This chimes with what we’re seeing in Ahrefs Model Radar, our new advertising intelligence software which helps you to observe your model presence in AI search.
We analyzed 25M AI overview key phrases within the two-month window of our evaluation.
Right here’s what that knowledge reveals…
We analyzed 25M AI Overviews within the US and located that AI overviews have greater than doubled since Google’s March Core Replace.
We tracked the total number of AI overviews between the dates of 6th February and 6th May.
25 million AI overviews later, we noticed that the most substantial day-to-day change in the dataset (6.26%) occurred between March 12th and March 13th, coinciding with the rollout of Google’s latest Core Update on March thirteenth.
The whole variety of AI Overviews grew by 116% between March twelfth (pre-update) and Could sixth, in keeping with our database.
Evaluating the month earlier than the Core Replace (February tenth – March twelfth) to the month after (March thirteenth – April twelfth), we additionally noticed a 57% development in whole AI overviews.
After the March Core Replace, cumulative development (i.e. how AI overviews grew day-by-day, factoring within the impact of compounding) hit 87.27%, reflecting a robust, compounding upward development.
| Interval | Cumulative development | Avg. day by day development charge |
|---|---|---|
| Earlier than Core Replace | 14.37% | 0.47% per day |
| After Core Replace | 87.27% | 2.12% per day |
This sort of development aligns with findings from BrightEdge. Their research confirmed that AI overviews in Leisure, Restaurant, and Journey industries elevated by 432% on common following the March Core Replace.
If you wish to see post-update AI overview development for your self, simply do an open/empty search in Ahrefs Model Radar.
It’s vital to notice that Google’s March Core Replace shouldn’t be Google’s solely AI overview enlargement.
Our research pertains to US outcomes, however Google additionally rolled out of AI overviews in the EU throughout this time.
And on March fifth, Google announced that it was rolling out AI overviews to extra folks
…teenagers can now use AI Overviews, and also you’ll not have to register to get entry.
Since that date, the variety of AI overviews we observe has grown by 119.32%.
On the time of writing, the proportion of US key phrases triggering AI overviews in search outcomes has additionally doubled–leaping to 16.48%, up from simply 7.6% on March thirteenth.
In different phrases, AI overviews haven’t simply grown as a result of the whole # of key phrases has grown. They now seem for twice as many searches, taking over a bigger share of all key phrases for the reason that March Core Replace.
Search quantity reveals comparable development: AI overviews now account for 11.8% of all US-based key phrase search quantity, in comparison with 6.2% on March thirteenth.
Not too long ago, our Director of Content material Advertising, Ryan Legislation, and our Information Scientist, Xibeijia Guan, printed analysis revealing that AI Overviews cut clicks by 34.5%.
Since Ryan’s and Xibeijia’s study includes March 2025 data, the expansion of AI Overviews following the Core Update likely played a role in falling CTRs.
AI overviews are on the up and up since Google’s March Core Replace and subsequent AI overview rollouts—so which websites are benefitting from that development?
We headed to the brand new “Domains” report inside Ahrefs Brand Radar to find out.
This report shows you the most referenced domains within the sitelinks of AI overviews.
We analyzed 40 domains on the 12th of March (e.g. the day before the Core Update) vs May 6th, based on their…
- AI overview market share: Percentage of citations across the total market.
- AI overview market reach: Percentage of citation impressions across the total market.
