Google AI Overviews

AI Overviews and Google AI Mode do different jobs. An Overview is the snapshot and its supporting links. AI Mode is the more interactive Search experience, with follow-up questions, deeper exploration, and query fan-out across related subtopics. Google says the two experiences may use different models and techniques, so their responses and links can vary.^2,3

An AI Overview is also different from a local pack. Google calls the underlying business listings local search results; the term “local pack” is used in Whitespark's local-search study for a set of local Google Search results that typically appears near the top of the organic results.^4,5 The Overview is a generated summary with supporting links, while the local pack is a local-results surface. The sources describe them separately and do not establish that one guarantees the other.

Whitespark's observational study, published May 12, 2025, manually collected 540 queries across Houston, Phoenix, and Denver and six local-business industries. AI Overviews appeared for 68% of those queries on average, while local packs appeared for 39%. Those figures describe that dated sample, not a universal rate for every local search or business.⁵

For a local-business check, record the exact query, location context, and date; note whether an AI Overview and a local pack appeared; classify the query as local, informational, or hybrid; and save the supporting links and topics shown in the Overview. Check important information against more than one source, as Google's Search Help recommends.^1,5

The AI Overviews in local search and clicks answer covers adjacent evidence, while how a business can appear in AI search results covers ordinary Search eligibility. The Google Maps hub covers the local-search surface that the local pack belongs to.