Google’s AI Overviews are showing 13% of the time

Author Profile

Sean Walsh

Director at Intelligency

Sean is a Director at Intelligency heading up our digital marketing and client services operations. Sean has 15+ years experiencing working both in-house and agency with brands including Lloyds, Alstom, Hitachi, Lufthansa, Viaplay, DFDS Seaways and Mercedes-Benz.

Google has always been evolving, but its latest shift might be the biggest change in a decade. If you’re in marketing and rely on search traffic, whether you’re running content campaigns, managing SEO, or just trying to be seen online, this one’s worth paying attention to.

What are AI Overviews?

AI Overviews are short, AI-generated summaries that now appear at the top of some Google search results. Instead of showing a list of links like Google normally does, these Overviews attempt to give you an answer right away, pulling information from several websites to create a kind of “best guess” response.

Think of it like this: instead of telling you where to find the answer, Google is just giving it to you directly.

Why it matters for marketers

This has serious implications for how users interact with search results and how they discover brands. If Google gives people the answers without them needing to click through to your site, you could lose valuable traffic, even if your content helped create that answer in the first place.

It also means your strategy may need to shift from trying to rank on page one to trying to be the answer itself.

Just how common are these AI Overviews?

The numbers are growing fast. In March 2025, AI Overviews showed up in more than 13% of all U.S. desktop searches, up from just 6.5% in January. That’s more than double in only two months. And there’s no sign of it slowing down.

At the moment, most of these summaries appear for informational searches, things like “what is BMR” or “how does intermittent fasting work.” These are the kinds of top-of-funnel queries that drive awareness and early engagement.

But Google is creeping closer to more commercial territory. AI answers are starting to appear for:

• Navigational searches (trying to find a specific website or brand)
• Commercial or product-related queries (such as comparing features or prices)

That’s where things get more serious for marketers.

Are AI Overviews hurting clicks?

A major concern is “zero-click searches,” where people get what they need from Google and don’t visit any websites. Semrush looked at over 200,000 keywords to see if AI Overviews are driving this trend.

Surprisingly, the data shows that zero-click behaviour actually went down slightly from January to March, even for the same keywords that started showing AI Overviews. That suggests users are still exploring beyond the Overview, at least for now.

Which industries are being affected the most?

Some sectors are seeing a rapid rise in AI Overviews:

• Science and health are leading the way, likely because they involve factual content that’s easier for AI to summarise.
• Society, law, and government are also seeing big increases, even though these areas often involve sensitive or complex issues.
• On the other hand, news, sports, and real-time content are being handled more cautiously by Google, likely because the information changes too quickly for AI to summarise reliably.

What kinds of content trigger AI Overviews?

Right now, AI Overviews are most likely to appear for long-tail, low-competition informational queries, such as definitions, how-tos, and comparisons. These are usually low-cost from an ad perspective and not the types of searches that Google is trying to monetise heavily. That’s likely why AI is being tested there first.

If you’re creating blog content, guides, or FAQs, this is your front line.

But here’s the twist: commercial and branded terms are slowly starting to trigger AI Overviews too. If that trend continues, even your traffic from high-intent searches could be at risk.

Are your competitors already in the AI box?

Just because Google shows an AI Overview doesn’t mean your brand is featured in it. Only some sites are actually referenced inside the summary. So it’s important to check whether:

• Your site is being mentioned in AI-generated answers
• Your competitors are showing up instead
• You’re losing traffic from terms that now feature Overviews

This can help you decide whether to adapt your content strategy to aim for inclusion or to focus on other opportunities that still drive traffic.

So what should marketers do now?

Here are the key takeaways:

1. Don’t panic, but do pay attention. AI Overviews are expanding quickly, but they’re mostly impacting low-risk, informational content for now.
2. Shift your mindset. Being ranked isn’t enough anymore. You want to be quoted in the AI answer.
3. Focus on quality, clarity, and authority. Google’s AI leans on sites it trusts. Expert commentary, well-structured answers, and authoritative sources are more likely to be used in summaries.
4. Look for low-competition opportunities. There are still lots of high-value keywords that aren’t being disrupted by AI Overviews yet, especially in commercial and local search areas.
5. Track what matters. Watch your rankings and traffic on a keyword-by-keyword basis. When Overviews appear, analyse how your click-through rate is affected.

Google isn’t just listing websites anymore. It’s becoming a content creator in its own right. That means SEO is entering a new phase. It’s not just about rankings, but visibility inside answers, presence across formats, and building a brand that AI chooses to trust.

And while we might not be living in a totally post-click world yet, we are moving toward a post-rank one. The brands that adapt now will be the ones still visible tomorrow.