According to new data from enterprise SEO platform BrightEdge, the visibility of AI summaries in Google search results increased to 12% in July, but fell to 7% by the end of the month.
While AI Overview had an “increased presence” compared to June, Google's AI-generated answers only had visibility into 15% of queries in May.
Why we care. Google's AI Summary has generated a lot of interest and concern among SEOs and content creators. Google continues to test and refine the formatting, citations, and amount of space that AI Summary takes up in search results. The continued fluctuations make it clear that AI Summary is an open issue for Google.
Decrease. AI Summary no longer appears for travel and entertainment queries that BrightEdge tracks using Generative Parser. The vertical space that AI Summary takes up in Google search results also decreased by 12.5%.
In July, the following items were less likely to show an AI summary:
General product searches (e.g. “shoes”, “furniture”); Brand-specific queries (e.g. Google, Apple); Basic how-to queries (e.g. “how to”, “how to find”); Healthcare searches – Google removed AI results for keywords related to “rare”, “genetic”, and “complex” diseases. However, healthcare still has the highest number of AI overviews (down from 68% to 61%).
Increased. Salary-related queries (e.g., “nurse salary,” “HR manager salary”) saw a significant increase in AI summaries, jumping from 7% to 85% in July. AI summaries were also more likely to appear in the following cases:
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. There was an overall increase in overlap between AI Overview and Google search results.
Pages ranked 31-100 “showed an overall increase in overlap, sometimes exceeding 3%.” Citations in the top 10 declined and showed “significant spikes.” Pages ranked 11-30 were the most stable, although even here there was some fluctuation.
According to BrightEdge, sources cited by AI Overviews have also experienced significant fluctuations: websites that have seen declines in citations include Wikipedia (-5%), CDC (-15%), USA Today (-60%) and Forbes (-30%).
Other findings from the latest data include:
Most B2B tech queries in July were at 45%, up from 29%, but saw significant drops and fluctuations towards the end of the month. 38% of education queries were at 38%, up from 16%, but this sector also saw sharp drops and fluctuations towards the end of July. Insurance queries were at 35% in the second half of July but dropped significantly by the end of the month. Ecommerce queries were at 17%, up from 11%, but saw significant fluctuations towards the end of July. Finance queries were at 6.5%, up from 6%.
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