Google | AI | Google AI Overviews Appear On 21% Of Searches: New Data

Article by Matt G.Southern

New Ahrefs analysis shows where AI Overviews show up in Google: more often on questions and longer queries, less on time-sensitive news and local searches.

Most AI Overviews show on informational, question-style, and longer queries.

Very newsy and local queries are comparatively unlikely to surface an AI Overview.

Medical YMYL queries show the highest exposure in the dataset.

Ahrefs analyzed 146 million search results to determine which query types trigger AI Overviews. The research tracked AIO appearance across 86 keyword characteristics.

Here’s a concise look at the patterns and how they may affect your strategy.

What The Analysis Found

AI Overviews appear on 20.5% of all keywords. Specific query types show notable variance, with some categories hitting 60% trigger rates while others stay below 2%.

Patterns Observed Across Query Types

Single-word queries activate AIOs only 9.5% of the time, whereas queries with seven or more words trigger them 46.4%. This correlation indicates that Google primarily uses AIOs for complex informational searches rather than simple lookups.

The question format also shows a similar trend: question-based queries result in AIOs 57.9% of the time, while non-question queries have a much lower rate of 15.5%.

The most significant distinctions are seen based on intent. Informational queries make up 99.9% of all AIO appearances, while navigational queries trigger AIOs just 0.09%. Commercial queries account for 4.3%, and transactional queries for 2.1%.

Patterns Observed Across Industry Categories

Science queries have an AIO rate of 43.6%, while health queries are at 43.0%, and pets & animals reach 36.8%. People & society questions result in AIOs 35.3% of the time.

In contrast, commerce categories exhibit opposite trends. Shopping queries are associated with AIOs only 3.2% of the time, the lowest in the dataset. Real estate remains at 5.8%, sports at 14.8%, and news at 15.1%.

YMYL queries display unexpectedly high trigger rates. Medical YMYL searches trigger AI Overviews 44.1% of the time, financial YMYL hits 22.9%, and safety YMYL reaches 31.0%.

These findings contradict Google’s focus on expert content for topics that could impact health, financial security, or safety.

Queries With Low Presence Of AI Overviews

6.3% of “very newsy” keywords trigger AI Overviews, while 20.7% of non-news queries display AIOs.

The pattern indicates that Google deliberately limits AIOs for time-sensitive content where accuracy and freshness are essential.

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