The research setup
Semrush built a fixed panel of 400 commercial-intent keywords across banking, software and ecommerce, then tracked each one from September 2025 through August 2026. Every keyword carried a buying-stage modifier: alternatives, brand versus brand, best X for Y, price or cost, and reviews.
These are not curiosity searches. They are the queries people run right before choosing a vendor, a product or a credit card. A year ago, they were only partly covered by Google’s AI Overviews.
From minority answer to default answer
In September 2025, 45.75% of the tracked keywords triggered an AI Overview. By August 2026, coverage had reached 88%. When Semrush weighted the same keywords by search volume, the figure climbed to 97.08%—meaning the highest-demand commercial queries were even more likely to surface an AI answer.
The review modifier made the biggest jump. A year ago, review searches saw an AI Overview less than a third of the time; now that number is about 90%. Queries like best X for Y finished highest at 96.12%.
- Reviews rose from roughly 30% to around 90%, the largest gain of any group.
- Brand-versus-brand searches climbed 23.18 points to cover more than 86% of comparison SERPs.
- Alternatives searches grew 34 points and now appear on more than 82% of those SERPs.
- Three combinations hit 100% coverage: best X for Y in banking, alternatives in software, and best X for Y in software.
Why ranking alone is no longer enough
AI Overviews sit above the organic results. For many searchers, that summary is enough to make a decision. The answer is also assembled from multiple sources, not one standout page. Semrush’s example for mailchimp vs klaviyo shows Google citing Klaviyo’s own guide for one option and Zapier for the other, alongside a YouTube video and third-party pages.
That means your comparison page can rank well and still lose control of how your brand is described. For commercial queries, the first impression is now Google’s summary, and teams that do not track it are optimizing blind.
What to do this quarter
Start tracking AI Overview visibility as a performance metric, next to traditional rankings. For each commercial keyword you target, log whether an overview appears, which sources it cites and how your brand is described.
Then close the gap between what Google quotes and what you want it to say: update comparison pages, pricing guides and listicles so they are accurate and easy to quote. Map the review platforms, videos and third-party roundups that appear in your summaries, and invest there. Partner with YouTube creators your audience trusts, and earn more reviews on the platforms AI Overviews actually cite.
The pattern is clear. If the last year’s curve holds, the few remaining gaps below 80% will close too.
Source: Semrush Blog
