The overview of AI is increasing throughout the search marketing objective [Study]

The overview of AI is more impactful than information search.

In our six-month analysis of over 600,000 keywords across 10 industries, AI Overview grew an average of 71% across all search engine results pages (SERPs) for marketing purposes.

At the same time, the trend of AI overviews from SERPs with Google ads continues to grow.

Google’s move to extend AI Overview to a wider variety of SERPs is disrupting not only informational searches, but also searches for marketing and advertising value.

Important takeaways

• Google Ads and AI Overview are now appearing together in the same SERP almost 2 times more often than last year.
• Visibility of AI Overviews for marketing inquiries increased by 71%
• AI Overview Visibility of trading intent queries decreased by 5%
• Finance has seen the biggest growth in AI-driven commercial inquiries of any industry, up 231% in six months
• Keywords with AI Overview had a higher cost per click (CPC) than keywords without AI Overview across all industries

How to do it

This research builds on our previous AI Overview research, which showed that AI Overviews were growing rapidly across information searches and were increasingly appearing alongside Google Ads.

For this new analysis, we examined more than 600,000 keywords from the Semrush US desktop database between November 2025 and April 2026. We segmented those keywords by industry, search intent, and cost-per-click (CPC) to understand how AI Overview’s visibility varies across different search types.

From there, we calculated:

• Share keywords that trigger AI Overview every month
• How often AI Overview meets Google ads in SERPs
• How does the AI ​​Overview look differ across industries, intent categories, and CPC ranges

Google Ads and AI Overview are increasingly converging

AI overview appears next to Google Ads twice as often as last year.

Our previous research found that SERPs containing both Google Ads and AI Overviews will grow by 394% by the end of 2025. There was a significant jump in September’s all-time high during the holiday shopping season, which is when commercial search activity peaks in many industries.

Although the overlap between AI and ad overviews has decreased in early 2026, the general upward trend remains.

What does this mean

Google does not limit AI Overview to low-objective information searches. Ads and AI Overview appearing together more often is a sign that Google sees value in AI Overview appearing in similar searches where advertisers are paying for clicks.

An overview of AI is increasing in all searches aimed at marketing

During the six-month study period, the share of commercial SERPs with AI Overview grew by 71%. During that time, the average share of SERPs for transactions in AI Overview decreased by 5%.

Note: Marketing objective keywords represent someone who is in research mode, checking options, comparing products, or looking for deals. (“Peet’s cold brew vs Starbucks cold brew,” “Dunkin iced coffee flavor.”) Transaction intent keywords show someone in action mode, ready to buy or convert. (“Truck for sale,” “sandwich places near me that deliver.”)

AI overview appeared more often in commercial keywords than in industry-wide trade keywords in our dataset. But the size of the gap between these two types of keywords is different for every industry.

It was very big in internet and telecom, Finance, and Travel.

But in food and beverage, the gap has actually changed, with AI overall at 16% of transactional SERPs and 14% of commercial SERPs.

Here’s what that trend looked like across 10 industries:

Every industry has seen growth, just not at the same rate.

Finance saw the biggest increase in AI overview for trading purposes (231.25%), followed by Computers and electronics (107.62%) and Gaming (76.66%).

What does this mean

Some industries have more commercialized AI reviews than others. This may be related to the different lengths of the research phase when making a decision or purchase in each phase.

For example, Internet and telecom, Finance, and Tourism involve high-value decisions with long research phases that can take weeks or months. And these industries are seeing huge growth in commercial AI Overviews.

Because there is a longer research phase, there is more opportunity for AI Overview to shorten the decision-making process and help the searcher to reach their decision.

But in a consumer journey with fast research stages (like food and beverage, where you might research and choose a restaurant within the same hour), there isn’t much room for an AI Overview.

In short, the longer the research stage, the more likely AI Overview will play a role.

AI overview is always unique to the search made

At the same time, overall search performance saw a decline in AI reviews during the study period.

Many industries were down or in decline. In the top two industries with the highest share of commercial keywords with an AI overview in April 2026 (internet and telecom and food and beverage), they are not in a strong upward trend.

The two exceptions were Computer & electronics (with a positive share change of 80.45%) and News (with a positive share change of 45.96%).

What does this mean

In almost every industry, the trend of AI overviews from artificial search is declining. This is happening at the same time we are seeing an increase in AI Overviews for commercial purposes.

In the marketing research stage, there is more opportunity for AI feedback to summarize something for someone during the decision-making process. But if the search is a chore, and someone is ready to buy or take action, it’s less likely that an AI Overview will appear.

AI overviews often appear on high CPC keywords

When we broke down keywords into four CPC categories, we found that AI Overview is the most expensive category in almost every industry.

That means many queries where advertisers are competing more for clicks are likely to show AI Overview.

Of the top keywords in Jobs and Education, over 60% saw an AI Overview – more than any other industry.

We also compared the average CPC of keywords that triggered AI Overview and those that did not trigger AI Overview.

For industries with medium CPCs, the difference was even greater.

Career and education keywords with AI Overviews had an average CPC of $5.02, compared to $1.51 for keywords without AI Overviews. Finance showed a similar pattern, with AI Overview keywords averaging $4.84 compared to $2.14 for non-AI Overview keywords.

But this shift between keywords with AI Overviews having a higher CPC was not the same as industries with a lower overall CPC.

Keywords that trigger the AI ​​Overview actually had the lowest average CPC in the Internet and telecom, Gaming, Hobby and Leisure, Food and Beverage, News, and Sports categories.

Games have seen the highest increase in commercial searches triggering AI Overview, but that growth appears to be focused on low CPC queries rather than high value keywords.

What does this mean

Hannah Pedri, Head of Paid and Social Search at Semrush, says the pattern is consistent with what her team has been seeing.

Most of the keywords with the highest CPCs are also the keywords that start to trigger the AI ​​Overview. When the cost of visibility is high, it becomes even more important to understand where Paid Search adds value, where organic visibility can support your goals, and when you need both.

Hannah Pedri, Head of Paid Search and Social at Semrush

In industries such as Careers & Education and Finance, search is part of a complex and high-value decision, such as comparing universities or credit cards.

For marketers in these sectors, getting exposure for all search terms in the high-value research category means finding a way to be cited in the AI ​​Overview, paying a high CPC for paid placement, or both.

What the rise of commercial AI Overview means for marketing leaders

AI overviews are now being seen to delve deeper into the buyer’s journey, specifically marketing keywords.

Your brand may compete for attention in several areas on a single results page: in the AI ​​Overview, in the AI ​​Overview citation list, in organic results, and for paid placement in or near the AI ​​Overview.

This means that it will be important to monitor the SERPs for the most important keywords in your niche, and track ad impressions and AI Overviews for all of them.

Google Ads still doesn’t show us which paid queries trigger AI Overview, so there’s a real visible gap for Paid Search teams. Semrush’s Organic Rankings data can help bridge part of that gap by showing where AI Overview is coming from, helping marketers better understand how AI-generated results can impact their broader search strategy.

Hannah Pedri, Head of Paid Search and Social at Semrush

Once you have that data, you can better plan where to spend your paid budget and where to target your AI Overview citations.

To see how AI Overview is impacting business objectives in your niche, use Semrush. Go to the Organic Rankings tool, click on “Positions,” and apply two filters:

1. The purpose: Commercial
2. SERP Features in SERP: An overview of AI

This will show you the trend and full list of AI Overviews from the target keywords your site is ranking for.