| Domain | AIO share | 📈 | AIO reach | 📈 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | reddit.com | 5.50% |
4.20% |
10.20% |
8.30% |
| 2 | quora.com | 4.00% |
2.60% |
6.30% |
8.30% |
| 3 | webmd.com | 1.50% |
0.70% |
6.50% |
3.70% |
| 4 | brainly.com | 0.60% |
0.50% |
1.00% |
0.70% |
| 5 | mayoclinic.org | 1.40% |
0.30% |
7.00% |
-2.00% |
| 6 | nih.gov | 1.80% |
0.30% |
5.50% |
0.40% |
| 7 | microsoft.com | 0.50% |
0.20% |
1.00% |
0.20% |
| 8 | justanswer.com | 0.40% |
0.20% |
0.40% |
0.20% |
| 9 | apple.com | 0.70% |
0.20% |
1.20% | 0.00% |
| 10 | clevelandclinic.org | 1.60% |
0.10% |
5.20% |
-3.60% |
| 11 | www.nhs.uk | 0.50% |
0.10% |
2.20% |
0.60% |
| 12 | support.google.com | 0.30% |
0.10% |
0.80% |
0.20% |
| 13 | aapc.com | 0.20% |
0.10% |
0.30% |
0.10% |
| 14 | quizlet.com | 0.20% |
0.10% |
0.20% | 0.00% |
| 15 | tripadvisor.com | 0.20% |
0.10% |
0.20% | 0.00% |
| 16 | instagram.com | 0.30% |
0.10% |
0.50% |
-0.10% |
| 17 | indeed.com | 0.40% |
0.10% |
0.60% |
-0.20% |
| 18 | verywellhealth.com | 0.40% |
0.10% |
0.50% |
-0.20% |
| 19 | medlineplus.gov | 0.30% |
0.10% |
1.10% |
-0.40% |
| 20 | merriam-webster.com | 0.30% | 0.00% | 3.30% |
1.10% |
| 21 | stackexchange.com | 0.30% | 0.00% | 0.40% | 0.00% |
| 22 | facebook.com | 0.30% | 0.00% | 0.50% |
-0.10% |
| 23 | goodrx.com | 0.20% | 0.00% | 0.30% |
-0.10% |
| 24 | dictionary.com | 0.20% | 0.00% | 1.10% |
-0.10% |
| 25 | linkedin.com | 0.20% | 0.00% | 0.20% |
-0.20% |
| 26 | businessinsider.com | 0.20% | 0.00% | 0.20% |
-0.30% |
| 27 | amazon.com | 0.40% | 0.00% | 0.70% |
-0.40% |
| 28 | sciencedirect.com | 0.30% | 0.00% | 0.60% |
-0.50% |
| 29 | harvard.edu | 0.20% | 0.00% | 0.30% |
-0.50% |
| 30 | cdc.gov | 0.20% | 0.00% | 0.50% |
-0.80% |
| 31 | petmd.com | 0.20% |
-0.10% |
0.30% |
-0.30% |
| 32 | yahoo.com | 0.20% |
-0.10% |
0.30% |
-0.40% |
| 33 | fandom.com | 0.20% |
-0.10% |
0.30% |
-0.50% |
| 34 | imdb.com | 0.20% |
-0.10% |
0.30% |
-0.50% |
| 35 | britannica.com | 0.40% |
-0.10% |
0.90% |
-1.90% |
| 36 | en.wikipedia.org | 4.00% |
-0.10% |
10.40% |
-4.70% |
| 37 | medicalnewstoday.com | 0.80% |
-0.20% |
1.30% |
-1.20% |
| 38 | youtube.com | 1.10% |
-0.20% |
1.50% |
-1.70% |
| 39 | healthline.com | 1.50% |
-0.20% |
2.20% |
-2.60% |
| 40 | study.com | 0.30% |
-0.40% |
0.50% |
-1.40% |
…and tracked any growth or decline between the two dates.
When it comes to “AI overview market share”, Reddit is far and away the most dominant player, showing up for 5.5% of all AI overview queries.
This was not the case before the March Core Update.
In fact, on March 12th, Reddit actually placed 6th in terms of AI overview market share, beneath the likes of Quora, Healthline, and Wikipedia.
| Domain | Market share | Market reach | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | en.wikipedia.org | 4.10% | 15.10% |
| 2 | healthline.com | 1.70% | 4.80% |
| 3 | nih.gov | 1.50% | 5.10% |
| 4 | clevelandclinic.org | 1.50% | 8.80% |
| 5 | quora.com | 1.40% | 2.10% |
| 6 | reddit.com | 1.30% | 1.90% |
| 7 | youtube.com | 1.30% | 3.20% |
| 8 | mayoclinic.org | 1.10% | 9.00% |
| 9 | medicalnewstoday.com | 1.00% | 2.50% |
| 10 | webmd.com | 0.80% | 2.80% |
Reddit’s “AI overview market share” has shot up by 4.2% since the March Core Update, which means it has claimed millions of new domain citations in AI overviews.
Quora is the only other site to have seen definitive growth in terms of AI overview market share—nearly every other site has experienced modest to negative growth (south of ~0.5%).
