How Google’s AI Overviews are accelerating change in paid search

Google’s AI Overviews continue to disrupt search as we know it. For advertisers, the landscape is shifting fast, with AI-generated answers now appearing on more queries and across more industries. Early Adthena data shows Paid Search click-through rates could decline by 8–12 percentage points (roughly a 20–40% relative drop) as AI-generated answers take up more space on the SERP.

To understand the real impact of Google’s AI Overviews, Adthena’s data science team analyzed over 21 million indexes across two four-week periods (April – May and August – September) spanning five key industries: Retail, Travel, Finance, Healthcare, and Automotive.

Our goal was to uncover:

• How often AI Overviews appear across industries and search types
• Which types of queries are most likely to trigger them
• How AI Overviews visibility has changed over time, both by industry and by query length

AI Overviews are Google’s generative responses to search queries. They appear prominently on the SERP, often at the very top, summarizing answers using a blend of AI-generated content and web citations. 

These responses differ from traditional features like featured snippets or knowledge panels:

• Featured snippets pull directly from a single source.
• Knowledge panel answers rely on structured data and the knowledge graph.
• AI Overviews synthesize multiple sources.

Their position on the page makes them powerful, but also disruptive. Ads and organic listings are often pushed below the fold, forcing advertisers to rethink how they maintain brand visibility.

In our first study, AI Overviews mostly appeared on longer, informational search queries. This time, we’re seeing that pattern break.

Across industries, AI Overviews are now triggering on shorter, high-volume keywords – the kind that drive paid conversions. 

AI Overviews are no longer a purely top-of-funnel feature. They’re increasingly appearing on commercial queries, where ad spend and ROI are most concentrated.

This compression of the funnel is a significant shift: it means AI Overviews are starting to occupy the same space as PPC ads, reshaping where and how visibility can be won.

The chart below shows the percentage of search indexes with AI Overviews across different query lengths, from single-word searches to 10-word queries for each industry.

This visualization highlights a similar pattern to the first study – a clear, consistent trend across all verticals: the longer the search query, the higher the likelihood of triggering an AI Overviews.

However, what’s changed this time is the scale and intensity of that effect. While longer searches still dominate AI Overviews triggers, we’re now seeing meaningful growth in shorter, high-volume queries, particularly in Finance and Retail. 

Across industries, the degree of disruption varies significantly: some sectors are seeing steady, incremental shifts, while others like Healthcare and Finance are experiencing a rapid reshaping of their search landscape.

The next visualization deepens this story by showing the percentage of search indexes with AI Overviews across query lengths for each industry.

• Finance and Retail lead the way: Finance AI Overviews visibility climbs from 11% on single-word searches to almost 79% on longer queries, while Retail peaks at 84% on 9-10 word searches, showing how generative results now dominate comparison and product discovery queries.
• Healthcare remains high across the board: Even short medical queries (1-3 words) trigger AI Overviews frequently, highlighting this category’s saturation in generative results.

Automotive and Travel show slower growth: AI Overviews appear less often here, but both industries follow the same upward curve, with Travel in particular showing early signs of disruption in longer, planning-related queries.

By comparing data ranges, we can see just how dramatically AI Overviews have expanded in a short time.

The chart below shows the change in AI Overviews visibility across industries, revealing both the pace of growth and the widening reach of generative search.

• Finance saw the fastest increase, up 9.9%, as AI Overviews rapidly expanded across informational and top-funnel queries.
• Healthcare followed closely at 8.3%, maintaining the highest overall presence despite signs of saturation.
• Travel rose 5.8%, with AI Overviews now appearing on planning and booking searches that were once dominated by Hotel and Flight Ads.
• Retail and Automotive grew modestly at around 2%, signaling early but steady adoption in product and comparison-based searches.

In just four months, AI Overviews have grown across every vertical, reshaping both informational and commercial SERPs. The fastest growth is happening where users research, compare, or plan, the same spaces where paid ads have traditionally performed best.

To understand which brands are most affected, we compared AI Overviews visibility across leading domains in each vertical.

