What triggers an AI Overview? What forms of queries are almost definitely to generate an AIO, and that are comparatively secure? Can we predict the place AIOs will seem, and even goal SERPs with out them?
To reply these questions, we analyzed our database of 146 million SERPs and explored how typically AI Overviews appeared for 86 totally different key phrase traits, from YMYL to CPC to question size.
Throughout our knowledge set, AI Overviews seem for 21% of key phrases. However particular key phrase classes, some classes have as excessive as a 60% probability of triggering an AI Overview, and others as little as 1%.
- AIOs seem on 21% of all key phrases.
- 99.9% of AIOs seem on Informational intent key phrases
- AIOs are 1.9x extra frequent for non-branded key phrases than branded key phrases
- AIOs seem on 46% of seven+ phrase queries
- AIOs seem for 57.9% of all query queries
- 44.1% of Medical YMYL queries set off an AI Overview
- Solely 6% of stories queries set off an AI Overview
- The classes with highest AIO share are Science (43.6%), Well being (43.0%), Pets & Animals (36.8%), and Folks & Society (35.3%).
- The classes with lowest AIO share are Buying (3.2%), Actual Property (5.8%), Sports activities (14.8%), and Information (15.1%).
- Solely 4% of NSFW queries set off AIOs
- Solely 7.9% of native searches set off an AI Overview
About this knowledge
All knowledge is from September 2025. Key phrase classes are derived from our inner key phrase categorization techniques.
Should you’re an Ahrefs consumer, you’ll be able to entry this knowledge your self. Simply head to Key phrases Explorer and use the SERP options filter to see all key phrases that set off an AI Overview, and filter by dozens of variables like intent, quantity, and development charge:
You can even analyze any model, web site, or product’s visibility in AI Overviews utilizing Model Radar.
Simply enter your model to research your mentions, citations, estimated impressions, and even share of voice throughout tens of millions of AI Overviews:
AI Overviews seem on 20.5% of all SERPs (29,991,998 out of 146,122,391).
Put one other manner, most web sites can anticipate to compete with a Google-branded, AI-generated weblog publish for 1 in each 5 of the key phrases they aim.
We are able to use this charge as a baseline to see whether or not totally different key phrase traits—like intent, size, or CPC—make it kind of seemingly for AI Overviews to set off.
Right here’s a chart summarising our findings. Question sorts with a optimistic distinction from the baseline (i.e. bars on the suitable of the mid-line) usually tend to set off an AI Overview; these with a destructive distinction (bars on the left) are much less prone to set off an AI Overview.
99.9% of key phrases that set off AI Overviews are Informational in intent. 5.5% of AIO key phrases are thought-about Business, 1.2% Transactional, and simply 0.1% Navigational.
Sidenote.
Key phrases can have a number of intent classifications, therefore the full summing to larger than 100%.
| Intent | Rely | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Informational | 29,959,542 | 99.9% |
| Navigational | 26,413 | 0.1% |
| Business | 1,657,560 | 5.5% |
| Transactional | 366,400 | 1.2% |
Relative to the baseline charge of 20.5%, we are able to see that AIOs are barely extra prone to seem for Informational key phrases, however vastly much less prone to seem for different intent sorts, particularly Navigational. Simply 0.09% of Navigational key phrases set off an AI Overview:
| Intent | AIO SERPs | Whole SERPs | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Informational | 29959542 | 140287290 | 21.4% |
| Navigational | 26413 | 2909989 | 0.9% |
| Business | 1657560 | 38117465 | 4.3% |
| Transactional | 366400 | 17806400 | 2.1% |
76.3% of key phrases that set off AIOs are thought-about non-branded (e.g. web optimization instruments), with the remaining 23.7% categorised as branded searches ( e.g. Ahrefs).
| Label | Rely | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Branded | 7,095,160 | 23.7% |
| Non-branded | 22,896,838 | 76.3% |
AIOs are 1.9x extra prone to seem on non-branded queries, triggering on 13.1% of all branded queries and 24.9% of non-branded queries in our SERP database.
| Label | AIO SERPs | Whole SERPs | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Branded | 7095160 | 54150524 | 13.1% |
| Non-branded | 22896838 | 91971867 | 24.9% |
In comparison with the baseline, AI Overviews not often seem for 1-3 phrase queries, however typically set off for 5-7+ phrase queries.
