How often do AI Overviews appear for local searches?

AI Overviews do not appear at one stable rate for local searches. Whitespark observed them on 15% of local-intent queries in a 540-query US study.¹ Synup's September 2026 desktop study found them on 4.0% of “near me” pages and 75.4% of pages with a specific need added.² Those are SERP observations, not Search Console impressions. Broader studies found lower traditional-result click rates in their AI-summary or AI-Overview query groups, but none used a local-query-only sample.³⁴⁵

What published measurements show about local AI Overview prevalence?

The studies below count whether an AI Overview appeared. They do not count clicks on the feature.

Source and date	Query scope and sample	AI Overview finding	What the percentage measures
Whitespark, published May 12, 2025¹	540 manually collected Google queries across Houston, Phoenix and Denver; six industries; 30 queries per city-industry combination	15% of local-intent queries; 92% of informational-intent queries; 97% of hybrid-intent queries	Share of sampled queries that returned an AI Overview. Whitespark rounded the percentages up to the nearest whole number.
Synup, collected September 2026²	53,900 Google results pages across 49 local-business categories and 250 US cities; the displayed breakdown is desktop	4.0% for “near me”; 8.6% for category plus city; 27.0% for “best category in city”; 75.4% for specific-need queries	Share of browser-rendered result pages containing an AI Overview. Synup reports desktop denominators of 12,250, 12,250, 12,245 and 4,898 for those groups. The specific-need figure combines two query variants. Synup says the rates should be read as floors because its collection did not detect every AI Overview.
Digital Nomads HQ, May 2026 study⁶	116,918 Australian Google SERPs across 18 industries and six cities; local intent meant a suburb, city or “near me” in the query	24.7% of local-intent searches, compared with 40.1% of general queries	Share of sampled SERPs returning an AI Overview. The study did not measure user clicks.

The local percentages are not interchangeable. Whitespark separated local, informational and hybrid intent across six US industries. Synup grouped desktop pages by query wording across a much larger category and city set. Digital Nomads HQ used Australian searches and a different local-intent rule. A percentage answers the question its study asked, not every local search in every market.

Why do local AI Overview rates vary by query?

Google says AI Overviews appear when its systems determine that an overview adds value to classic Search, and Google says they therefore often do not trigger.⁷ Query intent and wording matter in the public measurements: Whitespark saw a 15% local-intent rate beside 92% informational and 97% hybrid rates, while Synup saw the highest local rate for specific-need wording.¹²

Google also says AI Overviews and AI Mode can use different models and techniques, so their responses and links can vary. A page can be eligible for a supporting link when it is indexed and eligible for a Google Search snippet. Google lists no additional technical requirement, and eligibility does not guarantee crawling, indexing or serving.⁷

These rules explain why a business should treat a local AI Overview as an observed result for a query, date, device and location. They do not provide a published local trigger percentage or a ranking guarantee.

What do published measurements show about clicks?

Click studies measure different things. Some count what people did after seeing an AI summary. Others calculate a site's organic click-through rate from Search Console data. Neither method is a direct count of every click on an AI Overview citation.

Source and date	Sample and period	Click measurement	Finding
Pew Research Center, published July 22, 2025³	900 US adults' tracked browsing; 68,879 unique Google searches during March 1–31, 2025; 12,593 searches produced an AI summary	A traditional-result click meant the next visited URL matched a first-page result link. Pew also counted a visit to one of the first three cited AI-summary URLs; when a URL appeared in both places, Pew attributed it to the AI summary.	Users clicked a traditional result on 8% of visits with an AI summary, compared with 15% without one. Pew also reported an AI-summary click rate of 1% for visits to pages with a summary. The searches were not limited to local intent.
Ahrefs, published February 4, 2026⁴	300,000 Keywords Explorer keywords: 150,000 with an AI Overview and 150,000 informational keywords without one; December 2023 compared with December 2025	Average desktop CTR for the top-ranking page, calculated as aggregated Search Console clicks divided by impressions	The presence of an AI Overview correlated with a 58% lower average CTR for the top-ranking page. Ahrefs observed a 0.016 position-one CTR against a 0.037 no-rollout forecast. This was not a direct count of AI Overview citation clicks.
Seer Interactive, published November 4, 2025⁵	3,119 informational and educational terms across 42 client organisations; 25.1 million organic and 1.1 million paid impressions from June 2024 through September 2025	Monthly organic CTR averages across the query set, split by AI Overview presence and whether the brand was cited	In Q3 2025, organic CTR was 0.52% when an AI Overview appeared without the brand cited, 0.70% when the brand was cited and 1.45% when no AI Overview appeared. Seer cautioned that citation did not prove causation because stronger brands may be more likely to be cited and may already have higher CTRs.

Pew's 8% and 15% figures describe visits by a browsing panel. Ahrefs' 58% figure describes a top-ranking-page CTR comparison across two keyword samples. Seer's three CTR figures describe informational and educational terms across client organisations. The different denominators and query sets prevent a direct local-search click rate from being calculated by combining them.

What does Google Search Console measure for AI Overviews?

Google's generative AI performance report lists AI Overviews and AI Mode and reports impressions for links to a site shown in a generative AI feature on Google Search.⁸ The report can group data by page, country, date and device. Search Labs experiments are excluded, and Google says the newest data can be preliminary. Not all properties have access because Google is still rolling out the report. A site may also lack the report when it has not received enough generative-AI impressions.⁸

Google defines a Search Console click as a click on a link from Google to a site. For AI Overviews, an external-page link click counts as a site click. A link that keeps the searcher inside Google does not count as a site click.⁹ That distinction matters when comparing an AI Overview's presence with a site's reported clicks.

