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This study was originally published in March 2025. We’ve since refreshed the study with fresher data.
When Google rolled out AI Overviews (AIOs), it was arguably the most disruptive change to the search landscape since the introduction of featured snippets.
Our deep-dive analysis, based on tens of thousands of keywords, SERP feature overlaps, and industry-specific visibility shifts, reveals how and where Google is changing the rules—and what SEOs, publishers, and marketers need to do about it.
We analyzed 10M+ keywords from the Semrush database and clickstream data from Datos to find answers to these questions:
Here’s what we found:
You should care about AI Overviews because they’re AI-generated summaries in Google Search results that:
AI Overviews are built on Google's generative AI models and deliver an instant synthesis of multiple relevant sources pulled from the web.
Unlike featured snippets, which extract a sentence or two from a single source, AI Overviews consolidate knowledge from multiple sources to present a unified answer.
In short: they’re turning Google into both a search engine and an answer engine.
To understand the impact and scope of AI Overviews, we analyzed:
This allowed us to observe what kinds of content AI Overviews appear for, how that’s changing over time, and what SEO strategies are still effective.
We looked at 10M+ keywords from January 2025 through November 2025 to find the percentage of all queries that trigger an AI Overview.
And the data shows terms that trigger AI Overviews grew rapidly at the start of 2025 before settling in at around 16% of all queries.
In our first iteration of this study back in March 2025, these were the top-level metrics for keywords that trigger AI Overviews:
Now, the average keyword with an AI Overview looks slightly different: more search volume, a higher average CPC, and lower difficulty.
Earlier in 2025, AI Overviews mostly appeared for long-tail informational queries—not high-volume commercial or transactional keywords. This was consistent with how Google previously rolled our featured snippets and People Also Ask.
So, the question is: was Google just testing AI Overviews in low-risk areas before expanding them to more queries?
We analyzed 10M+ keywords to define how the search intent of queries that trigger an AI Overview has changed over time for clues.
The data shows that AI Overviews are slowly but surely starting to target lower-funnel searches.
Since October 2024, the percentage of keywords triggering an AI Overview with commercial, transactional, or navigational intent have all grown:
We’re seeing the net cast by AI Overviews widen. The special feature is now growing across more types of keywords, whether they’re branded, navigational, or commercial in nature
We analyzed the structure and length of keywords that trigger AI Overviews and those that don’t trigger AI Overviews and saw some notable differences.
Keywords that trigger AI Overviews tend to be longer and more specific.
These kinds of queries have been the cornerstone of most SEO content strategies for years. Now, brands have to compete against AI Overviews to earn attention—and clicks—in SERPs.
Google prefers predictable, fact-based questions where it can confidently summarize a consensus answer.
Next, we evaluated three main keyword metrics for terms that trigger AI Overviews compared to terms that don’t trigger AI Overviews.
AI Overviews are showing up most often on low-CPC, low-volume queries—with nearly 60% of keywords having 100 or fewer monthly searches. And a significant share—nearly 60%—falling into the 21–60 Keyword Difficulty range.
The majority of AI Overviews still appear on queries that offer little direct ad revenue (informational keywords with low CPC and volume). However, the data shows AI Overviews are moving past low-risk, long-tail queries and into competitive, middle- and bottom-of-the-funnel territory.
We next examined which features most often sit next to AI Overviews in SERPs. In March, this is what we saw:
Many of the most prominent SERP features from March are no longer seen as often with AIOs.
Notably, we don’t see organic videos as much (although video carousels grew). Featured snippets, image carousels, and organic reviews are all now seen less often when an AIO appears.
Related searches (95.32%) and People Also Ask (90.03%) are virtually guaranteed to appear alongside an AI Overview. Also prominent are video carousels and discussion and forum blocks.
Perhaps the most significant insight is the increased presence of Google Ads. When this research was first conducted in March 2025, ads were seen very rarely on the same SERP as an AI Overview.
Now, Google Ads appearing at the bottom occurs on 25% of AIO SERPs. That was less than 1% in March.
To find out if AI Overviews are stealing clicks from organic search results, Semrush partnered with Datos, a Semrush company, to analyze over 200,000 keywords (each with a search volume over 100) that either triggered or didn’t trigger an AI Overview between January 2025 and October 2025.
To understand causality, we also tracked a set of keywords that did not trigger AI Overviews in May but did in October. This allowed us to directly compare zero-click behavior before and after an AI Overview was introduced for the same keyword.
Keywords that trigger AI Overviews do tend to have higher zero-click rates on average, but this may reflect that those terms often have informational intent rather than indicating causation.
Although keywords with AI Overviews have higher zero-click rates, the rate isn’t rising. In fact, it’s decreased steadily since January. This challenges the assumption that AI Overviews always reduce clicks and points to a more complex interaction between query type, user intent, and how AI answers are delivered.
The reduction in zero-click rates is also likely related to the growth of AI Overviews among transactional and navigational searches.