Adthena’s analysis covers a diverse mix of global enterprise domains across five key industries. The table below highlights the depth of the dataset, illustrating the index and search term coverage.

This dataset provides the foundation for our brand-level analysis, revealing how AI Overviews visibility differs by domain, industry, and search behavior.

The results show clear winners and early warning signs for others:

• Finance: Aggregators and major banks are leading the surge. client6.com (+13.7%), client7.com (+12.9%), and client5.com (+10.7%) have seen the sharpest increases, reflecting the dominance of comparison and informational content.
• Healthcare: Brands like client10.com (+13.9%) and client13.com (+10.3%) are gaining traction as AI Overviews continue to surface on top-funnel medical queries.
• Travel: client22.com (+13.0%) and client23.com (+5.6%) are early movers, as AI Overviews increasingly appear on booking and planning-related searches.
• Retail and Automotive: More modest gains, led by client18.com (+3.5%) and client2.com (+5.9%), show gradual expansion into product and vehicle research queries.

The brands gaining the most visibility in AI Overviews are those providing broad, information-rich content, often educational or comparison-focused. These pages are now feeding Google’s generative results, shifting visibility away from pure paid placements.

The heatmap below compares how AI Overviews’ visibility has shifted across query lengths, from one-word searches to 10-word queries. This view highlights how Google’s AI is evolving differently across industries and query complexities.

Finance: Expanding across the full query spectrum

Finance shows balanced growth across all query lengths (+10-15%), reflecting Google’s deeper grasp of commercial intent and overlap with traditional PPC and comparison spaces.

Healthcare: Pullback on complex medical queries

Despite being the most saturated category, Healthcare saw declines in longer queries (-21%), suggesting that Google might limit AI exposure on sensitive topics, focusing visibility on simpler, safer searches.

Retail: Long queries continue to lead

Retail AI Overviews gains (+6-11%) are driven by longer, product-level searches like [best cordless vacuum cleaner under £200], reinforcing AI Overviews’ strength in shopping-intent queries.

Travel: Broad, consistent expansion

Travel rose steadily (+4-8%), especially in mid-length, planning-style searches such as [best time to visit Barcelona in spring], showing AI Overviews replacing or complementing paid listings.

Automotive: Slow, steady movement

Automotive saw modest growth (+3-6%) across short and mid-length queries but a -25% drop in long searches, revealing volatility in AI handling of specific comparisons.

AI Overviews are refining intent recognition across industries, expanding influence in research and commercial searches, while showing caution in sensitive areas like Healthcare, reshaping the balance between paid and organic visibility.

With Adthena’s AI Overviews Dashboard, advertisers can finally monitor where and how AI Overviews appear, measure their impact on performance, and uncover new opportunities to stay ahead of disruption.

The dashboard goes beyond surface-level tracking; it exposes the intent patterns driving AI Overviews appearances, turning complex data into actionable strategy. 

Each advertiser gets a completely tailored view of their competitive landscape. You can select specific search terms or categories and even see how AI Overviews impact the terms your competitors bid on.

Unlike tools that capture AI Overviews data only periodically, Adthena’s platform continuously indexes search results multiple times per day. This delivers the most accurate, timely visibility into AI Overviews frequency, crucial intelligence for brands that depend on Google Ads as a core revenue channel, especially as paid ads begin surfacing directly within AI Overviews themselves.

The hidden opportunities

AI Overviews don’t appear everywhere, and where they do, their impact isn’t uniform. 

• In categories where AI Overviews penetration is still low, advertisers can double down on capturing SERP real estate. 
• Where AI Overviews are prominent, advertisers can bid more aggressively to secure more visibility, expand reach to capture more revenue, and adjust ad copy strategy.

AI Overviews are redefining how brands compete across paid and organic search. Visibility is becoming harder to secure, competition is intensifying, and the ability to adapt quickly is now essential for success.

With Adthena’s AI Overviews Dashboard, you can see how your visibility is shifting across the evolving SERP, and learn how to safeguard your paid search performance in the age of AI.

Book a demo to learn more.