What this means for visibility
Google-Extended does not control inclusion in AI Overviews. The only lever is Googlebot itself, or nosnippet/max-snippet controls.
Search feature · Google
Google AI Overviews
Google Search's own index, crawled by Googlebot. AI Overviews are grounded in the same index and ranking systems as classic results.
- Operator
- Launched
- May 14, 2024
- Search index
- Google Search's own index, crawled by Googlebot. AI Overviews are grounded in the same index and ranking systems as classic results.
- Crawlers
- Googlebot — blocked by 2.4% of top sites
- Referrer in analytics
google.com- UTM tagging
- None added
- Ads
- Yes. Search and Shopping ads can appear in and around AI Overviews; Google expanded AIO ads to 11 more countries in December 2025.
- Citations
- Link cards beside and inside the overview.
- Official docs
- developers.google.com
Usage, as stated
| As of | Metric | Value | Stated by | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2025 | Monthly users | 1.5 billion | Google, Q1 2025 earnings | rank.ai |
| Jul 2025 | Monthly users | 2 billion | Sundar Pichai, Q2 2025 earnings | techcrunch.com |
| May 2026 | Monthly users | 2.5 billion+ | Google, I/O 2026 | digitalinformationworld.com |
Google AI Overviews users over time (millions)
Questions
What search engine does Google AI Overviews use?
Google Search's own index, crawled by Googlebot. AI Overviews are grounded in the same index and ranking systems as classic results.
Which crawlers does Google AI Overviews use?
Google AI Overviews relies on Googlebot. Google-Extended does not control inclusion in AI Overviews. The only lever is Googlebot itself, or nosnippet/max-snippet controls.
How do I track Google AI Overviews traffic in analytics?
Clicks from Google AI Overviews arrive with the referrer google.com. Add it to an AI channel in GA4 using a source regex.
Does Google AI Overviews show ads?
Yes. Search and Shopping ads can appear in and around AI Overviews; Google expanded AIO ads to 11 more countries in December 2025.
Analysis using this data
Other AI engines
ChatGPT · ChatGPT Atlas · Google AI Mode · Gemini · Perplexity · Comet · Claude · Microsoft Copilot · Meta AI · Grok · DeepSeek · Le Chat · You.com · Brave Search (Ask Brave) · Kagi Assistant · DuckDuckGo (Duck.ai & Search Assist) · Amazon Rufus (retired)
How to cite this data
This dataset is free to use, including commercially, under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. The one rule is attribution:
- Credit the source as “Kuldeep Paul, kuldeep.cc” wherever you use a figure, chart or table from it.
- Link to this page (https://kuldeep.cc/data/ai-search/google-ai-overviews), not to the download file, so readers can check the source of every number.
- Include the date. These figures change; say “as of Oct 29, 2026” or link to the version you used.
- Mark changes. If you filter, recalculate or chart the data yourself, say so (“analysis based on data from…”).
- Cite the original source for single figures when you quote one reported number; it is linked in every row.
In running text: according to Kuldeep Paul's Google AI Overviews — AI search engine reference (kuldeep.cc). More in the methodology.
Paul, K. (2026). Google AI Overviews — AI search engine reference [Data set]. kuldeep.cc. https://kuldeep.cc/data/ai-search/google-ai-overviews
Paul, Kuldeep. "Google AI Overviews — AI search engine reference." kuldeep.cc, 29 October 2026, https://kuldeep.cc/data/ai-search/google-ai-overviews.
Paul, Kuldeep. 2026. "Google AI Overviews — AI search engine reference." Dataset. kuldeep.cc. Updated Oct 29, 2026. https://kuldeep.cc/data/ai-search/google-ai-overviews.
@misc{paul2026googleaioverviews, author = {Paul, Kuldeep}, title = {Google AI Overviews — AI search engine reference}, year = {2026}, howpublished = {\url{https://kuldeep.cc/data/ai-search/google-ai-overviews}}, note = {Dataset, CC BY 4.0, updated 2026-10-29} }
<a href="https://kuldeep.cc/data/ai-search/google-ai-overviews">Google AI Overviews — AI search engine reference</a> (data: Kuldeep Paul, kuldeep.cc)