I Analyzed 300K Keywords. Here’s What I Learned About AI Overviews

• Average search volumes are 98% lower for AIO SERP vs. for non-AIO SERPs.
• AIO keywords have 88% lower Traffic Potential (TP) compared to non-AIO SERPs.
• AIO keywords are long-tail, with a phrase length of 4 words vs. 2 words in non-AIO SERPs.
• Keyword Difficulty (KD) is lower in AIO SERPs, with a median score of 12 vs. 33 for non-AIO keywords.
• Content requires just 13 referring domains to rank in an AIO SERP on average.
• Informational intent keywords trigger an AI Overview 99.2% of the time.
• AIOs only have a 10% chance of showing for commercial and transactional keywords. 
• 99.9% of AIO SERPs returned at least one other SERP feature, with 3 showing on average.
• AIO keywords trigger 849% more Featured Snippets and 258% more Discussions compared to non-AIO queries.
• On the other hand, AIO SERPs show 96% fewer Sitelinks, 84% fewer Videos, and 75% fewer Knowledge Panels compared to non-AIO SERPs.

Ahrefs has also just recently released two awesome new features in Keywords Explorer which motivated me to do this analysis:

The AI Overview SERP Feature filter, which returns every keyword that generates an AI Overview in the SERPs…

And the Intents filter…

Now, without further ado, here are my 5 top findings from the research:

AI Overviews predominantly appear for low-volume, long-tail keywords.

Even the most searched AIO keywords aren’t driving substantial volume, receiving an average of only 150 searches per month—98% lower than their non-AIO counterparts (29K).

Moreover, AIO SERPs display 88% less traffic potential, which represents the sum of organic traffic that the #1 ranking page receives from all its ranking keywords—meaning that even top-ranking pages receive modest traffic compared to non-AIO SERPs.

The data confirms that AIO queries are long-tail, containing 4 words on (median) average vs. 2 for standard searches, which explains those traffic and volume shortfalls.

Comparing phrase lengths, you can see that the majority of non-AIO keywords trend towards the left of the chart around the lower numbers, confirming their short-tail nature, while AI Overview keywords peak at 3 words and are more evenly distributed across longer phrase lengths.

AIO Overviews are designed to answer user questions, so it makes sense that AIO keywords are more discursive, and longer-tail.

I also noticed that AIO SERPs tended to be question-focused. As a quick example, filtering for the typical question keyword “How” in the AIO dataset returns 20K results, compared with only 55 in the non-AIO dataset.

They also, typically, displayed clearer intent. Take the eighth most searched keyword in the dataset, “ozempic side effects”, for example. The goal of the searcher is fairly unequivocal.

These aren’t the most groundbreaking of insights—they’re pretty much what I expected to see—but it’s always good to get a theory confirmed with real data.

Tip

AIO keywords don’t always drive lower traffic. Here’s how to find AIO keywords with higher traffic potential.

1. Search a broad keyword in Keywords Explorer > Matching Terms report
2. Select the AI Overviews in the SERP Feature filter
3. Sort Traffic Potential from high to low
4. Find high traffic potential AIO keywords

From the data, 71% of AI Overview keywords have a Keyword Difficulty score below 30, with the median average being 12—compared with a median average of 33 for non-AI results.

Given that AIO keywords are the longer-tail, lesser searched of the two, this tracks.

Here’s an example keyword from the dataset with a Keyword Difficulty of 12: “Can dogs have cinnamon” (the answer is yes, in small amounts, for anyone that’s wondering )

To rank in the SERP for many AIO keywords in the study, you would only need a minimum of 13 referring domains, vs. 41 for non-AIO SERPs.

While they drive lower volumes and traffic, AIO topped SERPs require fewer backlinks to enter into.

Tip

Find low difficulty AIO keyword opportunities from your competitors:

1. Search your competitors’ domain in Site Explorer > Organic Keywords report
2. Switch on the AI Overview SERP Feature filter
3. Select “Where target ranks” to see which AI Overviews your competitors own
4. Apply a maximum Keyword Difficulty filter of 50
5. Find relevant AI Overview generating keywords

As it stands, 99.2% of all AI Overview keywords are informational.

AI Overviews generate when users are looking for details, explanations, or guidance, as opposed to making direct purchases.

Commercial and transactional keywords are harder to come by, making up less than 10% of all AIO SERPs analyzed (5.8% and 4.0% respectively).

Remember that SEOClarity study? The better visibility you have in organic search results, the more likely you are to win visibility in AI Overviews.

And organic search results don’t just mean classic blue links anymore—that much we all know.

With that in mind, I decided to analyze the prominence of 18 SERP features in AIO search results.

Of the 150K AI Overview SERPs I analyzed, 99.95% returned at least one other SERP Feature.

In fact, each SERP returned 3 on average — ignoring the AI Overview itself.

If you want to own an AI Overview, you should consider optimizing your way into SERP Features.

Specifically, think about infusing your content with Q&As.

The “People Also Ask” feature appeared in 80.92% of all AI Overview queries.

Featured Snippets, Thumbnails, Video Previews, and Discussions were also prominent.

And things got even more interesting when I compared against non-AIO keywords…

There was only a minor difference in the presence of People Also Ask for AIO and non-AIO keywords, but there were other feature contrasts that leaped out of the data.

Keywords that trigger AIOs also trigger…

…vs. non-AIO search results.

If you think that AI Overviews are supplanting Featured Snippets, think again.

This feature appears in over half of all queries in the dataset. It’s intrinsically tied to the AIO SERP.

This is what it looks like, for those who are unfamiliar: 

Discussions are also far more prevalent in AIO SERPs at the time of writing. Here’s what they look like on the SERP:

Mobile traffic dominates AI Overview queries, accounting for 81% of traffic, vs. 19% for desktop.

It’s marginally less important to be mobile-optimized for non-AIO queries (77% mobile vs. 23% desktop), but those SERPs are still overwhelmingly mobile-first.

Your content needs to be mobile-ready if you’re hoping to up your visibility in AIO search results.

Tip

Find out the mobile/desktop distribution of your own AIO keywords in Keyword Explorer.

1. Head to Keywords Explorer > Matching Terms report
2. Switch on the AI Overview filter
3. Pay attention to the mobile/desktop distribution column

I ran an open search in Keywords Explorer, applied Ahrefs’ AI Overview SERP filter, exported the top 150K results, then analyzed the data in Google Sheets with a little help from ChatGPT.

Then I repeated this process for non-AIO generating keywords—the only difference being that I selected the “Not on SERP” filter in Keywords Explorer.

By focusing on educational content, optimizing for prominent SERP features, and getting your content mobile optimized, you’re generally more likely to boost visibility in AIO SERPs, and maybe even claim the AI Overview by proxy.

Bear in mind this is a fairly broad dataset, given that I’ve analyzed the most searched AIO and non-AIO queries. Metrics will definitely vary across niche keyword categories.

I just did a quick check on 680 SEO/Marketing keywords, for example, and AIO keywords are overwhelmingly desktop driven (72% for desktop vs. 28% for mobile), meaning mobile optimization won’t be as crucial if you work in SaaS.

I wholly encourage you to do your own analyses in Ahrefs for your industry and/or the keywords you care about.

Since I conducted this study, Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer has discovered even more AI Overview based keywords. We’re working on collecting more data, including the presence of links and domains within the AIO, so keep your eyes peeled for that.