Google AI Overviews volatility continues: Rise, fall, repeat

2024-08-14 02:00:05

The visibility of AI Overviews in Google’s search results increased to 12% in July, only to fall back to 7% by the end of the month, according to new data from enterprise SEO platform BrightEdge.

While AI Overviews now have a “stronger presence” compared to June, the visibility of Google’s AI-generated answers previously appeared on 15% of queries in May.

Why we care. Google’s AI Overviews continue to be a huge area of interest and concern among SEOs and content creators. Google is continuing to test and refine formats, citations and the amount of real estate AI Overviews occupy in the search results. The continued volatility clearly indicates AI Overviews are an unsolved problem for Google.

Decreases. AI Overviews no longer appear for the travel and entertainment queries BrightEdge is tracking using its Generative Parser. AI Overviews also no occupy 12.5% less vertical space in Google’s search results.

In July, AI Overviews were less likely to appear for:

  • General product searches (e.g., “shoes,” “furniture”).
  • Brand-specific queries (e.g., Google, Apple).
  • Basic how-to queries (e.g., “how to do,” “how to find”).
  • Healthcare searches – Google removed AI results for keywords related to “rare,” “genetic” and “complex” disorders. However, healthcare still has the highest number of AI Overviews (61%, down from 68%).

Increases. Salary-related queries (e.g., “nurse salary,” “human resources manager salary”) saw a significant increase in AI Overviews – jumping from 7% to 85% in July. AI Overviews were also more likely to be shown for:

  • Complex technical keywords (e.g., “confirmatory factor analysis”).
  • Long-tail keywords (e.g., “types of data analysis”).
  • Specific product features (e.g., gooseneck electric kettle”)

Other growth and volatility. AI Overviews overlap with Google’s search results increased overall:

  • Pages ranking in positions 31-100 experienced a “general increase in overlap, sometimes exceeding 3%.”
  • Citations of top 10 results decreased, and “significant spikes” were seen.
  • The most stable area was for pages in positions 11-30, but there were some fluctuations here as well.

The sources cited by AI Overviews also experienced significant fluctuation, according to BrightEdge. Some websites losing citations included Wikipedia (-5%), CDC (-15%), USA Today (-60%) and Forbes (-30%).

Other findings from the latest data found that AI Overviews showed for:

  • 45% of B2B tech queries for most of July, up from 29% – however, there was a significant drop and increase volatility at the end of the month.
  • 38% of education queries, up from 16% – but this sector also saw a sharp decline and volatility at the end of July.
  • 35% of insurance queries in the second half of July, but dropped significantly by the end of the month.
  • 17% of ecommerce queries, up from 11%, with significant volatility at the end of July.
  • 6.5% of finance queries, up from 6%.