AI Overviews in 9 Countries: 36 Queries Tested in 2026
Almost all public measurements of Google AI Overviews were made on US results. We asked the same 36 questions in 9 countries, including Poland, Ukraine, Spain and Brazil. The overview is already almost everywhere (91% of results, 229 of 251 pairs), and the gap between countries…
Almost all public measurements of Google AI Overviews were made on US results. We asked the same 36 questions in 9 countries, including Poland, Ukraine, Spain and Brazil. The overview is already almost everywhere (91% of results, 229 of 251 pairs), and the gap between countries is smaller than the gap between types of query.
Data: two Google snapshots on 09.11.2026, updated 09.11.2026
Key numbers
- An AI Overview was present in 91% of results (229 of 251 query and market pairs) in both snapshots. By market from 84% (Germany, 27 of 32) to 100% (France, 20 of 20).
- The gap between markets is smaller than between query types: explanations and health 100% (40 and 46 pairs), how-to and finance 97% (39 and 38), product choice 76% (45) and transactional queries 79% (43).
- In the US, Poland and Ukraine, every fourth overview does not appear at once: without waiting for the block it was visible in 72% of results, with waiting in 95% (the same 83 results for the US, Poland and Ukraine).
- The overview has a median of 4 source links. The share of sources from the first 10 results of the same page ran from 32% (Ukraine) to 53% (Brazil), so in eight of nine markets more than half of the sources came from outside the first 10.
- A YouTube link was in 65% of overviews across 7 markets (144 of 221; Brazil 84%, US 52%), but almost never in Poland (0 of 32) and Ukraine (2 of 34).
How we measured
We took 36 queries of the same meaning, six types with six queries each, translated the way people usually search in each language (not word for word), and ran them in 9 markets on desktop Google through the BrightData SERP API. We took two snapshots about an hour apart. A pair of query and market counts as having an overview only if the block was found in both snapshots. Details are in the methodology section below.
AI Overviews by country: the US is no longer an exception
| Market | Language | Pairs | Share with an overview |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | English | 28 | 93% (26 / 28) |
| United Kingdom | English | 33 | 97% (32 / 33) |
| Germany | German | 32 | 84% (27 / 32) |
| France | French | 20 | 100% (20 / 20) |
| Italy | Italian | 29 | 86% (25 / 29) |
| Spain | Spanish | 21 | 86% (18 / 21) |
| Poland | Polish | 33 | 85% (28 / 33) |
| Ukraine | Ukrainian | 31 | 97% (30 / 31) |
| Brazil | Portuguese | 24 | 96% (23 / 24) |
| All markets | 251 | 91% (229 / 251) |
Five markets are at 93% to 100% (the US, UK, France, Ukraine, Brazil, with 20 to 33 pairs each). The lowest are Germany (84%), Poland (85%), Italy and Spain (86% each). Each market has only 20 to 33 pairs, so we do not call the differences of 5 to 10 points stable. What we can say is narrower: in our sample the overview is not a US feature.
Query type matters more than country
| Query type | Example | Pairs | Share with an overview |
|---|---|---|---|
| Explanations | what is inflation | 40 | 100% |
| Health | how to lower cholesterol | 46 | 100% |
| How-to | how to unclog a drain | 39 | 97% |
| Finance | what is an index fund | 38 | 97% |
| Transactional | cheap flights | 43 | 79% |
| Product choice | which air fryer to buy | 45 | 76% |
The spread across query types is 24 points (76% to 100%, 38 to 46 pairs per type), while across markets it is 16 points. The overview appears most readily where the user wants an answer and less readily where the user wants to buy or choose a product. If your pages target transactional queries, the overview matters less for you than for informational content, in this sample.
The overview loads later: some trackers may undercount it
We ran 108 queries in the US, Poland and Ukraine twice: once without waiting for the overview block and once waiting for it to load. In the 83 results that came back in both runs, an overview was visible in 72% without waiting and in 95% with waiting. By market: US 76% against 100% (25 results), Poland 76% against 86% (29), Ukraine 66% against 100% (29). For anyone who checks results with a tool, this means that a part of the trackers that do not wait for the block may show fewer overviews than users actually see. We tested one tool and do not know how others behave.
Where the overview takes its sources
The median overview has 4 source links. We compared them with the first 10 organic results of the same page in the same snapshot. The share of sources that are also among those 10 is lowest in Ukraine (32%) and highest in Brazil (53%): Germany 45%, US 43%, UK and Italy 42% each, Spain 37%, Poland and France 36% each. In eight of nine markets, then, more than half of the sources came from outside the first 10 results.
| Market | Share of overviews with YouTube |
|---|---|
| Brazil | 84% |
| Italy | 72% |
| Spain | 67% |
| Germany | 66% |
| United Kingdom | 59% |
| France | 58% |
| United States | 52% |
| Ukraine | 6% (2 of 34) |
| Poland | 0% (0 of 32) |
| Seven markets together | 65% (144 of 221) |
Counted on overviews in snapshot A, so the bases differ from Table 1.
