According to new industry research, the AI Overviews feature of Google is progressively being used in the company’s searches, indicating they are moving towards new ways of how users seek information online. The use of these summaries is surging, which means that Google is further integrating its systems towards becoming an answer engine rather than a web directory, as they have been.
Significant Growth Across Search Results
U.S. desktop queries are now exhibiting a substantial rise in their access to Google’s AI Overviews, as shown in the recent study conducted by Semrush and Datos. According to their research using over 10 million keywords, in March, AI Overviews were shown on 13.14% of all queries. This is a significant rise from the 6.49% recorded in January. This is a staggering growth of a 102% increase in the appearance rate of the overviews in just two months. Experts believe this development is Google’s most profound change to its search results in a decade, after the incorporation of featured snippets, as it changes the user experience to receiving answers instead of links.
Shifting Trigger Points: Beyond Simple Facts
Though AI Overviews seem to be limited to informational queries with 88.1% of triggered searches, the study indicates a significant increase beyond this category. Semrush data indicates an increase in commercial queries with AI Overview triggers rising from 6.28% in January to 8.69%. Navigational queries have experienced an even more dramatic proportional increase, almost doubling from 0.74% in January to 1.43%. Semrush notes how this gradual creep into commercial and navigational territory reports suggests that Google is “slowly creeping into conversion territory,” meaning different phases of user journeys might be influenced.
Industries Witnessing Significant Growth
Not all sectors have received the integration of AI Overviews similarly. The study found several key industries where the presence of these AI summaries has grown most substantially since January. Leading the charge was science, with a 22.3% increase, closely followed by health, with 20.3%. People & Society grew by 18.8%, and Law & Government observed a 15.2% increase. Travel also registered substantial growth, with AI Overviews appearing 14.3% more in related searches.
On the contrary, sectors that depend on real-time data, like news and sports, were least impacted by the surge in AI Overviews. Semrush speculates this gap could mean that “Google is still cautious about using AI to cover contemporary news stories,” but that is subject to change.
Rethinking the ‘Zero-Click’ Dilemma
The introduction of AI Overviews first sparked worries about ‘zero-click’ searches—increased instances where users receive answers without clicking a hyperlink. Although search queries that prompt AI Overviews do have above-average zero-click tendencies, the research provides a different interpretation. The study evaluated the same keywords with and without AI Overviews to determine usage patterns and found an overall decrease in zero-click activity, with January reporting 38.1% and March, 36.2%. In response, Semrush stated, “That suggests AI Overviews do not automatically increase zero-click behavior.” This tension between expectations and reality stems from human engagement with evolving search technologies.
