Google is continuing to expand its AI-powered search experience, with new data showing that AI Overviews now appear in nearly half of all Google searches in the United States. The change highlights how artificial intelligence is becoming a core part of online search and how users are interacting with information differently than before.

According to a recent report from market intelligence firm Similarweb, AI Overviews appeared in 43% of Google searches measured in the U.S. during 2026. That’s a significant increase from 15% recorded during the same period last year.

The growing presence of AI-generated summaries signals Google’s continued investment in making search faster, more conversational, and more informative.

AI Mode Brings a More Conversational Search Experience

Alongside AI Overviews, Google has also been expanding AI Mode, a feature designed for longer, more detailed conversations.

Unlike traditional search, AI Mode allows users to ask follow-up questions without starting a new search each time. Google says the system uses a technique called query fan-out, which breaks a complex question into several smaller searches before combining the information into a single response.

This approach helps users receive more complete answers while maintaining the context of the conversation.

Search Queries Are Becoming Longer

The Similarweb report found that search behavior is changing as AI becomes a bigger part of Google Search.

After the introduction of AI Mode, the average Google search became 5.4% longer, suggesting that people are increasingly typing questions in natural language instead of using short keyword phrases.

For instance, instead of searching:

  • “best laptop 2026”

Users are now more likely to search:

  • “Which laptop is best for programming and video editing under my budget in 2026?”

This reflects the growing influence of AI chatbots on how people search for information online.

AI Search Continues to Grow

Similarweb estimates that visits to Google’s AI Mode web experience increased from 126 million in June 2025 to approximately 279 million in May 2026.

Google has also stated that AI Mode has surpassed one billion monthly users globally, although Google’s figures measure active users rather than website visits, making the two datasets different.

The broader generative AI market is also experiencing rapid growth. According to the report, AI platforms including ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity now receive an average of 9.5 billion monthly visits, representing a 70% increase compared to the previous year.

Most People Still Use Both Google and AI Chatbots

Despite the popularity of AI assistants, the report found that most ChatGPT users continue to rely on Google Search as well.

Rather than replacing traditional search engines, many users are combining AI chatbots with Google depending on the type of information they need.

This suggests that AI is becoming an extension of search rather than a complete replacement.

Publishers Continue to Watch Website Traffic

As AI-generated answers become more common, publishers remain concerned about declining website traffic.

When Google or AI chatbots answer a question directly, users may no longer need to visit the original website where the information came from.

To address these concerns, Google recently updated AI Overviews by making source links more visible through:

  • Direct website links
  • Article suggestions
  • Website previews
  • Improved source references

The company says these changes are intended to help users discover original content more easily, although it has not released data showing whether the updates have increased traffic to publishers.

ChatGPT Is Sending More Visitors to Websites

The Similarweb report also examined ChatGPT’s web citations.

The percentage of ChatGPT responses that included website citations increased from 1.3% in mid-2025 to 6.8% by May 2026.

Following a search interface update earlier this year, referral traffic from ChatGPT increased significantly, with homepage visits growing by more than 350% during the measured period.

This suggests that AI assistants are gradually sending more users to external websites, even though many questions are still answered directly within the chat interface.

New Options for Website Owners

As AI companies increasingly use online content to generate responses, website owners are exploring new ways to manage access to their content.

Cloudflare has introduced a beta feature called Pay per Crawl, allowing publishers to decide whether AI crawlers can access their websites for free, pay for access, or be blocked entirely.

The system could give publishers more control over how their content is used by AI services in the future.

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