I'm curious about Google’s real-time extraction layer. You mention that this is a living layer of SEO that now determines whether your answer qualifies to be included in an Overview. How so? Any source?
When I refer to Google’s “real-time extraction layer,” I’m describing the retrieval stage in generative search systems. This is the layer that decides which content is eligible to be pulled into an AI Overview in the first place, before the LLM even generates a response.
To break it down further 👇
It’s not enough for your page to be indexed. It needs to be structured in a way that LLMs can understand, segment, and directly synthesize into an answer. And that happens through retrieval/ extraction.
LLMs ingest, tokenize, and look for structure, clarity, and hierarchy.
That’s what I mean when I say your site needs to be ready for Google’s “real-time extraction layer.” It’s the stage that filters content before a citation even becomes possible.
While "extraction layer" is not a Google-official term, it's a valid conceptual shorthand for the retrieval-and-ranking phase before a passage is surfaced in AI Overviews. Carolyn Shelby describes this exact layer in her SEJ article, just not by name.
I'm curious about Google’s real-time extraction layer. You mention that this is a living layer of SEO that now determines whether your answer qualifies to be included in an Overview. How so? Any source?
When I refer to Google’s “real-time extraction layer,” I’m describing the retrieval stage in generative search systems. This is the layer that decides which content is eligible to be pulled into an AI Overview in the first place, before the LLM even generates a response.
To break it down further 👇
It’s not enough for your page to be indexed. It needs to be structured in a way that LLMs can understand, segment, and directly synthesize into an answer. And that happens through retrieval/ extraction.
LLMs ingest, tokenize, and look for structure, clarity, and hierarchy.
That’s what I mean when I say your site needs to be ready for Google’s “real-time extraction layer.” It’s the stage that filters content before a citation even becomes possible.
Read this up for reference: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-llms-interpret-content-structure-information-for-ai-search/544308/
While "extraction layer" is not a Google-official term, it's a valid conceptual shorthand for the retrieval-and-ranking phase before a passage is surfaced in AI Overviews. Carolyn Shelby describes this exact layer in her SEJ article, just not by name.