AI Overviews on 80% of Google Searches: What Trackers Show and Our Own Check
Search Engine Roundtable: AI Overviews now appear on more than 80% of Google searches. We compared SE Ranking and seoClarity figures with our own check (73%) and looked at the unconfirmed ranking volatility of 24 October.
AI Overviews now appear for more than 80% of Google searches, Search Engine Roundtable reported on 26 October 2026, citing data from Semrush, SE Ranking and seoClarity. A year ago the figure was about half. But the numbers differ noticeably between tools because they measure different things. We checked our own data: in 27 of 37 Google results pages for SEO tool queries in the US, an AI answer block was present, which is 73%. Below is where the gap comes from and what it means for a website.
Why the numbers differ
Each study uses its own sample, so they cannot be compared directly:
- SE Ranking: 82.5% of brand queries in the US. Only queries containing a company or product name.
- seoClarity: more than 62% of US queries, from 55% to 84% depending on the industry (figures the company shared with Search Engine Roundtable about a month earlier).
- Semrush: trends in Semrush Sensor and a separate study by industry and query type.
Sample sizes, devices and collection dates for these studies are not given in the report, so read "80%" as a direction rather than an exact share for your niche. The trend itself is clear: by the publication's estimate, two years ago it was about 15% of queries, and in June last year about 50%.
What we saw
Our keyword research tool stores results page snapshots. On 24 October 2026 we captured 37 Google results pages in the US (desktop) for SEO tool queries: meta description checks, DNS and ASN lookups, domain age, schema validators, site audits and similar. The result:
- An AI Overview on 27 of 37 pages (73%). The "People also ask" block also on 27.
- About 5 links inside the AI answer on average (from 2 to 10).
- Most cited were niche tools that have long answered exactly this question (dnschecker.org, mxtoolbox.com, hackertarget.com) and YouTube: videos appeared in AI answers 8 times.
The sample is small and narrow, one niche and one day. But it matches the general conclusion: for informational queries an AI answer is now the norm, not the exception.
Ranking volatility on 24 October: not confirmed
On 25 October Search Engine Roundtable also wrote about strong ranking volatility on Saturday, 24 October, seen by about fifteen rank trackers, and suggested Google had released a ranking adjustment. Google did not confirm it: as of 26 October the Search Status Dashboard has no October entries, and the latest entry is the September spam update, which ran from 24 September for 13 days and 16 hours.
If your traffic dipped these days, do not draw conclusions from one or two days: the newest Search Console data is preliminary and changes. Compare week over week and check positions and query coverage, as in our guide "Why search traffic drops".
What it means for a website
- Getting into the AI answer is a goal of its own. AI Overviews impressions are visible in the Generative AI report in Search Console; see our article about this report.
- The answer must be in the text itself. In our check, the cited pages answered the question in the first lines, and the cited videos had clear titles.
- Watch clicks and impressions per page, not average position. In Search Console the AI block and all its links share one position, so average position says little.
Sources: Search Engine Roundtable, "Over 80% Of Google Searches Have AI Overviews & Growing", 26.10.2026; Search Engine Roundtable, "Google Search Ranking Volatility Gets Heated October 24th", 25.10.2026; Google Search Status Dashboard, checked 26.10.2026; PromoPilot results page snapshots, 24.10.2026. Prepared by the PromoPilot team.
