We analyzed 1,000,000 SERPs to see how the presence of various SERP options has modified because the begin of the yr.
AI Overviews appeared from nowhere in August 2024, and now seem on over 1 / 4 of the key phrases on this pattern (and so they’re far more prevalent for informational key phrases).
Functionally, AI Overviews appear to overlap with present SERP options, particularly Featured snippets. That is corroborated by our early analysis that discovered that AI Overviews and Featured snippets generally appeared alongside each other.
So I needed to know: are AI Overviews changing present SERP options? As AI will get integrated all through the search expertise, which SERP options are rising in prominence, and which might we cease caring about?
Development strains for main SERP options since December 2023.
We analyzed the presence of 15 totally different SERP options throughout 1,000,000 randomly chosen US Desktop SERPs from our Key phrases Explorer database.
We in contrast the presence of every SERP characteristic between January and June 2025. Right here’s the way it appears to be like:
Sidenote.
Not all SERP options have been included on this evaluation.
And right here’s how the relative visibility of every SERP characteristic has modified because the begin of this yr, January 2025:
And right here’s the information:
| SERP characteristic | Present SERP visibility (June 2025) | Earlier SERP visibility (January 2025) | Relative change since January 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| sitelink | 84.95% | 8.44% | 906% |
| query | 79.13% | 73.73% | 7% |
| ai_overview | 27.43% | 3.93% | 598% |
| ai_overview_sitelink | 25.00% | 3.90% | 541% |
| dialogue | 20.26% | 19.49% | 4% |
| information | 14.20% | 14.94% | -5% |
| knowledge_panel | 12.95% | 14.09% | -8% |
| organic_shopping | 10.40% | 11.24% | -7% |
| snippet | 5.53% | 15.41% | -64% |
| local_pack | 2.96% | 3.48% | -15% |
| knowledge_card | 2.30% | 1.50% | 54% |
| local_teaser | 1.96% | 2.55% | -23% |
| purchasing | 0.99% | 3.14% | -68% |
| paid | 0.91% | 1.95% | -53% |
| paid_sitelink | 0.66% | 1.48% | -55% |
9 of 19 SERP options declined in look. Whereas a few of these declines have been negligible, a number of confirmed substantial drops in visibility:
Buying, Featured Snippet, Paid Sitelink, and Paid SERP options noticed the best relative decline. Of those, Featured snippet is probably the most important, showing on 5.53% of SERPs in June, down from 15.41% in January:
| SERP characteristic | Present SERP visibility (June 2025) | Earlier SERP visibility (January 2025) | Relative change since January 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| purchasing | 0.99% | 3.14% | -68% |
| snippet | 5.53% | 15.41% | -64% |
| paid_sitelink | 0.66% | 1.48% | -55% |
| paid | 0.91% | 1.95% | -53% |
| local_teaser | 1.96% | 2.55% | -23% |
| local_pack | 2.96% | 3.48% | -15% |
| knowledge_panel | 12.95% | 14.09% | -8% |
| organic_shopping | 10.40% | 11.24% | -7% |
| information | 14.20% | 14.94% | -5% |
The decline in Featured snippets correlates very strongly (0.9) with the expansion in AI Overviews (however as all the time, correlation will not be causation):
| SERP Function | Correlation with AI Overview Development |
|---|---|
| snippet | -0.9053 |
| local_teaser | -0.8571 |
| purchasing | -0.7512 |
| local_pack | -0.7438 |
| paid | -0.699 |
| paid_sitelink | -0.6803 |
| knowledge_panel | 0.7886 |
In truth, plotting the visibility of each SERP options on the identical graph reveals a really clear “swap over” level in March. We famous that March noticed AI overviews develop by 116%, and plainly Featured snippets noticed a corresponding decline in visibility on the identical time:
Six of fifteen SERP options seem extra typically. Data playing cards elevated by 54%, whereas AI Overviews (and the associated AI Overviews Sitelinks SERP characteristic) skilled big progress between January and June, rising by 598% and 541% respectively.
However, surprisingly, they weren’t the most important winners.
Sitelinks elevated by 906% between January and June 2025, showing on 84.95% of SERPs, up from 8.44%:
| SERP Function | Present SERP visibility (June 2025) | Earlier SERP visibility (January 2025) | Relative change since January 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| sitelink | 84.95% | 8.44% | 906% |
| ai_overview | 27.43% | 3.93% | 598% |
| ai_overview_sitelink | 25.00% | 3.90% | 541% |
| knowledge_card | 2.30% | 1.50% | 54% |
| query | 79.13% | 73.73% | 7% |
| dialogue | 20.26% | 19.49% | 4% |
Wanting nearer, Sitelinks noticed an enormous spike in look across the time of Google’s March Core replace, primarily affecting non-branded key phrases:
Our information scientist, Xibeijia, hypothesizes that earlier than March, most sitelinks have been Inside Sitelinks, which often solely seem on model key phrases. After March, we see extra Scroll-to Sitelinks (as reported by Brodie Clark), which might seem for each branded and non-branded queries.
Tips on how to analyze your SERP options in Ahrefs
You could find all of this SERP characteristic information in Ahrefs. Simply head to Website Explorer, enter your area, and click on the Natural key phrases report. From there, you possibly can filter your key phrase rankings to see the place totally different SERP options seem:
After I filter the natural key phrases for ahrefs.com to point out AI Overviews, I can discover nearly 67,000 key phrases that we rank for, and set off an AI Overview:
Remaining ideas
It appears very doubtless that AI Overviews have outdated Featured snippets. They serve related features—encouraging zero-click searches, and resolving the searcher’s intent straight within the SERP—and the expansion in AI Overviews is matched by a decline in Featured snippets.
So far as SERP options go, AI Overviews are uniquely versatile, in a position to accommodate an enormous variety of totally different search intents. My hunch is that AI Overviews might be able to change different SERP options, so I’ll hold checking to see if different declining SERP options proceed their development over the following few months.
