How to get your tourism business featured in Google SGE’s Top Picks (AI Snapshot Cards)

Wondering how to get your tourism business featured in Google’s new AI-powered search results? You might’ve seen the ‘Top Picks’ box — that’s part of Google’s Search Generative Experience, or SGE. It’s changing how travellers discover and trust information online. In this post, we’ll explain how to give your website the best shot at being included, using a new approach called Generative Engine Optimisation, or GEO

So what exactly is it, and how do you get in?

What are Google SGE “Top Picks”?

In Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE), the panel on the right, which often contains 2-5 curated cards from websites is what we call AI Snapshot Cards or Top Picks. These are AI-generated content blocks that highlight:

• A clickable blog title
• A short AI-written summary
• Your business name and logo (if detected)
• A thumbnail image
• A publish date (if structured data is present)

It’s Google saying: “These are trusted sources worth checking out.”

Google’s Top Picks in SGE are a key part of Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), which is how your content gets surfaced directly in AI-generated results. We’ve written an introductory blog post to help you understand GEO and how to improve your visibility.

• Higher organic traffic
• Authority in the travel planning journey
• AI visibility in Google, Bing Copilot, and ChatGPT browsing mode

Google’s Top Picks are on ‘

Why it matters for tourism operators

Unlike traditional SEO results, SGE’s Top Picks are generated from context-rich, trustworthy content. It’s not about keyword stuffing or backlink spam. Instead, Google is looking for:

• Well-structured blog content
• Accurate schema markup (BlogPosting, Article, FAQPage, etc.)
• Topical relevance (content that matches searcher intent)
• Author and publish date visibility
• Internal linking to related tours or services

This is about being found AND favoured by AI.

How to get featured in SGE Top Picks

Here are the practical steps:

1. Write helpful, traveller-focused Blog Posts
   • Answer real visitor questions (e.g. “best time to kayak in 1770” or “how to hike the Great Ocean Walk”)
   • Use subheadings, lists, and short paragraphs for readability
2. Use Schema Markup
   • Add BlogPosting schema (most SEO plugins do this automatically)
   • Include author, datePublished, headline, image, and mainEntityOfPage
3. Include original omages
   • These are more likely to be picked up for the thumbnail
   • Optimise image filenames and alt tags (e.g. sunset-kayaking-1770.jpg)
4. Internally Link to Tours, FAQs or Booking Pages
   • Show Google your blog is part of a content cluster, not a standalone island
5. Keep It fresh
   • Update blog posts at least every 6–8 months
   • Refresh schema dateModified when content changes
6. Optimise for AI Discovery
   • Add a clear summary at the top
   • Avoid overly salesy language — focus on helping the traveller make decisions

Real example: Walk91 featured in SGE

Our friends at Walk91 recently had their blog post appear in the Top Picks panel when searching for Great Ocean Road tours. Their blog was:New: Retro Glass Jug

• Structured with clear H2s and location-rich detail
• Marked up with schema
• Linked to relevant tour offerings
• And offered really valuable content.

Need help?

We offer an Generative Engine Optimisation Health Check to help you:

• Identify missing schema and content gaps
• Optimise your blog and product pages for AI visibility
• Audit your presence in SGE, ChatGPT, and Bing Copilot

Let us help your business show up where it counts not just on page 1, but in the answers travellers trust.

Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) assessment of your online presence

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