Google’s AI results are showing up less frequently, a study found

Google appears to be showing its AI-generated search results less often in recent weeks, according to a recent study from an SEO company.

The data, collected by BrightEdge and reported on by Search Engine Land, suggests that AI Overviews dropped from appearing in 11 percent of queries on June 1st to 7 percent of queries on June 30th. BrightEdge’s data also indicates that AI Overviews cite Reddit and Quora dramatically less than they did before.

Since the launch of AI Overviews in May, Google has had to make changes to address bizarre results like recommending that you put glue on pizza (which appears to have been pulled from a Reddit thread) and suggesting that you eat rocks (seemingly pulled from an article in The Onion). In response, Google defended AI Overviews but said it had implemented adjustments, such as limiting the use of user-generated content in AI Overviews and adding better tools to detect nonsensical queries that shouldn’t get AI Overviews.

Google spokesperson Ashley Thompson tells The Verge that the findings “do not reflect what we’ve seen” and criticized the study’s methodology. Thompson also says BrightEdge’s study appears to mix users who have opted in to “AI Overviews & More” as part of Google’s experimental Search Labs features and those who haven’t. (People who have opted in to AI Overviews in Search Labs will see them on more search results, according to Thompson.)

“We designed AI Overviews to appear for queries where they’re helpful and provide value beyond existing features on the results page, and they continue to show for a large number of searches,” Thompson says. “As we’ve shared, we’re continuing to refine when and how we show AI Overviews so they’re as useful as possible, including a number of recent technical updates to improve response quality.”

AI Overviews are an important initiative for Google. If people don’t like or trust them, they might turn to products from competitors like Microsoft, OpenAI, and Perplexity instead, which could be a big loss for the search engine. Google is bullish on AI Overviews — CEO Sundar Pichai said that people “are responding very positively to AI Overviews” in a May interview with editor-in-chief Nilay Patel — but the company is still doing some fine-tuning.