The SEO playbook was simple for two decades: rank high, get clicks, convert visitors. Google is rewriting that playbook itself.
Google AI Overviews now appear at the top of search results for a growing number of queries. Instead of clicking through to websites, users get AI-generated answers right on the search page - often naming specific brands.
This is the biggest change to Google Search since featured snippets. Here's what it means.
How widespread are they?
The rollout has been aggressive:
- 30%+ of queries now trigger AI Overviews in the US
- Commercial intent queries see even higher rates - exactly the queries that drive revenue
- "Best" and "top" queries almost always trigger them
- International rollout is expanding rapidly
If your customers search for solutions in your category, they're increasingly seeing an AI answer before your organic listing.
The click-through impact
Studies indicate a 25-40% reduction in clicks for queries where AI Overviews appear. Users get their answer without clicking through.
Who wins: Brands that get mentioned in the AI Overview gain top-of-page visibility. Cited sources get some clicks.
Who loses: Websites that relied on informational traffic. Brands not named in the AI answer. Content and affiliate sites that monetized clicks.
What triggers AI Overviews
They're most common for:
- "Best" queries: "Best CRM software", "best laptops 2026"
- Comparison queries: "Notion vs Asana"
- How-to queries: "How to start a business"
- Recommendation queries: "What should I use for..."
They usually don't appear for navigational queries ("Facebook login") or simple factual lookups.
How Google picks what to recommend
AI Overviews use Google's search index combined with Gemini. The signals:
- Organic ranking - Top-ranking pages are more likely to be cited. SEO still matters, but it's table stakes.
- Reviews and ratings - Google heavily weights G2, Capterra, and Trustpilot for product recommendations.
- Brand authority - Established brands with consistent online presence, news coverage, and Wikipedia pages get mentioned more.
- Content structure - Pages that directly answer questions with clear headers and concise answers get cited more often.
- Freshness - AI Overviews incorporate current search results, making fresh content more important than with static AI models.
What to do about it
If you're being mentioned
Track your position - being 4th in an Overview is very different from 1st. Monitor how Google describes your brand. Watch for changes as the model evolves.
If you're not
- Strengthen your review presence - Google AI Overviews heavily weight review platforms
- Structure content for citation - Question-based headers, direct answers, supporting data
- Build brand authority - PR, thought leadership, consistent messaging
- Implement schema markup - FAQ, Product, and Review schemas help Google understand your content
- Keep content fresh - Updated dates, current statistics, recent information
The bigger picture
AI Overviews are just one piece. Brand discovery is fragmenting across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Google AI Overviews, and in-product AI. Your customers use multiple channels, often for the same purchase decision.
Winning requires visibility across the entire AI ecosystem, not just one platform.
AEOscope tracks your visibility across Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude - all in one dashboard.