It appears that evidently the longer the search question, the larger the possibility an AI Overview will seem. AIOs seem on simply 9.5% of single-word queries, however that determine jumps to 46.4% of all queries with seven or extra phrases.
| Question size | AIO SERPs | All SERPs | P.c |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 471691 | 4964588 | 9.50% |
| 2 | 2537067 | 25594777 | 9.90% |
| 3 | 5740261 | 40931537 | 14.00% |
| 4 | 6315178 | 32365814 | 19.50% |
| 5 | 5321458 | 19303206 | 27.60% |
| 6 | 3935672 | 10753233 | 36.60% |
| 7+ | 5670671 | 12209236 | 46.40% |
66.5% of key phrases that set off AIOs are categorized as questions.
| Label | Rely | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Query | 10,045,913 | 33.5% |
| Not query | 19,946,085 | 66.5% |
In complete, AIOs seem on 57.9% of all query queries, whereas non-question queries present a decrease charge of AI Overviews in contrast with the baseline, at 15.5%.
| Label | AIO SERPs | All SERPs | P.c |
|---|---|---|---|
| Query | 10045913 | 17361451 | 57.90% |
| Not query | 19946085 | 128760940 | 15.50% |
There appears to be little apparent correlation between key phrase CPC buckets and AI Overview look, with most hovering inside a few share factors of our 20.5% baseline:
| CPC (USD) | AIO SERPs | All SERPs | P.c |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.00-0.10 | 2427764 | 8787818 | 27.6% |
| 0.10-0.20 | 847079 | 4573228 | 18.5% |
| 0.20-0.50 | 1740808 | 14057337 | 12.4% |
| 0.50-1.50 | 2435272 | 13550276 | 18% |
| 1.50-5.00 | 1511232 | 7709489 | 19.6% |
| 5.00-20.00 | 302047 | 1576723 | 19.2% |
| 20.00+ | 20943 | 132852 | 15.8% |
Virtually a 3rd (32.3%) of the key phrases that set off AI Overviews are categorised as YMYL (Your Cash or Your Life) queries.
On condition that YMYL queries are—in keeping with Google themselves—deserving of additional care and a focus, it appears shocking to see AI-generated solutions so prevalent.
The truth is, AI Overviews are extra frequent for YMYL queries than regular queries. 34.3% of all YMYL queries set off an AI Overview, far greater than our 20.5% baseline. Non-YMYL queries are much less prone to set off AIOs, at simply 17.2%:
| Label | AIO SERPs | All SERPs | P.c |
|---|---|---|---|
| Not YMYL | 20291372 | 117843464 | 17.2% |
| YMYL | 9700626 | 28278927 | 34.3% |
All YMYL classes—Medical, Monetary, Security, Authorized, and Different—present an elevated incidence of AI Overviews.
That is very true for Medical YMYL queries, with 44.1% of medical queries triggering an AI Overview—greater than double the frequency at which AI overviews seem throughout all key phrases.
| Class | AIO SERPs | All SERPs | P.c |
|---|---|---|---|
| Not YMYL | 20291372 | 117843464 | 17.2% |
| Medical | 5924866 | 13430263 | 44.1% |
| Monetary | 2027902 | 8859397 | 22.9% |
| Security | 1215129 | 3922977 | 31% |
| Authorized | 354573 | 1499855 | 23.6% |
| Different | 178156 | 566435 | 31.5% |
This has not gone unnoticed by SEOs within the healthcare business:
If we categorise key phrases by the business they belong to, we are able to see that AI Overviews have hit some industries tougher than others.
