Google’s AI Overviews are moving deeper into commercial search results, according to a Semrush study published October 21, 2026.
Semrush found that AI Overviews appeared on 88% of a fixed panel of 400 U.S. desktop commercial-modifier keywords in August 2026, compared with 45.75% in September 2025.
The sample focused on banking, ecommerce and software keywords containing decision-stage modifiers such as alternatives, best X for Y, price/cost, reviews and brand vs. brand.
Semrush reported that all five commercial modifier groups ended above 80% keyword-weighted AI Overview coverage in August 2026. Searches using best X for Y finished highest, at 96.12% coverage. Review-related searches saw the largest increase, moving from less than one-third coverage in September 2025 to nearly 90% in August 2026.
The industry spread also narrowed. In September 2025, Semrush said keyword coverage ranged from 32.62% in ecommerce to 68% in software. By August 2026, banking, ecommerce and software all landed between 85% and 91% coverage.
Three industry-and-modifier combinations reached 100% keyword-weighted coverage in the sample: banking searches using best X for Y, software searches using alternatives and software searches using best X for Y.
The 97% volume-weighted figure raises the stakes
Semrush also weighted the keyword panel by estimated monthly search volume. On that basis, AI Overview coverage reached 97.08% in August 2026.
The 88% figure describes how broadly AI Overviews appeared across the tracked keyword panel. The 97.08% figure describes how much estimated search demand in that panel sat behind queries with AI Overviews.
Semrush said the 12% of tracked keywords that did not trigger an AI Overview accounted for less than 3% of total estimated search volume in the sample. For commercial SEO teams, that suggests higher-demand decision-stage queries may be more exposed to AI-generated answers than a simple keyword count suggests.
The study has limits
The study measured AI Overview presence, not traffic. It did not show whether AI Overviews changed click-through rates, conversions or revenue for websites appearing beneath or inside the Overview.
It was also limited to U.S. desktop data, three industries and a fixed set of commercial keyword modifiers. That design makes the trend useful for spotting direction, but not enough to claim the same 88% rate across every industry, country, device or commercial query type.
The finer breakdowns deserve even more caution. A 400-keyword panel divided across five modifiers and three industries averages fewer than 27 keywords per modifier-industry cell before any uneven distribution. Movement inside one narrow segment may still be meaningful, but it is a small sample.
Google still points site owners back to core SEO
Google’s Search Central documentation says the same SEO best practices that apply to Google Search also apply to AI Overviews and AI Mode. Google says there are no additional requirements, special AI files or special schema.org markup needed to appear in those features. Tech Help Canada has previously covered what AI Overviews and AI Mode mean for SEO.
To be eligible as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode, Google says a page must be indexed and eligible to appear in Google Search with a snippet. Google also says AI Overviews and AI Mode may use query fan-out, issuing multiple related searches across subtopics and data sources to generate a response.
The source set inside an AI Overview may not match the traditional organic ranking order. A brand can still rank for a commercial page while the AI Overview summarizes competitors, review sources, pricing details or comparison points before the standard listings.
Measurement is becoming part of commercial SEO
In June 2026, Google announced Search Generative AI performance reports in Search Console. Google later noted that the reports had rolled out to all websites worldwide as of August 31, 2026.
Google said the reports show impressions, pages, countries, devices and dates for appearances in generative AI features in Search and Discover, with additional metrics possible over time. That gives site owners a clearer visibility view than standard rank tracking alone, though the Semrush study shows why direct SERP review still matters for high-intent terms.
Commercial pages that depend on comparison, review, pricing and alternatives searches need to be checked against the actual results customers see.
- Whether the brand appears in the AI Overview or supporting links
- How competitors are described
- Which third-party sources Google cites
- Whether pricing, availability and product claims are current and crawlable
- Whether first-party pages and trusted third-party profiles tell a consistent story
Pages built for commercial intent also need helpful content, visible text, strong internal links and, where relevant, accurate structured data that matches the visible content. If Google’s AI layer is summarizing commercial evidence before the organic results, outdated or unclear source material becomes a visibility problem earlier in the buyer’s path.
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