New research from BrightEdge provides a snapshot of the types of queries that tend to show Google AI overviews (AIOs) and provides insight into the types of queries and verticals where AIOs are most prevalent.
The findings show dramatic differences in the amount of general AI views displayed across verticals in ways that reflect common query types. This effect also works in reverse, where some verticals experience fewer AIO search functions.
Is this a paradigm shift?
While BrightEdge calls it the biggest paradigm shift in decades, I think that’s underestimating the changes to Google search in the recent past, not just in 2024. One thing that’s not widely understood is that the Google Search has been an AI search engine since at least 2015. with the introduction of RankBrain and other subsequent changes to the search back end.
The big change in Search this year is that AI is more evident on the front end as a search feature, largely replacing the role that featured snippets once played. Perhaps most importantly, there was an infrastructure change in early 2024.
BrightEdge Generative Analyzer
BrightEdge has a technology, called Generative Parser, that tracks and analyzes patterns in Google’s AI search functions. BrightEdge used its generative analyzer to produce research results on Google’s new AI Overviews (AIO) search feature.
Albert Gouyet, Vice President of Operations at BrightEdge, had this to say about the BrightEdge Generative Analyzer:
“It’s exciting to see the BrightEdge Generative Parser™ give marketers a front-row seat to how AI is developing in search and gives the community a glimpse into the future. For marketers who rely on organic traffic, the first indications suggest that AI will help reach new customers and present new opportunities to create content that addresses multiple needs and increases brand performance.”
What triggers AIO
BrightEdge’s report indicates that highlights and questions would likely trigger the AIO feature. Highlights are answers to questions that are created using direct quotes from websites. BrightEdge found that AI overviews were more likely to appear when there was also a featured snippet.
What doesn’t trigger AI overviews
The research showed that local search queries were the least likely to trigger an IA Overview search result. This makes sense because a user is looking for a structured search result (company names, addresses, phone numbers), information that cannot be usefully summarized.
Similarly, search queries that generate sitelinks were also less likely to trigger AIO. Sitelinks are search results related to brand searches that include multiple links to internal pages on a website. For example, searching for the name of a clothing store might return a search result that includes internal pages for women’s clothing, men’s clothing, and so on. This also makes sense because it’s the type of search query that’s best answered with direct data rather than a summary.
Verticals are more likely to contain AIOs
Search results that used to include AI overviews were very different compared to verticals (verticals meaning specific industries or topics). This probably doesn’t mean that Google was targeting specific verticals to show more AIOs. Search functions are always tied to the usefulness of the functions. The usefulness of the features is checked by search quality evaluators, workers who test new types of search results and rate them according to usefulness and other criteria.
Healthcare-related search queries tend to generate general AI views at a rate of 63% of the time. This makes sense for search queries looking for information.
B2B tech queries tended to generate AIO results 32% of the time, while e-commerce search queries triggered AI Overviews 23% of the time.
Interestingly, queries related to restaurants and travel do not tend to trigger AIO results.
AIO is shown less often than SGE
Another interesting data point is that AIO is triggered 20% less often than Search Generative Experience (SGE) responses.
BrightEdge offered three insights related to why AIO undersamples experimental SGE.
“This indicates that AI is becoming more accurate when generating useful experiences. This is likely because AI is now better suited to people’s needs, such as searching for summaries, recommendations or conversational experiences. Ultimately instance, Google is getting better at curating answers.”
BrightEdge research noted that Google is improving the ability to anticipate follow-up questions by providing AI search summaries that more fully answer a question.
They write:
“Since Google l/O, the overlap between AI citations and traditional results has decreased. Google is making sure that users don’t get the same results in the two different types of results. Now it’s also delivering on its promise to the second, third and fourth search for you. AI is starting to anticipate the next question and give options before a user asks. This often happens with queries based on “what”, “where” and “how”.
Early days of AIO
Google has received overwhelmingly negative reviews from users and the media about the quality of Google’s AI overviews, which in turn can create trust issues. BrightEdge’s report can be considered a snapshot of Google AIO today, and I’m sure BrightEdge will come back with fresh data in the future when Google’s SERPs (AI) change again.
Featured image by Shutterstock/Marco Lazzarini
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