In comparison with our baseline of 20.5%, the toughest hit classes are:
- Science (43.6%)
- Well being (43.0%)
- Pets & Animals (36.8%)
- Folks & Society (35.3%)
- Web & Telecom (30.3%)
- Reference (30.1%)
- Computer systems & Electronics (28.6%)
On the different finish of the spectrum, AI Overviews appear unlikely to set off for different industries, particularly these associated to commerce and information content material:
- Buying (3.2%)
- Actual Property (5.8%)
- Sports activities (14.8%)
- Information (15.1%)
| Class | AIO SERPs | All SERPs | P.c |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grownup | 44106 | 3599311 | 1.2% |
| Arts_and_Entertainment | 1882795 | 14009774 | 13.4% |
| Autos_and_Vehicles | 1269893 | 6762380 | 18.8% |
| Beauty_and_Fitness | 859603 | 4679157 | 18.4% |
| Books_and_Literature | 317298 | 1526539 | 20.8% |
| Business_and_Industrial | 936352 | 5757412 | 16.3% |
| Computers_and_Electronics | 1675947 | 5862964 | 28.6% |
| Finance | 1355373 | 5451993 | 24.9% |
| Food_and_Drink | 1804833 | 9680182 | 18.6% |
| Video games | 736028 | 5362070 | 13.7% |
| Well being | 6638182 | 15436927 | 43% |
| Hobbies_and_Leisure | 303138 | 2256793 | 13.4% |
| Home_and_Garden | 1755813 | 9540446 | 18.4% |
| Internet_and_Telecom | 377053 | 1244501 | 30.3% |
| Jobs_and_Education | 1092337 | 6075319 | 18% |
| Law_and_Government | 898760 | 3889739 | 23.1% |
| Information | 746414 | 4948735 | 15.1% |
| Online_Communities | 218816 | 1071306 | 20.4% |
| People_and_Society | 1665904 | 4722623 | 35.3% |
| Pets_and_Animals | 1179593 | 3203717 | 36.8% |
| Real_Estate | 170199 | 2916211 | 5.8% |
| Reference | 1140509 | 3786834 | 30.1% |
| Science | 1281223 | 2939427 | 43.6% |
| Sensitive_Subjects | 131358 | 1242598 | 10.6% |
| Buying | 555271 | 17343482 | 3.2% |
| Sports activities | 964484 | 6519231 | 14.8% |
| Travel_and_Transportation | 1050155 | 6675091 | 15.7% |
Virtually all key phrases that set off AI Overviews fall into the not newsy class, with simply 0.2% of key phrases categorised as very newsy.
| Class | Rely | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Not newsy | 28,256,716 | 94.2% |
| Considerably newsy | 1,714,865 | 5.7% |
| Very newsy | 20,417 | 0.07% |
Relative to the 20.5% total AIO charge, very newsy key phrases are considerably much less prone to set off an AI Overview, suggesting that AIOs think about evergreen queries, not present information.
| Class | AIO SERPs | All SERPs | P.c |
|---|---|---|---|
| not_newsy | 28256716 | 136181642 | 20.7% |
| somewhat_newsy | 1714865 | 9618926 | 17.8% |
| very_newsy | 20417 | 321823 | 6.3% |
As a part of a bug bounty, Mark Williams-Cook dinner discovered a sequence of question classifiers utilized by Google as a part of their search techniques. (Be taught extra right here.)
All however one among these classes (different) are more likely than common to set off an AI Overview. On the excessive, 59.8% of all motive queries set off an AI Overview, the best share of any class on this analysis.
