Google has quietly moved the AI Overviews that appear for many brand-name searches out of the main desktop results and into the right-hand column. That is the space knowledge panels have long occupied. The change was first spotted by search marketers David McSweeney and Chris Long, and reported by Search Engine Roundtable on November 2, 2026. Google has not announced the move or said whether it is a test.
Published US desktop examples for Apple, Zillow, Coca-Cola, Google itself and Search Engine Roundtable show the generated brand summary sitting beside the main results rather than inside them.
What changed on the page
Previously, these AI Overviews often appeared at the top or in the middle of the main results column. In the new layout, the official brand site and its sitelinks lead the main column again. The right column now holds a panel labelled “AI Overview” that blends generated text with fact rows, ratings, commerce details and, for some brands, a Follow button.
The Apple example is the clearest. A search for [apple] opens with apple.com and sitelinks for iPhone, iPad, Store, Newsroom and Watch, while the AI Overview sits to the right with a 4.6 rating, delivery and returns details, payment options and a generated company description.
Why brand teams should pay attention
This is not just a cosmetic swap. The right rail used to be the knowledge panel, which brands could influence through claimed profiles and suggested edits. An AI Overview is written by a model drawing on whatever sources it selects, and its generated text can contradict the structured fact rows next to it.
- Official sites lead the main results again in the published examples.
- AI-written summaries and structured fact rows may not match.
- Google has no first-party click data for AI Overviews by placement.
- The layout has only been seen on US desktop results so far.
In the Zillow example, the AI text says Zillow Group was founded in 2006, while the fact row below says 2004. Both figures have some basis—the company was founded in 2004 and opened its site to the public in 2006—but one panel gives two different founding years without explaining the difference.
What marketers can do
The first step is to audit your own brand terms on desktop. Screenshot the AI Overview, the structured facts, and any commerce data. Compare them against your official company details and flag mismatches through any available feedback route. Because Search Console’s generative AI report still does not include clicks or queries, your own screenshots are a useful first-party record.
Treat this as an active, incomplete rollout. Observers described variations, and Google may keep testing. The number that shows how far brand AI Overviews have spread: Chris Long found them on 93 of 100 brand queries he tested in late September, while separate Ahrefs and DemandSphere datasets showed similar spikes.
The open question
Moving AI text out of the main column is arguably better for brand owners, because it returns the official site to the top of the page. But the deeper issue remains: Google is now replacing brand knowledge panels with a generated account of who a company is. Barry Schwartz summed up the shift by saying Google is “essentially replacing brand knowledge panels with AI Overviews.” If those summaries keep carrying old or conflicting details, brand teams will need to work harder to keep their own story straight in search.
Source: PPC Land
