We analyzed 1,000,000 SERPs to see how the presence of different SERP features has changed since the start of the year.
AI Overviews appeared from nowhere in August 2024, and now appear on over a quarter of the keywords in this sample (and they’re much more prevalent for informational keywords).
Functionally, AI Overviews seem to overlap with existing SERP features, especially Featured snippets. This is corroborated by our early research that found that AI Overviews and Featured snippets commonly appeared alongside one another.
So I wanted to know: are AI Overviews replacing existing SERP features? As AI gets incorporated throughout the search experience, which SERP features are growing in prominence, and which can we stop caring about?
Trend lines for major SERP features since December 2023.
We analyzed the presence of 15 different SERP features across 1,000,000 randomly chosen US Desktop SERPs from our Keywords Explorer database.
We compared the presence of each SERP feature between January and June 2025. Here’s how it looks:
Sidenote.
Not all SERP features were included in this analysis.
And here’s how the relative visibility of each SERP feature has changed since the start of this year, January 2025:
And here’s the data:
| SERP feature | Current SERP visibility (June 2025) | Previous SERP visibility (January 2025) | Relative change since January 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| sitelink | 84.95% | 8.44% | 906% |
| question | 79.13% | 73.73% | 7% |
| ai_overview | 27.43% | 3.93% | 598% |
| ai_overview_sitelink | 25.00% | 3.90% | 541% |
| discussion | 20.26% | 19.49% | 4% |
| news | 14.20% | 14.94% | -5% |
| knowledge_panel | 12.95% | 14.09% | -8% |
| organic_shopping | 10.40% | 11.24% | -7% |
| snippet | 5.53% | 15.41% | -64% |
| local_pack | 2.96% | 3.48% | -15% |
| knowledge_card | 2.30% | 1.50% | 54% |
| local_teaser | 1.96% | 2.55% | -23% |
| shopping | 0.99% | 3.14% | -68% |
| paid | 0.91% | 1.95% | -53% |
| paid_sitelink | 0.66% | 1.48% | -55% |
How to analyze your SERP features in Ahrefs
You can find all of this SERP feature data in Ahrefs. Just head to Site Explorer, enter your domain, and click the Organic keywords report. From there, you can filter your keyword rankings to see where different SERP features appear:
When I filter the organic keywords for ahrefs.com to show AI Overviews, I can find almost 67,000 keywords that we rank for, and trigger an AI Overview:
Final thoughts
It seems very likely that AI Overviews have superseded Featured snippets. They serve similar functions—encouraging zero-click searches, and resolving the searcher’s intent directly in the SERP—and the growth in AI Overviews is matched by a decline in Featured snippets.
As far as SERP features go, AI Overviews are uniquely flexible, able to accommodate a vast number of different search intents. My hunch is that AI Overviews may be able to replace other SERP features, so I’ll keep checking to see if other declining SERP features continue their trend over the next few months.
Similar Posts
81 AI SEO Statistics for 2025 (Fresh and Original Data)
It pays to know how AI is changing search. 32% of Nasdaq companies see a strong correlation between their search visibility and stock prices. (Source) If traffic from search goes up, so do their stock prices. But recently, many companies saw major traffic (and revenue) declines thanks to changes in AI search. This post is…
My Exact 7-Step Framework for Brand SEO (With Templates)
Branding wasn’t something SEOs traditionally thought much about. The real wins were in non-branded keywords, where the traffic and conversions lived. However, that changed when Google and OpenAI turned most of these queries into zero-click searches. For the remaining queries, search platforms directly reward authoritative and popular brands, so branding can no longer be ignored…
The Expert-Reviewed Guide to Automotive SEO
I became interested in automotive SEO after buying a new car and getting some repairs done on my old one at the same time. I found the dealerships and repair shops that helped me out, as well as the car that I bought, through Google. If they hadn’t shown up when I was looking, I…
The Great Diversification: How 8 Companies Are Evolving Their SEO Strategies
First, we had “the great decoupling”, now we’re seeing “the great diversification”. Brands are overhauling their strategies since losing clicks to Google. You’ve probably heard that Google’s AI search features are tanking organic traffic. In April, we reported that click-through rates dropped by 35% across 300,000 keywords. Now, a Pew Research study has revealed that…
How to Rank for a Keyword (8 Steps)
You have a target keyword. You want to have your website appear in the search results for that keyword. How do you do that? How do you actually rank for a keyword? Follow this guide to find out how. keyword research guide ranks for 2,100 keywords: Most of them are simply variations of the main topic…
