Google AI Overviews gain wider use in search

Google’s AI Overviews appeared in 43% of US searches measured by Similarweb, up from 15% a year earlier, according to the company’s 2026 Generative AI Landscape report. The summaries appear inside standard search results, while AI Mode offers a more conversational experience for longer questions and followup prompts. Similarweb estimated that visits to Google’s AI Mode web experience rose from 126 million in June 2025 to 279 million in May 2026. Google said AI Mode uses query fanout, a method that breaks a question into related subtopics and runs multiple searches before generating a response with supporting links. The report also found that average Google search length increased by 5.4% after AI Mode launched, suggesting users are writing longer, more naturallanguage queries. Similarweb said its data is based on modeled estimates from multiple sources rather than direct counts from Google. The article also notes wider changes in the AI search market, including rising citation rates in ChatGPT responses and ongoing publisher concerns about referral traffic when AIgenerated answers surface information without sending users to original sites. Google has added more prominent links and references in AI Overviews and AI Mode, but has not released data showing the effect on clickthrough rates.