# Ahrefs: AI Overviews now appear on 83% of branded searches

Published: 2026-10-02T11:57:58.801Z · Source: Ahrefs Blog (https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overviews-on-branded-searches/)
Source date: 2026-10-02
Flags: AI Overviews branded-search study — vendor-published
Entities: ahrefs, ai-overviews, google

AI Overviews appeared in 82.91% of US desktop Google results for branded keywords as of September 29, up from a monthly average of 61.3% in July to 73.3% in September, Ahrefs' Ryan Law and Xibeijia Guan wrote, based on an analysis of 232.8 million search crawls. An earlier Ahrefs study found just 13.1% coverage in November 2025. Of the branded AI Overviews Ahrefs sampled, 76.2% appeared in the page's first position, ahead of the brand's own website, and Wikipedia was the most-cited external source (71.9%), followed by YouTube (38.6%) and LinkedIn (22.8%).

Why it matters: Branded search was the query type a company could count on owning outright; at three-quarters coverage and most of those boxes sitting in the top slot, that assumption is breaking down for large brands faster than for search overall.

## What this answers

**How often do AI Overviews appear for branded searches?**

As of September 29, 2026, AI Overviews appeared in 82.91% of US desktop Google results for branded keywords — a September monthly average of 73.3%, up from 61.3% in July — per Ahrefs' analysis of 232.8 million search crawls.

**Do AI Overviews push a brand's own website out of the top search result?**

Often: in Ahrefs' sample of branded AI Overviews, 76.2% occupied the page's first position, ahead of the brand's own site, and Wikipedia was the most-cited external source at 71.9% of citations.


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