Google's AI search is fast becoming the default way people look things up online, according to Similarweb's report "The 2026 Generative AI Landscape". AI Overviews now appear in 43% of searches, up from 15% a year earlier, while traffic to the separate AI Mode has more than doubled in under a year.
Key takeaways
- AI Overviews: up from 15% to 43% of searches within a year (Similarweb data)
- AI Mode: from 126 million visits in June 2025 to 279 million in May 2026
- Queries are getting longer and more conversational, less keyword-based
- Citations in AI responses grew more than fivefold over the year
- After the May 7, 2026 update, webpage referrals rose from 25% (March) to nearly 60% (May 30)
Nearly half of searches now carry an AI answer
The strongest figure in the report concerns AI Overviews — the AI-generated summaries above search results. According to Similarweb they now appear in 43% of Google queries, versus 15% a year earlier. That is almost a threefold jump in twelve months and the point at which a model-generated answer becomes the default view rather than an add-on above the classic list of links.
AI Mode: a separate conversational mode
The separate, conversational Google AI Mode grew over the same period from 126 million visits in June 2025 to 279 million in May 2026 — more than double. The way people ask is changing too: the average query length is rising as users move from short keyword phrases to longer, conversational questions. It signals that search is increasingly treated as an assistant rather than a directory of pages.
Citations and publisher traffic
The report captures the tension between convenience and source visibility. On one hand, the number of AI responses that include citations grew more than fivefold in a year. On the other, AI Overviews cut publisher traffic, because users consume the answer directly in Google instead of clicking through to source sites.
There is also a difference between platforms. In May 2026 only 6.8% of desktop ChatGPT queries included citations, while Google — after its May 7 update — clearly increased referrals to sites, from 25% in March 2026 to nearly 60% by the end of May. The direction is therefore mixed: citations are growing, but whether they translate into real clicks depends on the specific platform and its settings.
Why it matters
Similarweb's data describes a quiet shift that touches a foundation of the internet: how people reach information. When nearly half of searches end in a model-generated answer, the space where ranking in the classic results matters shrinks.
For publishers it is a change in the traffic model — fewer visits from simple queries, and more weight on being cited in an AI answer. The rising, longer, conversational queries suggest users are learning to talk to search like an assistant, which further favors content a model can summarize and attribute. It is also a shift in Google's position: from an intermediary that routes traffic outward toward a system that increasingly answers on its own.
What's next?
- The referral trend after the May 7, 2026 update will test whether Google sustains higher citation levels or whether that was a one-off correction
- Further growth of AI Overviews above 43% will increase pressure on SEO strategies and publisher business models
- Similarweb frames the report as an annual cycle — future editions will show whether the pace of AI search adoption holds
