AI search now covers several different product categories: AI-generated summaries inside traditional search results, conversational search modes, standalone answer engines and enterprise search systems. Statistics about these products are often presented together even though they measure different markets, users and behaviours.
This report separates market forecasts, first-party platform figures and independent behavioural studies. Every numerical claim includes a direct link to the report or dataset from which it was taken.
Last fact-checked: | Author: Eugen S.
Transparency notice: This article was prepared with the assistance of an AI system. All numerical claims were checked against the linked reports and source pages. Market forecasts are attributed to their publishers and are not presented as audited industry revenue.
Key AI search statistics for 2026
Google reported more than 2.5 billion monthly active users for AI Overviews and more than 1 billion monthly active users for AI Mode at Google I/O in May 2026.
Pew Research Center found that AI summaries appeared in 18% of 68,879 Google searches included in its 2025 US browsing study.
In Pew’s study, users clicked a traditional result during 8% of visits to search pages with an AI summary, compared with 15% of visits without one.
Users clicked a source link contained inside a Google AI summary during only 1% of visits measured by Pew.
Semrush observed AI Overviews for 6.49% of its tracked keywords in January 2025. The figure reached 24.61% in July and stood at 15.69% in November.
An Ahrefs study using 300,000 keywords found that the presence of an AI Overview correlated with a 58% lower average click-through rate for the top-ranking organic page.
A separate Ahrefs study found that AI Overview content had a 70% probability of changing between consecutive observations.
Published commercial forecasts estimate the global AI search engine market at approximately USD 20.75 billion to USD 21.1 billion in 2026, but the reports use different market definitions and forecasting models.
How large is the AI search engine market?
There is no single independently confirmed market-size figure for AI search. Commercial research firms include different products in their calculations. Depending on the report, the category may cover consumer answer engines, enterprise search software, web search, voice search, ecommerce search or a combination of these areas.
The estimates should therefore be cited separately. Averaging them would create a number that does not belong to any of the original reports.
USD 18.5 billion in 2025 and USD 21.1 billion in 2026
USD 78.2 billion by 2036; CAGR of 14.0% for 2026–2036
Forecast period 2026–2036; figures shown in the report’s public market summary
The difference between the forecasts is substantial. Precedence Research projects a 27.30% compound annual growth rate, while Future Market Insights projects 14.0% and Grand View Research projects 13.6% over a different forecast period.
These figures are vendor forecasts rather than audited revenue collected from every AI search provider. When referencing them, the publisher, forecast period and category definition should remain attached to the number.
more than 2.5 billion monthly active users for AI Overviews;
more than 1 billion monthly active users for AI Mode; and
more than 900 million monthly active users for the Gemini app.
These are first-party figures reported by Google. They describe three separate Google products and should not be added together because their audiences can overlap. The Gemini app figure should also be treated as a broader AI-product metric rather than a pure web-search statistic.
Google did not disclose in that announcement how monthly active users were defined, how frequently each person used the feature or how many AI-generated answers led to an external website visit.
How often do Google AI Overviews appear?
Two major studies provide useful data, but they measure different things.
Pew Research Center: 18% of observed Google searches
Pew Research Center’s July 2025 analysis used browsing data from 900 consenting US adults. The underlying dataset contained 68,879 unique Google searches performed during March 2025.
Of those searches, 12,593 produced an AI summary when Pew collected the corresponding Google results. This represented approximately 18% of the searches included in the study.
The study also reported that 58% of participants encountered at least one Google search containing an AI-generated summary during the observation period.
Pew measurement
Result
Participants
900 consenting US adults
Unique Google searches analysed
68,879
Searches producing an AI summary
12,593, or approximately 18%
Participants who encountered at least one AI summary
58%
Median AI summary length
67 words
AI summaries citing at least three sources
88%
Pew received browsing activity from March 1–31, 2025 and collected the matching search-result pages from April 7–17, 2025. Because AI Overviews can change, the researchers explicitly noted that their results reflect how the search pages appeared when they were collected.
Longer searches triggered summaries more frequently
Pew found a clear relationship between query format and the appearance of an AI summary:
8% of one- or two-word searches produced an AI summary;
53% of searches containing ten words or more produced one;
60% of searches beginning with question words such as “who,” “what,” “when” or “why” produced an AI summary; and
36% of searches written as full sentences produced a summary.
These percentages describe the searches observed in Pew’s US panel. They are not global Google statistics.
Semrush: AI Overview visibility changed throughout 2025
Semrush analysed more than 10 million keywords from its database between January and November 2025. AI Overview visibility rose quickly during the first part of the year, peaked in July and then declined.
Observation month
Share of tracked keywords triggering an AI Overview
January 2025
6.49%
July 2025
24.61%
November 2025
15.69%
Semrush also used separate subsets of 10,000 keywords, more than 200,000 keywords and 11,000 domains to study keyword characteristics, zero-click behaviour and industry visibility.
These percentages refer to the Semrush keyword dataset. They should not be presented as the percentage of all searches performed by Google users.
How AI Overviews affect clicks
Pew: traditional-result clicks fell from 15% to 8%
Pew compared user actions after visits to Google result pages with and without an AI-generated summary.
