A new study by Ahrefs has found that Google’s AI Overviews now appear on about 21% of all searches.
The analysis looked at more than 146 million search results to understand when and where these AI-generated summaries show up.
The findings show that Google AI Overviews appear more often in long, question-style searches and less often in local or breaking news queries.
AI Overviews Dominate Informational Searches
Ahrefs found that AI Overviews (AIOs) mostly appear in informational and question-based searches — the kind users make to learn or explore topics.
Key Highlights:
- Appear on 20.5% of all keywords analyzed.
- Question-style queries trigger AIOs 57.9% of the time.
- Longer searches (7+ words) show AIOs in 46.4% of results.
- Single-word searches show AIOs just 9.5% of the time.
- Informational intent drives nearly 99.9% of AIO results.
This means Google mainly uses AI Overviews when users ask detailed or educational questions rather than quick lookups or navigational queries.
Also read about: Google AI 2025: Overviews Show 54% Overlap with Organic Search
Lower Presence in News, Local, and Commercial Queries
AI Overviews rarely appear for news, local, and shopping-related searches. Google seems to limit AIOs where freshness and accuracy are most important.
Findings by Category:
- News-related searches: Only 6.3% show AIOs.
- Local searches: Just 7.9% trigger AI Overviews.
- Shopping queries: Only 3.2% show AIOs.
- Health-related (YMYL) searches: Appear in 44.1% of cases.
Experts believe this selective rollout helps Google maintain trust and accuracy in sensitive or real-time topics.
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