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Google AI Overviews Trending Toward Authoritative Sites

New data provided to Search Engine Journal shows that the sites Google is ranking in AI Overviews varies by time and industry, offering an explanation of volatility in AIO rankings. The new research shows what industries are most impacted and may provide a clue as to way.

AIO Presence Varies Over Time and By Industry.

The research was provided by BrightEdge using their proprietary BrightEdge Generative Parser technology that tracks AI Overviews, detects patterns and offers insights useful for SEO and marketing.

Healthcare, Education, and B2B Technology topics continue to show greater presence in Google’s AI Overviews. Healthcare and Education are the two industries where BrightEdge saw the strongest growth as well as stability of which sites are shown.

Healthcare has the highest AIO presence at 84% as of late February 2025. AIOs shown for Education topics show a consistent growth pattern, now at 71% in February 2025.

The travel, restaurant and insurance sectors are also trending upward, with the travel queries being a notable trend. Travel had zero AIO presence in May 2024 but that’s completely different now. Travel is now up to 20-30% presence in the AIO search results.

The presence of restaurant related topics in AIO are up from 0 to 5%, suggesting a rising trend. Meanwhile insurance queries have grown from 18% of queries in May 2024 to a whopping 47% of queries by February 2025.

B2B technology queries that trigger AIO are at 57%. These kinds of queries are important because they are typically represent research related by people involved in decision making. Purchase decisions are different than with consumer queries. So the fact that 57% of queries are triggering AIOs may be a reflection of the complexity of the decision making process and the queries involved with that process.

Let’s face it, technology is complex and the people using it aren’t expert in concepts like “data modeling” and that’s the kind of queries BrightEdge is seeing, which could be reflective of the end user wrapping their minds around what the technology does and how it benefits users.

Having worked with B2B technology it’s not unusual for SaaS providers to use mind numbing jargon to sell their products but the decision makers or even the users of that technology aren’t necessarily going to understand that kind of language. That’s why Google shows AI Overviews for a keyword phrase like associative analytics engine instead of showing someone’s product.

Finance related queries, which had been on a moderate growth trend have doubled from 5% of queries in May 2024 to 10% of queries in February 2025.