When it comes to the domains earning the most impressions in AI search, the winners are:
| Domain | AI overview reach | 📈 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | reddit.com | 10.20% |
8.30% |
| 2 | quora.com | 6.30% |
4.20% |
| 3 | webmd.com | 6.50% |
3.70% |
| 4 | merriam-webster.com | 3.30% |
1.10% |
| 5 | brainly.com | 1.00% |
0.70% |
These sites have seen significant growth across some of the most visible AI overview keywords in our database.
Meanwhile, the following sites have gone the other way.
| Domain | AI overview reach | 📈 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | en.wikipedia.org | 10.40% |
-4.70% |
| 2 | clevelandclinic.org | 5.20% |
-3.60% |
| 3 | healthline.com | 2.20% |
-2.60% |
| 4 | mayoclinic.org | 7.00% |
-2.00% |
| 5 | britannica.com | 0.90% |
-1.90% |
Despite having the highest reach (10.4%) of any domain—surpassing even Reddit—Wikipedia has lost more visible AI overview keywords (4.7%) than any other site we analyzed.
Forums and UGC dominate AI overviews
Forums and Q&A sites like Reddit and Quora have benefited most from the AI overview surge since Google’s March Core Update.
They’ve seen the strongest growth pattern out of all domain categories.
One possible explanation is that forums are inherently conversational, which aligns totally with the Q&A format of AI overviews.
Most sites saw neutral or positive gains
Two-thirds of the domains we analyzed saw neutral or positive growth in AI overview market share following Google’s March Core Update. On average, AI overview market share grew by 0.21%.
However, AI overview market reach experienced a slight decline (-0.13%), indicating that a smaller number of dominant websites are hoovering up some of the more visible AI overview keywords.
It’s worth noting that our analysis focused only on the 40 most cited domains in AI overviews.
It’s entirely possible that things could look very different across a larger dataset.
Right here’s how one can maintain tabs on the trajectory of AI overviews, on the entire, and in your area of interest.
Verify Ahrefs Model Radar
As I already talked about, for a top-level, industry-agnostic AI overview of market and development knowledge, you are able to do an open search in Model Radar.
However it’s also possible to use Brand Radar to track growth across mentions of words you care about (e.g. brand, competitors, products, topics) in AI overview queries and AI overview outputs.
For example, say I wanted to assess the growth of “Ahrefs” mentions in both AI overview keywords and AI overview content, I can drop that keyword into the search bar, and select “keyword OR AI overview”.
Then I can dive into our AI overview growth (or decline) in terms of:
- Mentions
- Impressions
- Market share/reach
- Competitor share/reach
Ahrefs Brand Radar also lets you monitor your relative ownership of specific topics vs. competitors, and track how that changes over time.
Just apply a filter to the dataset–in this case I’ve focused on our share across the topic of backlinks.
Then, in the “Find mentions of brands, products or services” section, enter your brand and hit “Suggest more” for AI generated competitor suggestions.
And you’ll see how your AI overview ownership tracks over time, vs. your competition.
Do a domain search in Ahrefs Brand Radar
Find out how often your site and your competitors are being referenced in AI overviews, and see how that grows or dips over time.
Just click the “Domains” tab on your original search.
Check Ahrefs Organic Keywords report
Head to Ahrefs Site Explorer report, and navigate to “Organic Keywords”
Then apply a SERP Feature filter…
And check “AI overview”. To see every keyword you’re ranking for that returns an AI overview at the top of the SERP, select “On SERP”.
These represent AI overview opportunities/targets.
To focus on the AI Overviews you’re currently owning, select “Where target ranks”.
And use the “Positions” trend chart to track your AI overview ownership over time.
What’s next?
Our data shows that AI Overviews have exploded with Google’s latest Core Update.
Google has said it will be releasing more Core Updates, more regularly.
Use Ahrefs Model Radar to keep watch over the presence of AI overviews within the SERPs—particularly round future Core Updates.
Monitor how your model seems in AI overviews, how usually AI cites your content material, and the way your opponents present up over time.
You too can test in in your CTR in Google Search Console or Ahrefs Net Analytics. If clicks drop off, AI overview development could be the wrongdoer.
Now may additionally be the time to take a recent have a look at the way you measurement up your content material wins—transferring from traffic-centric metrics to model consciousness indicators—to get a greater understanding of your home inside the AI ecosystem that now stands between you and your viewers.
