Google AI Overviews no longer rank position 1 for 12.4% of U.S. desktop search results of the time. This is a significant in increase from just a month ago, when fewer than 2% of Google AI Overviews appeared below position 1, according to new data from enterprise SEO platform seoClarity.
Google’s AI Overviews have raised concerns among SEOs and publishers, particularly due to declines in clicks and traffic. However, the data indicates there are still chances to outrank AI Overviews and capture organic traffic.
AI Overviews appear in 19% of all U.S. desktop keyword searches overall. Here’s the latest breakdown of where AI Overviews rank, based on seoClarity’s research, which factors in SERP features excluding ads:
- 87.6% of AI Overviews appear in Position 1.
- 7.6% appear in Position 2.
- 2.8% appear in position 3.
- 2% appear in Position 4 or lower.
When AI Overviews rank lower, it’s more likely to happen on transactional queries.
For AI Overviews that rank in Position 4 or lower, transactional searches jumps from 12.38% to 22.7%.
For example, the query [games on a Nintendo Switch], the AI Overview is outranked by two Nintendo category pages and a Popular Products carousel.
This is great news for businesses that want to rank top of Google search results and capture quality organic traffic.
Time will tell how SEO will continue to evolve.
