AI Overviews now appear on over 80% of branded searches, with no announcement from Google
DemandSphere and Ahrefs both put the rate above 80% at the end of September. Their figures, as reported, count whether the AI Overview appears. They do not say whether your brand is in it.
Guilherme Hortinha · 7 October 2026
Can your business run ChatGPT Ads? Check in 10 seconds.
Google now shows AI Overviews on more than 80% of branded searches, according to two independent trackers, and Google has not announced any change. DemandSphere and Ahrefs both put the rate above 80% at the end of September, Semrush reported on October 6.
Branded queries were widely seen as the last part of Google where a company reliably owned the top of the page. For most brands, that is no longer true.
What the trackers found
DemandSphere, all markets and devices: AI Overviews on 26.12% of tracked branded queries on September 1, a peak of 90.48% on September 27, and 82.06% on September 29. It has not said how many keywords it tracks.
Ahrefs, U.S. desktop only: 65.1% of branded keywords in August, 82.91% on September 29.
Chris Long, co-founder of Nectiv: AI Overviews for 93 of the 100 enterprise brands he tested, posted on X on September 30.
The trackers agree on where the rate ended and disagree on how big the jump was. The rise was uneven. DemandSphere's rate hit 57.43% on September 18, fell to 31.15% the next day, and only stayed high after reaching 69.21% on September 26. Google has not said whether the change is finished. Search Engine Roundtable's Barry Schwartz saw the same thing on several brands, with Google's own name and news publications as the exceptions.
What the numbers leave out
DemandSphere measured whether an AI Overview appeared on a branded search. Semrush notes that it did not measure whether the brand itself appeared or was cited in the answer. The source does not say whether Ahrefs checked for that either. As reported, both figures count the box.
That gap matters most to anyone selling something. Someone who types your name now reads Google's summary of you before they reach your site. None of the figures reported here tell you whether that summary names you, which pages it cites, or whether it brings in a competitor.
What to check this week
Branded CTR. In Search Console, filter the Performance report to branded queries and compare CTR for September 8-14 with September 29-October 5. Use CTR because branded clicks also rise and fall with your own marketing. In DemandSphere's data, the rate stayed between 28% and 34% in the first of those weeks.
The answer itself. Search your brand while signed out and read the AI Overview the way a customer would. Note what it says, which pages it cites, and whether those pages are current.
Rankings on their own. If your branded rankings held steady and CTR dropped, look at the AI Overview first.
Frequently asked questions
How often do AI Overviews appear on branded searches now?+
DemandSphere recorded 82.06% of its tracked branded queries on September 29, across all markets and devices. Ahrefs recorded 82.91% of branded keywords on the same day, on U.S. desktop only.
Did Google announce this change?+
No. Google has not announced a change related to branded queries, and it has not said whether the change is finished, so the rate could still move.
Does this data show whether my brand is cited in the AI Overview?+
No. DemandSphere measured whether an AI Overview appeared, and it did not measure whether the brand appeared or was cited in the answer. The source does not say whether Ahrefs measured brand inclusion. You have to check the answers yourself.
How can I tell if branded AI Overviews have cost me clicks?+
In Search Console, compare branded-query CTR for a full week before AI Overviews showed on your brand terms with a full week after. If you do not know when they appeared, compare September 8-14 with September 29-October 5. Stable rankings with lower CTR point to the AI Overview.
Which brands does ChatGPT name for your buyers' questions?
Explore with AI
Co-founder & Head of AI Innovation, Index Lab
Guilherme co-founded Index Lab, an AEO/GEO agency that makes brands the answer AI gives across ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, taking clients from zero AI visibility to top recommendations.
[ Related reading ]
OpenAI puts paid display ads next to ChatGPT image generation results
A US test starts later this month with an initial group of advertisers. Image results give brands no organic way in, so this ChatGPT surface is paid only.
Read →NewsSimilarweb finds AI-influenced visits arrive through search more often than other visits
Similarweb reports that 55.9% of AI-influenced visits came through search, against 40.4% of visits without AI influence. Analytics will usually log those visits as ordinary search traffic.
Read →NewsGemini now adds UTM parameters to outbound links, and Google has not documented when
Gemini links now carry a UTM tag, so visits the missing referrer used to push into Direct can be attributed to Gemini. Google has not said which links get tagged, so read the early numbers as a minimum.
Read →See where your brand stands in AI.
Free visibility check →