YouTube stands out. On seven markets a link to it is in about two overviews of three, and in Poland and Ukraine it is practically absent. The absence shows in both snapshots, but we did not check why: it could be markup, a Google policy or the content itself, and we do not know. Social networks (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Reddit) also differ: they are in the sources of 47% of overviews in Brazil, 33% in Spain, 26% in the US and 3% in Poland. Percentages for individual markets rest on small bases (20 to 33 results).
The results page is unstable, the overview is not
Over 1 to 2 hours between snapshots, the first 10 domains matched with a median of just 29%, and by 50% or more for only 39% of pairs (98 of 251). The presence of an overview, however, matched in 96% of pairs (241 of 251). On the 98 stable pairs the overview share is the same, 91% (89 of 98), so the market figures above are not an artefact of unstable results.
What to do
- Answer the question in the first lines of the page: the overview collects short, clear answers.
- A page can be a source of an overview without being in the first 10 results, so work on clarity and the structure of the answer, not only on position.
- For markets where the overview cites YouTube, consider a video answer. We saw it in 7 markets and not in Poland and Ukraine.
- Check whether an overview appears for your own queries in each country separately.
- Remember that tools which do not wait for the block see fewer overviews than users do.
- Look at impressions and clicks in Search Console, not at position alone.
In PromoPilot you can see which pages of your site already get impressions and which queries sit just outside the first 10, and decide where to work first: PromoPilot services.
Methodology and limits
Queries: 36 queries of the same meaning, six types with six each (how-to, explanation, health, finance, product choice, transactional), translated per market without brands or news. Markets: US and UK (English), Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Ukraine (Ukrainian), Brazil (Portuguese), with the gl and hl of the market and no point location. Tool: BrightData SERP API, Google desktop, first page, with the parameter that waits for the overview block. Control run without the parameter: 108 queries in the US, Poland and Ukraine, 83 with results in both runs. Two snapshots on 09.11.2026 (09:22 to 10:39 and 10:39 to 11:35 Kyiv time). Failed responses were retried up to 3 times. Pairs without results in either snapshot were dropped, which left 251 of 324.
Distorted results: since mid-September 2026 rank trackers have reported altered results, so we compared the first 10 domains of the two snapshots. The match is 50% or more for 98 of 251 pairs (median 29%). The overview share on those 98 pairs (91%) equals the share on all 251 (91%), so the main figures are given on 251 pairs and the 98-pair check is shown beside them. Limits: 36 queries per market is an illustration, not an estimate for a country's whole search; 20 to 33 pairs per market, so 5 to 10 point differences are not stable; desktop only; query frequency was not weighted (each query counts as 1); sources were counted on snapshot A; the reason for the missing YouTube in Poland and Ukraine was not checked. This is a description of a sample, and correlation is not cause. The data cost about $2.1 in API requests (about 1,400 requests).
FAQ
What is an AI Overview?
An AI Overview is a block of generated text at the top of a Google results page, with a few links to the sources it draws on. In our sample the median overview had 4 source links (251 query and market pairs, 9 markets, 09.11.2026).
In which countries does Google show AI Overviews?
In our sample of 36 queries it appeared in all 9 markets we tested: the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Ukraine and Brazil. The share of results with an overview ran from 84% (Germany, 27 of 32) to 100% (France, 20 of 20), and 91% overall (229 of 251). With 20 to 33 pairs per market, a gap of 5 to 10 points between countries should not be read as stable.
For which queries does the overview appear more often?
For explanations and health questions it appeared in 100% of pairs (40 and 46 pairs), for how-to and finance in 97% (39 and 38), for transactional queries in 79% (43) and for product choice in 76% (45). In this sample the type of query mattered more than the country.
Do I need to be in the top 10 to be a source of the overview?
Not necessarily. In eight of nine markets more than half of the overview sources came from outside the first 10 results of the same page: the share of sources inside the first 10 ran from 32% (Ukraine) to 53% (Brazil). This is a description of our sample, not a rule for how Google chooses sources.
Why might tools not see the overview?
The block can load later than the rest of the page. In 83 results for the US, Poland and Ukraine, an overview was visible without waiting for 72% and with waiting for 95%. A tracker that does not wait for the block may undercount overviews.
How do I check whether an overview appears for my queries?
Run your own queries for each country separately, with that country and language, and repeat them at different times: the first 10 results matched by 50% or more in only 39% of pairs (98 of 251) between two snapshots 1 to 2 hours apart. Note whether the overview was there in every run, and watch impressions and clicks in Search Console rather than position alone.
How to cite
PromoPilot (2026). AI Overviews in 9 Countries: 36 Identical Queries. Data 09.11.2026. CC BY 4.0: https://promopilot.link/uploads/blog/research/ai-overviews-1111/ai-overviews-by-country-2026-11-09.csv . Article: https://promopilot.link/en/blog/ai-overviews-9-countries-36-queries-2026
Download the data
The aggregate table (CSV, license CC BY 4.0): https://promopilot.link/uploads/blog/research/ai-overviews-1111/ai-overviews-by-country-2026-11-09.csv. It contains aggregates by market and query type, not the queries themselves.
