Published figures on AI answers and search behavior, alongside original data measured across twenty B2B and industrial companies in July 2026. Every figure is attributed and every method stated.
Free to cite with attribution.
Estimates range from roughly 20 to 50 percent of queries depending on the study, the vertical and the query type. No single figure is reliable on its own, and any source quoting one without that caveat should be treated with caution.
| Finding | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| AI Overview appearance, January 2025 | 0.00% of queries | Semrush, US desktop |
| AI Overview appearance, March 2025 | 0.00% of queries | Semrush, US desktop |
| AI Overview-cited pages ranking top ten, July 2025 | 0.0% | Ahrefs, 1.9M citations |
| #1 organic result linked in the Overview, Sep 2024 | 46% desktop, 34% mobile | Semrush |
| Organic CTR, informational, no AI Overview, Sep 2025 | 0.00% | Seer Interactive |
| Organic CTR, informational, with AI Overview, Sep 2025 | 0.00% | Seer Interactive |
| Organic CTR when the brand is cited in the Overview, Q3 2025 | 0.00% | Seer Interactive |
The direction of travel is documented outside our own work. Semrush measured Google AI Overviews on 6.49 percent of US desktop queries in January 2025 and 13.14 percent by March 2025. Ahrefs found 76 percent of pages cited in AI Overviews also rank in Google's top ten (1.9 million citations, July 2025). Seer Interactive measured organic click-through on informational queries at 0.61 percent with an AI Overview in September 2025, against 1.62 percent without one. Prevalence estimates vary by methodology and should be read as a range rather than a figure.
The composition shift matters more than the prevalence. AI Overviews began on informational queries and have moved steadily toward commercial ones. A feature that once answered general questions increasingly answers the questions buyers ask before purchasing.
Twenty commercial B2B and industrial companies were measured across three markets in July 2026 using domain-level analysis with manual verification of live results. Six findings stood out, and all six ran counter to conventional assumptions about domain authority.
| Finding | Measured |
|---|---|
| Largest company in its national category, keyword count | 0 |
| Third-largest company in the same category | 0 |
| Single-facility competitor in the same category | 0 |
| Highest-traffic company in one local market, Authority Score | 9 |
| A competitor in that market with 2.7× less traffic, Authority Score | 18 |
| Companies in one market showing purchased or spam backlinks | 5 of 7 |
| Companies in that market appearing in their own AI Overview | 0 of 7 |
| Cost per click, highest-value term measured | $0.00 |
| Keyword difficulty for that same term | 14 |
| Average difficulty across the 219-keyword cluster | 6 |
Page count is a symptom, not a cause. What actually correlates is that companies with more pages have usually decided what each page is for. Twelve undifferentiated blog posts and one clear capability page produce very different results, and the first is considerably more common.
Method: twenty companies measured 26–28 July 2026 using the Semrush US database at root domain scope, covering seven companies in one mid-size metro, four in a major metro, and nine national operators. Every AI finding was verified against a live answer. One keyword reported at 170 monthly searches was excluded entirely after manual checking found no relevant business in the top ten.
Carefully, and with the methodology attached. Prevalence figures for AI Overviews vary by a factor of more than two between published studies, because each tracks a different keyword set, geography and device mix.
One measured outcome so far, on a site we built and run ourselves. It is published here because a claim nobody can check is worth nothing, and because we would rather show a small true number than a large vague one.
A B2B site we built and run ourselves went from zero weekly search clicks to a steady flow within twelve weeks, on a domain with no prior search history and no purchased links. The pages were written to the same specification standard described across this site.
That is the whole of it at present. Client results will appear on this page as they exist, with the company named where the client permits it, and with the numbers as measured rather than as projected. Where an engagement underperforms, that will be published too.
We are aware that a category built on measurement should be able to show its own. This section will get longer. The measured timeline, and the week-by-week chart from this domain, are on how long SEO takes.
Figures described as measured are from Search Standing's own analyses using Semrush, Google Search Console and direct queries to each AI engine, on the dates stated. Published ranges move quarter to quarter; the patterns are what we rely on.
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Prepared for your company against the competitors you name. Written by the person who would run the paid work.
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