When we analyzed the same keywords before and after they started showing AI Overviews, we found the zero-click rate decreased from 33.75% to 31.53%.
That suggests AI Overviews don’t automatically increase zero-click behavior.Maybe the reality is that these searches were already unlikely to end in a click.
To determine which industries have been most affected by AI Overviews, we focused on three key metrics:
We looked into what percentage of an industry's keywords currently display an AI Overview. Basically, how saturated the industry is with AI Overviews.
The industries most saturated by AI Overviews are Science, Computers & Electronics, and People & Society, all with AIOs on over 17% of keywords.
The industries with the least percentage of AIOs were Real Estate, Shopping, and Arts & Entertainment, with AIOs on less than 3% of all keywords.
Then, we looked at the growth in the number of keywords triggering AI Overviews across different industries from March 2025 (when we first published this study) to November 2025.
Some industries saw more AI Overviews while others saw a scaling back:
The industry with the fastest growth was Food & Drink, which is now the ninth-most impacted industry in our list.
Health and People & Society experienced the greatest decreases in share of AI Overviews.
Next we looked at 2025 quarterly changes in the average number of keywords triggering an AI Overview across the top 1,000 domains for each industry.
This reveals how AIOs impacted SEO portfolios across different industries throughout the year.
Across the board, Q2 showed an explosion of AIOs, but Q3 pulled back—with over half of the sectors seeing a decrease in their keywords triggering an AIO.
That decline didn’t last, as Q4 saw mostly increases again. Overall, when comparing Q4 to Q1, we can see that AIOs increased their presence among domains’ keyword rankings by an average of 155%.
Science information typically has consensus answers and is covered through well-structured content—making it easy to synthesize.
And that’s put it on the AI Overview frontline.
Despite a slight decrease since March (-1.02%), it still leads all verticals with the highest share of AI Overviews.
Health, People & Society, and Law & Government have seen a huge rise in AI Overview coverage. All three industries are dominated by informational queries.
It’s somewhat surprising to see Google roll out AI Overviews so aggressively in three industries that so often lack consensus answers and come with more than their fair share of misinformation risks.
News and Sports are two categories that are almost entirely made up of searches for up-to-date informational content.
The fact these categories are lagging behind the average growth in AI Overviews suggests Google is still wary of covering recent events with AI-generated content.
When we first published this study in March 2025, Food & Drink saw very little growth in AI Overviews.
Since March, this industry had the most growth of any vertical and is now sitting right around the average (11%) in terms of keywords triggering AI Overviews
This rise has brought specific challenges for food bloggers and recipe sites that previously relied on organic search traffic for monetization.
Looking ahead, Food & Drink sites may need to re-think their traffic and revenue strategies.
Real Estate & Shopping have the smallest share of keywords impacted by AI Overviews and have seen relatively little growth.
The lack of growth in these areas is likely due to the fact that Google can already satisfy a lot of this demand with specialized, high-utility SERP features, such as local packs and ads.
These industries also lean more toward local search intent, meaning a searcher isn’t looking for content or education; they’re looking for local information or directions on where to take action in the real world.
While AI Overviews are highly effective at summarizing consensus information, they lack the necessary visual and contextual data (like maps, reviews, and action buttons) required for high-intent shopping and real estate decisions.
Now, what do we do with this information?
The growth and volatility of AI Overviews means marketing teams can no longer rely on traditional search rankings alone. Instead, teams should re-evaluate expectations for SEO traffic and acknowledge the value gained from becoming visible in an AIO.
The goal is no longer just ranking for clicks. It's to become the trusted source that powers Google’s answer.
Adapt by benchmarking and tracking your brand’s specific mention rate and citations within AI Overviews.
Semrush makes it easy to track AI Overviews—helping you see how your brand is performing in them.
Semrush One gives you tools for SEO and AI visibility in one subscription. You’ll gain access to many tools to help you track and win visibility in AI Overviews (and more).
For enterprise brands that need more functionality and higher limits, Semrush Enterprise AIO offers advanced solutions tailored to the new AI search landscape.
With Enterprise AIO, you can analyze how your brand is represented across AI Overviews as well as other AI search platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. Enterprise AIO enables precision tracking of brand mentions, sentiment, sources, and competitors in real time, so brands can understand and grow their presence.
AI Overviews represent a shift not just in ranking—but in how Google answers questions. As the SERP becomes more generative, SEO becomes more about presence than position.
Brands that adapt fast will build trust, earn SERP visibility, and thrive in the post-click world.
Jana Garanko
Jana is Head of PR at Semrush. Together with her team, she increased the brand awareness of Semrush brand globally with curious facts and statistics all over the world. Crazy about data, even if she sleeps.
AI Overviews are gaining popularity and impacting brand visibility. Learn how to research and track your AI Overview visibility with Semrush.
AI Overviews are AI-generated summaries that appear for some search queries in Google.
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