Google AI Overviews nearly double for commercial keywords: Study

Google AI Overviews appeared for 88% of commercial keywords tracked by Semrush in August, nearly double the 45.75% recorded in September 2025. The new study tracked 400 U.S. desktop keywords across banking, ecommerce, and software.

Why we care. AI Overviews now appear for most tracked searches involving product comparisons, reviews, and prices. So make sure your brand is competing for visibility in Google’s AI-generated answers.

AI Overviews surged for review searches. Review-related searches saw the largest increase. Coverage rose from 30% to nearly 90% over 12 months.

• Best X for Y: Coverage reached 96.12%, the highest of the five search types.
• Brand vs. brand: Coverage rose 23.18 percentage points to more than 86%.
• Brand alternatives: Coverage rose 34 percentage points to more than 82%.
• All five commercial search types ended above 80% coverage, up from 30% to 63% in September 2025.

Ecommerce saw the biggest increase. AI Overview coverage for ecommerce keywords rose from nearly 33% to 85%, the largest increase among the three industries.

• By August, coverage ranged from 85% to 91% across banking, ecommerce, and software.
• AI Overviews appeared for every tracked keyword in three groups: banking searches for “best X for Y,” software searches for alternatives, and software searches for “best X for Y.”

High-volume searches had even greater coverage. When weighted by estimated monthly search volume, AI Overview coverage reached 97% in August. That compares with 88% when each keyword counted equally.

• The 12% of keywords that didn’t trigger an AI Overview accounted for less than 3% of the sample’s estimated search volume.

About the data. Semrush tracked the same 400 U.S. desktop keywords across five commercial search types and three industries from September 2025 through August 2026. The findings reflect this sample, not all commercial searches. The study didn’t measure changes in clicks or conversions.