Presence Rate by Query Type
AI Overviews are not uniform across query types. Presence rate is highest on informational and comparison queries and lowest on transactional and local-pack queries.
- Informational queries: 71% AI Overview presence
- How-to and explainer queries: 64%
- Comparison and 'best' queries: 58%
- Branded queries: 33%
- Transactional and shopping queries: 21%
- Local intent queries: 14%
- Health and finance YMYL queries: 47%
Citation Patterns
Each AI Overview cites a small number of sources. Citation count and ordering matter for click distribution.
- Average citations per AI Overview: 4.6
- Median citations per AI Overview: 4
- Percentage of citations from positions 1-3 of traditional results: 51%
- Percentage of citations from positions 4-10: 28%
- Percentage of citations from outside the top 10: 21%
- Percentage of AI Overviews citing Reddit, Quora, or Stack Exchange: 27%
- Percentage of AI Overviews citing review platforms (Google, Yelp, Trustpilot, TripAdvisor): 22%
Click Impact on Underlying Results
The most contested number in the industry. Our matched-query data showed a CTR drop on the underlying organic listings when an AI Overview was present, but the size of the drop depended heavily on whether the brand was cited.
- Average CTR on position 1 organic with no AI Overview: 28.4%
- Average CTR on position 1 with AI Overview present, brand cited: 22.1% (-22%)
- Average CTR on position 1 with AI Overview present, brand NOT cited: 11.6% (-59%)
- Average CTR on positions 2-3 with AI Overview present: -41%
- Average CTR on positions 4-10 with AI Overview present: -12%
- Direct outbound clicks from AI Overview citations: 4.2% of impressions
Being cited in an AI Overview cuts the CTR loss on your underlying organic position from -59% to -22%. The citation is the difference between a meaningful traffic hit and a major one.
What Gets Cited
The pages that earned AI Overview citations in our cohort shared specific features. The pattern is consistent enough to use as a checklist.
- First 80 words answer the query directly: 78% of cited pages
- Page has FAQ schema: 64%
- Page has visible author bio with expertise signals: 51%
- Page contains 1+ specific data point or named study in the first 300 words: 71%
- Page updated within the last 90 days: 67%
- Page has clear H2/H3 hierarchy: 84%
Brand Coverage
Brand-level visibility in AI Overviews is unevenly distributed. Most brands are invisible in their highest-traffic category queries.
- Tracked brands appearing in AI Overviews for branded queries: 42%
- Tracked brands appearing in AI Overviews for category queries: 12%
- Tracked brands monitoring AI Overview presence as a KPI: 19%
- Brands tracking citation share by competitor: 11%
Citation in an AI Overview cuts the underlying CTR loss from -59% to -22%. The next year of SEO is a fight for inclusion in 4-citation answers, not just for the top organic position.
Reputation Signals in AI Overviews
AI Overviews about local businesses, branded products, and service providers cited reputation sources at a measurable rate. Review reputation is now a direct AI-visibility input.
- Local-business AI Overviews citing Google Business Profile data: 64%
- AI Overviews citing Trustpilot for branded queries: 31%
- AI Overviews citing Reddit threads on brand sentiment: 26%
- AI Overviews summarising negative review themes when present: 18%
Volatility and Recovery
AI Overview presence and citation choice are volatile. Profiles dropped and re-entered citations through the year. The pattern was not random; specific page-level changes correlated with re-entry.
- Average percentage of citations changing per query month-over-month: 34%
- Average days from a page update to re-entry into citations after dropping: 9-21 days
- Pages adding FAQ schema and answer-first paragraphs that re-entered citations within 30 days: 71%
What This Means for Strategy
The single highest-leverage activity in 2026 SEO is engineering pages to be cited in AI Overviews while keeping a healthy organic presence. The two together hold traffic; either alone bleeds it. Reputation programs (review velocity, response rate, Google Business Profile completeness) feed both directly.
