Semrush: AI Overviews now show on 88% of commercial keywords
A Semrush study of 400 US commercial keywords found Google AI Overviews on 88% of them in August 2026, up from 45.75% a year earlier. Comparison, review and pricing searches are now mostly answered by a summary before any organic result.
- Semrush: AI Overviews appeared on 88% of 400 US commercial keywords in August 2026, up from 45.75%.
- Decision-stage queries like reviews and brand vs brand now start with a multi-source Google summary.
- Track AI Overview citations for your commercial queries and refresh comparison, pricing and review content.
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Google AI Overviews now appear on almost every decision-stage commercial search Semrush tracks. In a study published on October 21, 2026, Semrush found AI Overviews on 88% of 400 US commercial keywords in August 2026, up from 45.75% in September 2025. Review queries saw the biggest jump.
What did Semrush’s AI Overviews study find?
Semrush found that AI Overview coverage nearly doubled across commercial keywords in banking, software and ecommerce over 12 months, according to its study. The key points:
- Every modifier group passed 80%. “Reviews” keywords went from 30.14% to 89.04%; “best X for Y” ended highest at 96.12%; “brand vs brand” grew least, from 63.41% to 86.59%.
- Volume matters. Weighted by Semrush’s estimated search volume, coverage reached 97.08%. The keywords without an AI Overview made up under 3% of search volume.
- Industries converged. Ecommerce rose most, from 32.62% to 85.11%, and all three verticals ended above 85%.
As PPC Land reported, the data covers US desktop only, and the study records whether an AI Overview appeared, not clicks or conversions. PPC Land also estimates fewer than 27 keywords per industry-and-modifier cell, so cell-level figures swing easily, and notes that Semrush sells the tracking tools its recommendations call for.
Do AI Overviews hurt commercial keyword traffic?
This study cannot answer that, because it contains no traffic data. Semrush still writes that ranking first “likely won’t lead to as much traffic as it did this time last year,” but treat that as interpretation. What the data does show is exposure: on nearly every “X vs Y”, “alternatives” or “X review” query, the first thing a buyer reads is now a Google summary built from several sources.
That changes who controls the comparison narrative. In Semrush’s “mailchimp vs klaviyo” example, the AI Overview cites Klaviyo’s own guide for the case for Klaviyo, but Zapier for the case for Mailchimp, alongside a YouTube video. One screenshot does not prove a pattern, but it illustrates the risk: your comparison page is one input among review sites, creators and competitors.
The click side looks thin too. PPC Land’s daily roundup cites Marie Haynes’ GA4 data from 100 sites showing ChatGPT sessions at 0.62% of Google organic volume. Organic clicks still matter most, but the summary above them increasingly shapes which brand gets that click.
How to adapt comparison and review pages for AI Overviews
- Check your own SERPs. Pull your top commercial queries (vs, alternatives, best, pricing, reviews) and record which trigger an AI Overview, ideally on mobile and in your own markets, since this study is US desktop only.
- Map the citations. For each query, list which sources the summary cites: your site, competitors, review platforms, YouTube, Reddit. Those are your real competitors for the answer.
- Fix outdated commercial pages. Update pricing, features and comparison tables, and write clear, quotable passages that state who your product is for.
- Work the third-party layer. Make sure review platforms and creator videos that get cited describe your product accurately; encourage reviews where platform rules allow.
- Measure beyond rankings. Report AI Overview presence and citations next to positions, and compare click-through rates on queries with and without a summary in Search Console.