I Analyzed 300K Keywords. Here’s What I Learned About AI Overviews
I analyzed 300K keywords to understand what triggers AI Overviews. The results were predictable in some ways and wholly surprising in others. For instance, one of my favorite stats (although not the favorite – you’ll have to read on for that ) is that 99.9% of AI Overview SERPs display at least one other SERP feature. In this study I attempt to nail-down the key differences between AIO SERPs, vs. non-AIO SERPs. I hope you find it interesting! 1. AI Overviews populate for low volume, long-tail keywords AI Overviews predominantly appear for low-volume, long-tail keywords. Even the most popular AIO keywords generate minimal search demand, averaging just 150 searches monthly. In fact, AIO keyword search volumes are 193 times smaller than that of non-AIO keywords (which drive 29K on average). AIO keywords also generate 8 times less traffic potential—which is essentially the sum of organic traffic earned by the #1 ranking page, from all its many keywords and rankings. The data shows that AIO queries are long-tail, containing 4 words on (median) average vs. 2 for standard searches, which explains those traffic and volume shortfalls. Sidenote. You’ve probably noticed that the most common AIO phrase length on the chart above is 3—not 4, as I said above. This is because the chart uses the “mode average”, or most common keyword phrase length, in order to see the percentage breakdown. I have used median averages when analyzing standalone stats across the entire dataset, since they’re less affected by extreme values or outliers. 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. AI Overviews are designed to…
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