User action measured by Pew
With an AI summary
Without an AI summary
Clicked a traditional search result
8% of visits
15% of visits
Clicked a source cited inside the AI summary
1% of visits
Not applicable
Ended the browsing session
26% of visits
16% of visits
The comparison shows an association between AI summaries and fewer external clicks in this dataset. It does not establish that every website or keyword will experience the same change.
The study selected 300,000 keywords from Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer database:
150,000 keywords that produced an AI Overview; and
150,000 informational keywords without an AI Overview.
Ahrefs used aggregated Google Search Console data to compare average desktop CTR in December 2023 and December 2025. For keywords that triggered an AI Overview in 2025, the average position-one CTR fell from approximately 7.3% in December 2023 to approximately 1.6% in December 2025.
After accounting for the broader decline observed among informational keywords, Ahrefs calculated an estimated 58% CTR difference associated with the presence of an AI Overview.
This is an observational result based on the Ahrefs sample and calculation method. It should be written as a correlation rather than a guaranteed 58% traffic loss for every top-ranking page.
How stable are AI Overview citations?
A separate Ahrefs study published on November 11, 2025 analysed more than 43,000 keywords. Each keyword had at least 16 recorded AI Overviews during a one-month observation period.
The study reported that:
AI Overview content had a 70% chance of changing between consecutive observations;
the average content persistence period was approximately 2.15 days;
only 54.5% of cited URLs overlapped between consecutive observations; and
45.5% of cited sources were new from one observation to the next.
This volatility means that one successful citation does not establish permanent AI search visibility. A page may appear as a cited source during one check and disappear during the next.
Ahrefs also found that the underlying meaning remained more stable than the exact wording and citations. Consecutive AI Overviews produced an average semantic similarity score of 0.95 on a scale where 1.0 represents a perfect match.
What these statistics mean for SEO and GEO
The studies point to a search environment in which visibility and website traffic must be measured separately. A brand can appear in an AI-generated answer without receiving a click, while a citation can change even when the underlying answer remains similar.
Track mentions, citations and clicks separately. A brand mention inside an AI answer, a linked citation and an external website visit are different outcomes.
Record the platform and search surface. Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity should not be combined into one visibility metric.
Use direct sources for numerical claims. Each statistic should include its publisher, publication date, market, sample and measurement unit.
Separate forecasts from observed data. A market forecast is a modelled estimate. It should not be described as confirmed industry revenue.
Maintain pages over time. Update outdated statistics, preserve a visible revision date and remove figures that can no longer be verified.
Measure your own search data. Industry studies provide context, but Google Search Console, analytics and lead data are needed to understand the effect on an individual website.
Methodology and limitations
This article prioritises direct report pages, first-party platform announcements and studies that describe their datasets. Statistics from generic company homepages, unsourced infographics and secondary listicles were excluded.
The sources measure different subjects:
Google reports its own monthly active users;
Pew measures the browsing behaviour of a panel of US adults;
Semrush measures the presence of AI Overviews across selected keyword datasets;
Ahrefs analyses keyword samples and aggregated Google Search Console data; and
commercial research firms publish modelled market forecasts covering different product categories.
Because the definitions and methodologies differ, the figures should not be added together or treated as interchangeable measures of AI search adoption.
Frequently asked questions
How big is the AI search engine market in 2026?
There is no single confirmed figure. Precedence Research estimates USD 20.75 billion for 2026, while Future Market Insights estimates USD 21.1 billion. These are commercial forecasts based on different category definitions and models.
How many people use Google AI search features?
Google reported more than 2.5 billion monthly active users for AI Overviews and more than 1 billion for AI Mode in May 2026. The audiences can overlap, so the two figures should not be added together.
How often do AI Overviews appear?
Pew found AI summaries in 18% of the 68,879 Google searches included in its 2025 US study. Semrush observed AI Overviews for 15.69% of its tracked keyword set in November 2025. The percentages are not directly comparable because the studies used different samples and methods.
Do AI Overviews reduce organic clicks?
Both Pew and Ahrefs observed fewer clicks when an AI Overview appeared. Pew recorded traditional-result clicks during 8% of visits with a summary and 15% without one. Ahrefs found a 58% lower average CTR for the top-ranking page in its December 2025 dataset. Neither result guarantees an identical loss for every query or website.
Do users click the sources shown in AI Overviews?
In Pew’s dataset, users clicked a source contained inside an AI summary during 1% of visits to result pages with a summary.
Are AI Overview citations permanent?
No. Ahrefs found that 45.5% of cited URLs were new between consecutive observations in its study of more than 43,000 keywords.
Can a business guarantee inclusion in an AI-generated answer?
No platform offers guaranteed organic inclusion. Businesses can improve the quality and verifiability of their content, but the final selection of sources remains under the control of the search or AI platform.
With years of experience navigating the ever-evolving crypto landscape, Eugen knows exactly how to make content shine in Google’s eyes—without breaking the algorithm. With experience working as an SEO specialist in real fast-growing crypto companies, along with training in crypto trading, Google Ads Search Certification, and Google Analytics Individual Qualification, he is a master of SEO in the crypto world, blending AI-powered strategies with deep industry knowledge. From ChatGPT to blockchain trends, he knows how to make content rank, engage, and convert.
