Semrush Study Finds AI Overviews on 88% of Tracked Commercial Keywords
A Semrush study of 400 US desktop commercial keywords found that Google AI Overviews appeared on 88% of tracked terms by August 2026. The findings point to broad AI Overview coverage across pricing, reviews, alternatives and comparison searches.
Google AI Overviews appeared for 88% of the commercial keywords tracked in a year-long Semrush study, up from 45.75% at the start of the measurement period. The research suggests that AI-generated summaries have become a standard feature of many US desktop commercial results, including searches for pricing, reviews, alternatives and product comparisons.
The increase matters because these queries often sit close to a buying decision. Visibility is no longer only about ranking a product, category or comparison page among conventional organic links. Businesses also need to consider whether Google can identify and accurately summarize their brand, offering and supporting evidence within an AI Overview.
What Semrush measured
Semrush's commercial modifiers study tracked a fixed panel of 400 US desktop keywords between September 2025 and August 2026. The keywords covered banking, ecommerce and software, and used five commercial query patterns:
- Alternatives
- Brand vs Brand
- Best X for Y
- Pricing/Cost
- Reviews
The study reported two measures of AI Overview coverage. Keyword-weighted coverage describes the share of tracked keywords that produced an AI Overview. Volume-weighted coverage accounts for estimated monthly search volume, giving more weight to higher-demand terms.
By August 2026, keyword-weighted coverage had reached 88%. When weighted by estimated search volume, coverage was 97.1%. In this sample, the 12% of terms without an AI Overview represented less than 3% of total estimated volume. That pattern indicates that the higher-volume commercial queries in the panel were especially likely to return an AI Overview.
| Measure | September 2025 | August 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Keyword-weighted AI Overview coverage | 45.75% | 88% |
| Volume-weighted AI Overview coverage | Not provided in the research summary | 97.1% |
| Reviews queries | About 30% | About 90% |
Reviews, comparisons and alternatives showed broad coverage
The rise was not confined to one type of commercial query. Semrush found substantial growth across the five modifiers it tracked. “Best X for Y” had the highest August 2026 coverage at 96.12%. This query format commonly reflects users evaluating products or services for a particular need, such as the best option for a business type, use case or budget.
Reviews queries rose from roughly 30% coverage in September 2025 to around 90% in August 2026. Brand-versus-brand searches finished at around 86%, while brand alternatives exceeded 82%.
The industry results were similarly broad. AI Overview coverage by August ranged from 85% to 91% across banking, ecommerce and software. Ecommerce experienced the largest relative increase, rising from 32.62% to 85.11%.
Of the 15 industry-modifier combinations in the study, 12 had keyword-weighted coverage of 80% or more by the end of the period. Three combinations reached 100%: Best X for Y queries in banking, Alternatives queries in software, and Best X for Y queries in software.
Why the findings matter for commercial visibility
Commercial search pages have long competed on conventional ranking factors, page relevance and the ability to satisfy an evaluator's questions. AI Overviews add another presentation layer that can synthesize information from multiple sources before a user reaches the standard organic listings.
For brands, this raises two related visibility questions:
- Does Google have clear, accessible information to describe the product or service correctly?
- Is there sufficient credible third-party and first-party material for Google to include the brand when summarizing a category, comparison or buying decision?
A pricing page should make prices, plans, conditions and distinctions unambiguous. Comparison and alternatives content should address genuine differences rather than rely on vague claims. Review-related visibility also depends on whether the underlying facts about a business can be consistently understood across the web.
This does not mean that every commercial page should be rewritten around AI Overviews, or that inclusion in an AI summary replaces organic SEO. The study did not measure citations, clicks, conversions or revenue. It therefore cannot show whether the increase in AI Overview coverage reduced traffic, improved discovery for particular brands, or changed commercial outcomes for the sites represented in the results.
Practical steps for content and SEO teams
The study supports a more deliberate approach to pages that answer commercial evaluation queries. Start by identifying the terms that matter most to prospective customers, particularly queries containing modifiers such as reviews, pricing, alternatives and comparisons. Then check whether the relevant pages provide direct, internally consistent answers to the questions those searches imply.
Useful priorities include:
- Keeping product specifications, pricing details and plan limitations current and easy to parse.
- Publishing comparison content that explains selection criteria and meaningful trade-offs.
- Making clear what a product or service is for, who it suits and where it may not be the right fit.
- Maintaining consistent brand, product and entity information across owned pages and credible external references.
- Monitoring search results for high-value commercial terms to understand when AI Overviews appear and which sources are surfaced.
The aim is accuracy and accessibility, not attempting to force a particular AI-generated answer. Google can change how it selects, summarizes and cites sources, and presence in an AI Overview may vary by query.
GEO Search Leads can help teams assess whether their site presents the clear, structured information needed for AI-driven discovery, including commercial pages that must explain offerings, comparisons and brand context accurately. If AI Overviews are becoming common for the queries your customers use to evaluate options, create a GEO Search Leads account to begin identifying GEO optimization opportunities across your website.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did the Semrush study find about AI Overviews and commercial keywords?
Semrush found that AI Overviews appeared for 88% of its 400 tracked US desktop commercial keywords in August 2026, compared with 45.75% in September 2025. Volume-weighted coverage reached 97.1% in August 2026.
Which commercial query types had the most AI Overview coverage?
“Best X for Y” queries had the highest reported August 2026 coverage at 96.12%. Reviews queries reached about 90%, brand-versus-brand queries ended around 86%, and alternatives queries surpassed 82%.
Does the study prove that AI Overviews reduce organic traffic?
No. The research measured AI Overview presence across a fixed keyword set. It did not measure clicks, traffic, conversions, revenue or the performance of individual websites.
Do these findings apply to every Google search market and device?
Not necessarily. The study covered 400 fixed keywords on US desktop search across banking, ecommerce and software. Its results should not be treated as a measurement of all commercial searches, non-US markets or mobile results.
Conclusion
Semrush's findings show that AI Overviews were present across most commercial queries in its US desktop panel by August 2026, particularly high-volume terms and evaluation-focused searches. Conventional rankings remain important, but clear product information, useful comparisons and reliable brand descriptions are increasingly relevant to how businesses are represented in AI-assisted search results.