Reasons Behind The Results: AI Overviews Relying Less On Search Engine Results (New Report)

Last July, Ahrefs studied the search results from both traditional and AI models, finding that more than three-quarters (76%) of the citations in nearly 2 million AI Overviews were pulled from pages that ranked in the top 10, showing a “major crossover” between search rankings and citations.

Less than a year later, now with 4 million Overviews and more than 863,000 keyword SERPs as part of Ahrefs’ research, that percentage has fallen to 38%, indicating that Google “is selecting far fewer pages straight from the original SERP.”

 

The 2026 Industry Pulse Report

61% of experts are excited about the rise of generative AI in digital media and the opportunities it unlocks for new, scalable ad environments. Yet 53% say adjacency to AI-generated content will be a top challenge in the coming year.

 

The AI Strategy Shift Is Here — And Your Brand Can’t Afford To Wait.

Differences between executives and day-to-day practitioners threaten progress in AI deployment. Both groups agree on broad priorities for AI investments — personalization, customer satisfaction, and workflow automation — but their views on readiness, impact, and performance diverge in consistent ways.

 

Sales And Marketing By Design: The Two Sides Are Mostly Aligned At SMBs

Email marketers and other professionals serving go-to-market teams at SMBs are doing better than you might think. … Companies tolerate ineffective tech stacks because they fear disrupting current systems, while 34% cite data migration challenges. And 35% blame their leadership for being hesitant to execute a change in tooling.