could support a number of generated claims.

For example:

“Ethan Lazuk is an independent SEO/GEO consultant in New York City.”

The page verifies that claim here:

Here:

Here:

And here:

In other words, the claim about me being an independent SEO/GEO consultant is directly verifiable with other facts on the page. This matters because the AIO patent dedicates a major part of the described architecture to finding documents that can support specific generated statements.

In your own content, think about the claims you’re making and how they’re supported by factual information.

5. The page gives the AIO/AI Mode lots of usable “corresponding content.”

An important part of the AIO patent is generating a natural-language summary by processing corresponding content from selected search-result documents. That content can include portions of text, snippets, images, or other document content, and it can be summarized before being incorporated into the final response.

My NYC consulting page gives AI Overviews and AI Mode clean material to work with.

For example, instead of simply saying:

“I am the best SEO agency in New York. Contact me.”

I explain:

• who I am
• what I do
• my philosophy
• my services
• my pricing
• my background
• my methodology
• my location
• why local businesses matter to me

All of that information gives a generative system like AIOs/AI Mode different pieces it can extract depending on the user’s question. In other words, my consulting page has high answer-component utility.

For your own webpages, think about the “corresponding content” you’re providing and how valuable (and extractable) it is.

6. The page sections map naturally to different answer portions.

The AIO patent describes generated summaries where different portions can be supported or verified by different documents.

My NYC consulting page naturally breaks into conceptual units:

Identity:

Independent SEO/GEO consultant.

Location:

Northeast Midtown / NYC.

Expertise:

10+ years.

Services:

Technical, content, authority, local, enterprise, ecommerce, AI visibility.

Pricing:

Approximately $200/hour.

Differentiation:

Custom strategies, no generic checklists.

Methodology:

User-first, holistic SEO/GEO.

Local relevance:

Works with NYC businesses and can visit locations.

Those conceptual units are almost ready-made evidence blocks for an AI-generated response. A system like AIOs or AI Mode could therefore use the page to verify one sentence, several sentences, or multiple discrete portions of an answer.

In your own content, think about the structure and how well you evidence different conceptual units.

7. The page has strong locality information.

The AIO patent mentions a locality measure based on the origin location of the query and the location corresponding to the search result document.

My NYC consulting page gives the system precise geographic information:

• New York City
• northeast Midtown
• east of Central Park
• Manhattan
• surrounding boroughs

That’s stronger than merely putting “NYC SEO consultant” in a title.

Furthermore, my page explains a genuine relationship between myself as the consultant and the geography where I live and work. So for a query/prompt with local context, the document supplies a clear basis for establishing geographic relevance.

If your content has a localized intent, focus on ways to establish your own geographic relevance, like by mentioning landmarks in your area.

8. The page gives the AIO/AI Mode information that could support “trustworthiness-related selection.”

The AIO patent says query-independent measures can include trustworthiness, popularity, and recency.

My NYC consulting page contains information that an AI system could potentially use when evaluating the source:

• identifiable individual
• first-person biography
• stated professional history
• 10+ years of experience
• specific physical location
• transparent pricing
• detailed service descriptions
• links to an About page
• links to substantive supporting articles
• clear contact information
• stated methodology
• examples of prior work/visibility
• explicit ethical principles

Note that the AIO patent doesn’t specify that any one of these traits equals “trustworthiness,” so I wouldn’t turn them into a checklist. Having said that, my consulting page contains more source-identifying and credibility-related information than a thin generic service page would, which is beneficial under the AIO patent’s framework.

For your own webpages, think about indicators of credibility, such as clear descriptions of authorship, methodology, or principles or links to supporting materials.

9. The surrounding site provides relevant documents for related information needs.

The AIO patent specifically allows related-query-responsive documents to contribute additional content to a generated answer.

My NYC consulting page links to deeper resources about:

• SEO strategies
• content
• technical SEO
• authority building
• local SEO
• ecommerce
• enterprise SEO
• GEO/prompt tracking
• people-first SEO
• ranking systems
• social media SEO

In that sense, my consulting page functions almost like a semantic hub: the page itself establishes the consultant/service entity, while linked resources provide deeper content relevant to specific branches of the user’s information need. That makes my website, as a whole, more compatible with the AIO patent’s original-query + related-query model.

In your own content, think about internal linking opportunities with semantically relevant pages that would be on the user’s journey.

10. The page can support contextual/personalized retrieval.

The AIO patent discusses user-dependent measures, including relationships between a search-result document and attributes of the user’s profile, recent queries, and recent interactions.

Suppose a user:

1. is in New York,
2. has already searched about GEO,
3. then searches for an SEO consultant,
4. then asks a follow-up about AI visibility.

My NYC consulting page overlaps with all of those contextual dimensions. According to the AIO patent’s framework, that creates multiple potential routes by which the document could become relevant beyond literal keyword matching, which is especially interesting when thinking about AI Mode-style conversational searching, where query context accumulates over multiple turns.

In your own content, think about routes the user might take to satisfy their intent, and how you can satisfy those different contextual dimensions.

11. The page works well for follow-up questions.

The AIO patent describes revised generated summaries after users interact with a search-result document. This includes using information about the interaction to change subsequent responses.

My NYC consulting page supports that kind of journey well.

A user might begin with:

“Who are some SEO consultants in NYC?”

Then:

“Which ones understand GEO?”

Then:

“What does Ethan Lazuk charge?”

Then:

“Does he do ecommerce?”

Then:

“What is his approach to AI visibility?”

My page contains enough interconnected information to remain useful across that sequence. That makes it more conceptually attractive for the iterative, contextual experience described in the patent (rather than a one-shot traditional search result).

For your own webpages, think about the user’s entire search journey and how your content can remain relevant through follow-up questions.

Key Takeaways

In this case study, we looked at my NYC consulting services page relative to the AIOs patent to understand why the page may be a good candidate source for AI Overviews or AI Mode.

In summary, the page demonstrated the following beneficial qualities:

1. Query responsiveness: the page clearly answers NYC + SEO + GEO + consultant queries.
2. Related or implied-query coverage: pricing, services, experience, location, methodology, and trust were all answered on the page.
3. Verifiable factual passages: the page can substantiate specific generated claims.
4. Locality: the precise NYC/Midtown information maps well to the patent’s locality-related query measures.
5. Citation utility: many passages could serve as the source behind an individual sentence or portion of a generative answer.

In short, a good candidate source isn’t merely a page relevant to the query, but rather it’s useful material for constructing, substantiating, and extending an answer.

That said, why do I think the page works well, patents aside? It’s because I followed a people-first approach, which is my operating philosophy.

In other words, I didn’t search for other NYC SEO/GEO consultants and base my page’s content on theirs. Rather, I opened a blank page and added the information that I thought potential clients would find useful, covering who I am, what I offer, where I’m located, and how I work — a so-called 11x content approach.

In my opinion, optimizing for people first is the best way to become a source candidate for AI assistants, as providing high-quality, more satisfying content gives them better source material to work with.

If you want a hand making your website’s content more citable by AI Overviews and AI Mode (or AI assistants in general), get in touch with me! I’m an independent SEO/GEO consultant helping brands and agencies in NYC and across the globe.

Until next time, enjoy the vibes:

Thanks for reading. Happy optimizing!

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