| Class | AIO SERPs | All SERPs | P.c |
|---|---|---|---|
| different | 6999483 | 91932424 | 7.6% |
| short_fact | 6462155 | 15700313 | 41.2% |
| definition | 5208895 | 11001131 | 47.3% |
| motive | 4603040 | 7696962 | 59.8% |
| instruction | 4394332 | 12521507 | 35.1% |
| comparability | 1292772 | 4942567 | 26.2% |
| bool | 772554 | 1346630 | 57.4% |
| consequence | 219770 | 470434 | 46.7% |
AI Overviews typically don’t set off for NSFW queries. 99.1% of the queries that set off AIOs are labeled as not NSFW:
Solely 4% of NSFW queries set off an AI Overview, far decrease than our baseline incidence:
| Class | AIO SERPs | All SERPs | P.c |
|---|---|---|---|
| Not NSFW | 29732356 | 139636777 | 21.4% |
| NSFW | 259642 | 6485614 | 4% |
Relative to the 20.5% total AIO charge, all NSFW classes present a considerably decrease incidence of AI Overviews. Inside NSFW, the best AIO charges are noticed for drug queries (12.6%) and rip-off queries (11.3%), although each stay properly beneath the baseline.
| Class | AIO SERPs | All SERPs | P.c |
|---|---|---|---|
| not_nsfw | 29732356 | 139636777 | 21.3% |
| medicine | 92771 | 735814 | 12.6% |
| grownup | 56450 | 3741704 | 1.5% |
| violence | 42805 | 554457 | 7.7% |
| weapons | 18898 | 354454 | 5.3% |
| vulgar | 18137 | 192852 | 9.4% |
| unlawful | 9706 | 190387 | 5.1% |
| playing | 8412 | 582259 | 1.4% |
| scams | 6683 | 59357 | 11.3% |
| hate | 3243 | 41337 | 7.8% |
| self_harm | 2537 | 32993 | 7.7% |
AI Overviews appear unlikely to set off for native searches (e.g. dentist close to me).
AIOs seem for simply 7.9% of queries categorised as native searches, properly beneath the bottom charge of 20.5% throughout all key phrases, and for 22.8% of non-local queries, barely above the bottom charge.
| Class | AIO SERPs | All SERPs | P.c |
|---|---|---|---|
| native | 1757205 | 22358147 | 7.9% |
| non_local | 28234793 | 123764244 | 22.8% |
Google acknowledges 4 forms of consumer intent in its Search High quality Evaluator Tips:
- Know question, a few of that are Know Easy queries
- Do question, when the consumer is making an attempt to perform a objective or interact in an exercise
- Web site question, when the consumer is on the lookout for a selected web site or webpage
- Go to-in-person question, a few of that are on the lookout for a selected enterprise or group, a few of that are on the lookout for a class of companies
99.9% of the key phrases that set off AIOs fall into the “Know” class, suggesting sturdy overlap between Know key phrases and our definition of Informational key phrases (which additionally account for 99.9% of AIO triggering key phrases). Google appears unlikely to set off AIOs for different intent sorts.
| Class | Rely | Share |
|---|---|---|
| know | 29,959,549 | 99.9% |
| do | 2,755,518 | 9.2% |
| visit_in_person | 628,188 | 2.1% |
| web site | 26,411 | 0.1% |
Do, Go to-in-person, and Web site all set off AIOs much less incessantly than the bottom charge, with Web site queries returning them lower than 1% of the time.
The Go to in individual AIO charge is nearly on par with our Native queries class (7.1% and seven.9% AIO charge respectively); and the Web site AIO charge is an identical to our Navigational classification from earlier (each returning an AIO charge of 0.9%).
| Class | AIO SERPs | All SERPs | P.c |
|---|---|---|---|
| know | 29959549 | 140287274 | 21.4% |
| do | 2755518 | 21168986 | 13% |
| visit_in_person | 628188 | 8813799 | 7.1% |
| web site | 26411 | 2909983 | 0.9% |
Remaining ideas
It appears crystal clear that AI Overviews are designed to set off for informational queries, notably questions and lengthy queries. They’re unlikely to set off for information queries, native searches, and NSFW queries.
However extra shocking: AI Overviews set off very incessantly for YMYL queries, and particularly medical YMYL queries. Regardless of apparent dangers of hallucination, Google appears completely joyful answering essential medical queries with an AI-generated snippet.
