Google AI Overviews Now Answer 97% of Related Questions
A new study finds Google AI Overviews now generate 97% of People Also Ask answers in search results.
Source Search Engine Roundtable · 2026-09-09 · Checked 2026-09-14
Google search results include a "People Also Ask" section that lists related questions. Clicking one used to reveal an answer pulled straight from a specific web page, but that answer has now largely been replaced by text generated by AI Overviews, Search Engine Roundtable reported on September 9.
Saeed Khosravi of search data firm Allintitle first posted the finding on LinkedIn. He wrote that "Allintitle's Also Ask Miner data shows that starting August, 2026 Google People Also Ask Answers Are 100% AI Generated." Search Engine Roundtable's Barry Schwartz then reached out to Mark Williams-Cook of AlsoAsked, who had previously measured the same figure at 12% fourteen months earlier, to check the number again.
Williams-Cook reviewed 19.2 million English-language results and posted this on LinkedIn: "97% of PAA answers in the first week of September are AIOs, up from 86% in August." He added that "it seems highly likely we are on track for 100% shortly." Fourteen months earlier, the same measurement stood at about 12%, meaning original web page text, not an AI Overview, answered most of these questions back then.
The two studies used different samples and methods, so the numbers do not line up exactly, but they point in the same direction: the traditional web excerpt that used to fill this box is being replaced by AI-generated answers. The reports do not include specific figures on how much this shift affects actual site traffic.
Schwartz noted the development is not especially surprising, since it follows the same trend as Google's broader expansion of AI Overviews across search results. The article also included a screenshot showing how Google labels AI Overview-generated answers.
Site owners curious how much their own site shows up in these AI answers can check the Search Console generative AI performance report, which expanded to sites worldwide last month.
In Korea
Both studies analyzed English-language search results only. This data does not show whether AI Overviews answer a similar share of related questions when people search in Korean. Sites operating in Korea can get a more reliable answer by opening their own Search Console generative AI report rather than guessing.
Related: Google Expands Search Console Generative AI Reports Worldwide
Source: Search Engine Roundtable, Barry Schwartz, September 9, 2026. Checked September 14, 2026. Read the original