A new analysis of one million keywords has produced the clearest picture yet of how AI is transforming Google search. Nearly half of all tracked keywords are losing search volume, while a fifth are growing. The divide maps almost perfectly onto how AI Overviews interact with different types of search intent.
The Core Finding: A Search Volume Split
Researchers analyzing one million keywords across categories found:
- 40.7% of keywords show declining search volume - AI Overviews answer these queries directly
- 20.1% of keywords show growing volume - action-oriented or AI-created demand queries
- 39.2% of keywords show stable volume - AI Overviews have limited presence
Informational queries ("what is X," "how does Y work") are the losers. Action and commercial queries are the winners or stable performers.
AI Overviews Coverage by Category
AI Overviews appear in 47-64% of all Google searches as of mid-2026:
High AIO presence (60%+): Health information, how-to questions, historical facts, definitions Low AIO presence (under 20%): Local search, commercial queries, navigational, breaking news
CTR Impact: Position 1 Is Worth Less
Position 1 organic CTR dropped from approximately 27% to approximately 11% in high-AIO categories. Sites ranking position 1 for informational queries in 2026 receive roughly 40% of the clicks they would have received in 2024 at the same position.
What Content Survives
Surviving: Original research with unique data, step-by-step guides, time-sensitive analysis, comparison content, commercial and transactional pages
Declining: "What is X" articles, definition pages, general evergreen overviews without original data
Ukraine Market Context
For businesses targeting the Ukrainian market, English-language queries on Google have been impacted earlier than Ukrainian-language queries. Ukrainian-language informational searches currently experience lower AI Overview coverage - a temporary advantage that narrows as Google expands multilingual AIO coverage.
Local and commercial intent queries in Ukrainian remain the most valuable traffic source in 2026. These are largely unaffected by AI Overviews and represent the most defensible SEO investment for businesses operating in Ukraine.
