Branded search is no longer a predictable, owned corner of the SERP. By late September, Google AI Overviews were appearing on the overwhelming majority of branded queries, according to two independent datasets.
A rapid shift on brand terms
DemandSphere tracked AI Overviews on 26.12% of branded queries on September 1. That number hit 90.48% on September 27 and sat at 82.06% on September 29. Ahrefs, which looked only at U.S. desktop results, reported a higher starting point—65.1% of branded keywords in August—rising to 82.91% by September 29.
The exact jump is disputed, but the endpoint is not. Both datasets put the share above 80% at the end of September. Chris Long, co-founder of Nectiv, flagged the shift on X after finding AI Overviews for 93 of 100 enterprise brands he tested. Search Engine Roundtable’s Barry Schwartz then checked brand searches himself and saw the same pattern, with Google’s own name and news publications as the notable exceptions.
DemandSphere’s daily figures also show this did not climb in a straight line. The rate jumped to 57.43% on September 18, fell back to 31.15% the next day, then settled high after September 26. Google has not announced a policy change, and the numbers could still move.
Why your brand SERP just changed
Branded queries come from people already searching for you. That used to make them a relatively controllable part of the customer journey: your site, your social profiles, your listings. An AI Overview changes the frame. Google may now synthesize information about your brand, cite third-party pages, summarize reviews, or mention competitors right beside your own result.
That means holding the top organic spot for your own name is no longer proof that you control the message. Marketers now need to know whether the AI answer mentions the brand at all, which pages it trusts, how it describes the company, and whether competitors sneak into the response. A stable rank with a falling click-through rate is a strong signal that the overview is absorbing clicks.
One caveat: DemandSphere measured only whether an AI Overview appeared. It did not measure whether the brand itself was cited inside the answer.
How to audit your branded visibility
- List the branded queries that trigger an AI Overview and compare them with your organic rankings.
- Open Google Search Console, filter for branded queries, and compare CTR for a full week before the overview appeared with a full week after.
- Search your own brand while signed out and read the AI answer the way a customer would—note what it says, which pages it cites, and whether they’re current.
- Use rank tracking to see which branded keywords cite your site in an AI Overview, and use AI visibility reporting to track mentions across Google and other AI platforms.
If your rankings stayed flat but CTR dropped, the AI Overview is the first place to look. The goal is to separate a classic ranking problem from a deeper change in how Google presents your brand.
Source: Semrush Blog
