A recent study by Newzdash shows that AI Overviews now appear in only 3.9% of search results, a steep decline and a new low since the rollout in May 2024.
The Study
Newzdash conducted their 9-week study to track 10,000 trending keywords across various news categories.
Here’s their reason for the study:
- The visibility of AI Overviews is not uniform across all searches. This analysis delves into the world of trending news, examining thousands of keywords to determine how often AI Overviews appear for the most current and sought-after stories.
- By understanding the prevalence of AI Overviews in this context, we can shed light on their impact on news consumption, user behavior, and the broader search landscape.
The results show that Google’s AI Overviews showed up in just 3.9% of trending news searches, with health queries claiming the most AI responses.
AI Overviews frequency in search results
Google rolled out its AI Overviews to the US market in May 2024. It appeared in 84% of Searches and provided bizarre recommendations to users’ search queries, which drew criticism online and from mainstream global news outlets.
In June 2024, Google reduced the visibility of AI Overviews from 84% to 15%. By early July, it appeared in as few as 7% of queries.
The Newsdash study shows Overviews at a new low, appearing in only 3.9% of searches:
The study found:
- A mere 3.9% of trending news searches resulted in AI Overviews. A staggering 96.1% of keywords did not trigger any AIOs. All observed AI Overviews were “Automatic,” meaning they were generated without additional user interaction.
NewsDash attributes the decline (partly) to Google’s ongoing adjustments to reduce AI Overviews inaccuracies and appropriateness when summarizing sensitive news topics.
Google’s refinement triggers are in play
Google’s head of search, Lizz Reid, discussed Google’s refinement triggers in a blog post on May 30, 2024. She said Google will limit AI Overviews for hard news topics where timelines and factuality are essential.
Lizz Ried said at the time:
- For topics like news and health, we already have strong guardrails in place. For example, we aim to not show AI Overviews for hard news topics, where freshness and factuality are important. In the case of health, we launched additional triggering refinements to enhance our quality protections.
- “We’ll keep improving when and how we show AI Overviews and strengthening our protections.”
The current trending percentage rate of 3.9% in search queries reflects Google’s commitment to improving when and how it shows AI overviews. It also aligns with Google`s intentions to avoid hard news topics where timelines and factual information are crucial.
News categories that trigger AI Overviews
The prevalence of AI Overviews varies significantly across different news categories.
Key Findings:
- “Only 3.9% of trending news searches resulted in AI Overviews.”
- “96.1% of trending news searches didn’t trigger AI overviews.”
- All observed AI Overviews were “Automatic,” meaning they were generated without additional user interaction.2
- “Health news leads with a 29.6% visibility rate.”
- “News organizations and sports were cited less frequently by AI Overviews.”
- “AI Overviews frequently cited Mayo Clinic and the National Institutes of Health.”
Implications for publishers and users
Users searching for hard news topics and sports will probably see Google’s traditional search results, while those searching for health information can expect AI-generated summaries.
SEO professionals and News publishers can relax a little, knowing that AI Overviews won’t overly encroach on all search categories. But Google’s move to reduce AI Overviews from appearing for hard news topics with sensitive timelines and increase AI Overviews in categories like science and health adds another crucial area publishers must monitor and react to by creating and maintaining authoritative, high-quality content that AI summaries see as a reliable source.
When he is not writing content, Terry can be found on his boat in Italy or chilling in his villa in Spain.
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