For a local business, the generative AI performance report can show impressions for links to its site. Search Console's separate Performance metrics count an external-page click from an AI Overview as a click. The generative AI report does not break out those clicks by feature.⁸⁹

These site-level metrics do not measure how often an AI Overview appears across a defined set of local SERPs. Whitespark, Synup and Digital Nomads HQ measured that separate question.¹²⁸⁶

For the broader question of how AI search surfaces relate to local visibility, see the AI search hub. For the question of who gets included in an AI search answer, see Who gets you onto AI search?. For a separate first-party measurement of questions business owners ask AI, see What business owners ask AI.

What do these numbers not tell you?

They do not produce one universal local rate. Query wording, intent, country, industry, device and collection method differ across the studies.
A SERP observation is not an impression. Whitespark, Synup and Digital Nomads HQ counted pages or searches where an AI Overview appeared. Google Search Console impressions count links to a site shown in a generative AI feature.¹²⁸
An AI Overview is not the same as a site click. Google counts a click to an external page, not a link that stays inside Google.⁹
The click studies are not local-only. Pew analyzed captured Google searches. Ahrefs compared 150,000 keywords with an AI Overview against 150,000 informational keywords without one. Seer analyzed informational and educational terms.³⁴⁵
The figures do not prove that citation caused a click change. Seer explicitly says its cited and uncited groups may differ in brand strength and baseline CTR.⁵
The figures do not predict a business's inclusion or ranking. Google says an AI Overview often does not trigger, and a page's technical eligibility does not guarantee crawling, indexing or serving.⁷

The practical reading is narrow: use a local prevalence percentage to understand how often a defined query set returned an AI Overview, and use Search Console to inspect eligible links to your own site. Keep the query, market, date, device and click definition with every comparison.

What are the common questions about AI Overviews in local search?

Is there one percentage for how often AI Overviews appear on local searches?

No. Published observations range from 4.0% of desktop “near me” pages to 75.4% of desktop pages with a specific need in Synup's September 2026 study. Whitespark found 15% for its local-intent queries, and Digital Nomads HQ found 24.7% for its Australian local-intent searches. Each number belongs to its own query set and sample.¹²⁶

Does an AI Overview impression mean someone clicked my website?

No. Google counts an impression when a link to a site is shown in a generative AI feature. Google counts a click when someone follows an external-page link to the site. A link that keeps the searcher inside Google is not a site click.⁸⁹

Can Search Console show how often my business appears in local AI Overviews?

Search Console's generative AI performance report can report impressions for links to a site shown in AI Overviews and AI Mode. When a property has access and enough data, the report can group impressions by page, country, date and device. Google is still rolling out access. That report does not count every local results page where an AI Overview appeared.⁸

Do local searches get fewer AI Overviews than informational searches?

In the samples that separated intent, local-intent queries triggered fewer AI Overviews than the broader comparison groups. Whitespark reported 15% for local-intent queries, 92% for informational queries and 97% for hybrid queries. Digital Nomads HQ reported 24.7% for Australian local-intent searches versus 40.1% for general queries. Neither comparison establishes one rate for every market or query.¹⁶

Does being cited in an AI Overview improve click-through rate?

Seer reported a 0.70% organic CTR when a brand was cited, compared with 0.52% when an AI Overview appeared without the brand cited, but Seer did not claim that citation caused the difference. Stronger brands may be more likely to be cited and may have higher baseline CTRs.⁵

Whitespark, “New Research: The Prevalence of AI Overviews in Local Search”: https://whitespark.ca/blog/case-study-the-prevalence-of-ai-overviews-in-local-search/ (published 2025-05-12; read 2026-09-28; manual study of 540 Google queries across three US cities, six industries and three intent groups)
Synup, “What’s ranking in local search: 2026”: https://synup.com/research/local-serp-study (collected 2026-09; read 2026-09-28; 53,900 Google results pages across 49 local-business categories and 250 US cities; desktop breakdown)
Pew Research Center, “Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results”: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/ (published 2025-07-22; read 2026-09-28; browsing panel of 900 US adults and 68,879 unique Google searches)
Ahrefs, “Update: AI Overviews Reduce Clicks by 58%”: https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overviews-reduce-clicks-update/ (published 2026-02-04; read 2026-09-28; comparison of 150,000 keywords with an AI Overview and 150,000 informational keywords without one using aggregated Search Console CTR)
Seer Interactive, “AIO Impact on Google CTR: September 2025 Update”: https://www.seerinteractive.com/insights/aio-impact-on-google-ctr-september-2025-update (published 2025-11-04; read 2026-09-28; 3,119 informational and educational terms across 42 client organisations)
Digital Nomads HQ, “When buyers search local, Google's AI backs off”: https://digitalnomadshq.com.au/state-of-ai-search/local-search/ (research labelled May 2026; read 2026-09-28; 116,918 Australian SERPs across 18 industries and six cities)
Google Search Central, “AI features and your website”: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features (read 2026-09-28; Google documentation on AI Overview triggering, eligibility and supporting links)
Google Search Central, “Generative AI performance report (Search)”: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/16984139?hl=en (read 2026-09-28; Search Console report definitions, dimensions, exclusions and data availability)
Google Search Central, “What are impressions, position, and clicks?”: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7042828?hl=en (read 2026-09-28; Search Console click and CTR definitions, including AI Overview external-page links)