By Roger Montti
Publication Date: 2026-03-01 21:04:00
New research from BrightEdge shows that while AI Overviews (AIO) has expanded its coverage since launch, it surprisingly doesn’t represent a complete shift away from traditional organic search results, as just over half of queries continue to trigger classic search results.
AIO Grows 52% In One Year
A twelve-month comparison from February 2025 to February 2026 shows that AI Overviews (AIO) coverage grew by a whopping 58%. The education sector experienced the strongest expansion in the number of queries triggering AI search results, from 18% of queries in May 2025 to 83% of queries triggering AI search results by December 2025.
Similarly, B2B technology queries experienced a massive expansion of queries that triggered AI search results, growing from 36% to 82%. One of the strongest growing sectors for AI search results is restaurants, growing from 10% of queries to 78% of queries triggering AI search results.
Meanwhile, healthcare queries were already triggering AIO results by a…
