AI Overviews Are Ignoring Google's Biggest Keywords—Here's What They *Actually* Rank For

The arrival of Google’s AI Overviews (AIOs) was heralded as a seismic shift in the search landscape. The initial, almost universal expectation was that these generative summaries would immediately dominate the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), especially for the most lucrative and high-volume keywords—the so-called "head terms" that have long driven the SEO industry. We anticipated a digital land grab, where the AI would swiftly absorb the complexity of competitive searches, providing instant, authoritative answers above all else. However, preliminary, deep-dive analysis suggests a far more nuanced—and perhaps underwhelming—reality. A growing pattern reveals that AI Overviews are consistently bypassing these established, high-value keywords, pointing to a significant discrepancy between what the technology should be capturing and what it is actually focusing on. This divergence raises serious questions about the current calibration of Google’s most prominent new search feature, a finding being closely tracked by industry leaders like @semrush.

This reluctance to engage with the competitive upper echelon of keywords suggests that the training data or prioritization algorithms currently favor safety and accessibility over raw search volume or commercial weight. If the biggest keywords are being ignored by the very feature designed to revolutionize search delivery, the entire calculus for SEO success may need urgent revision.

Methodology: Unpacking the AIO Query Landscape

To move beyond anecdotal observation and quantify this AI behavior, a rigorous sampling and analysis process was implemented. The study involved feeding a carefully curated set of user queries into Google’s AI Overview system over a defined period. This sample was designed not to capture just any search, but specifically those queries likely to trigger an AIO response, allowing researchers to dissect the type of query the AI prefers to summarize.

The analysis hinged on three critical metrics that serve as robust proxies for both competition and commercial intent within the digital marketing ecosystem. First, Keyword Difficulty (KD) measures how hard it is to rank organically for a term. Second, Search Volume (SV) indicates the sheer breadth of public interest in a topic. Finally, Cost Per Click (CPC) measures the financial value advertisers place on traffic generated by that specific query. High CPC is the clearest signal of commercial viability.

To definitively categorize queries, researchers established clear thresholds defining what constitutes "low" performance in the context of established high-value keywords. Any query falling below these benchmarks was flagged as indicative of the AI’s current preference profile. These established thresholds—which define the boundaries between the competitive arena and the informational niche—became the yardstick against which the AI’s actual performance was measured, providing quantifiable evidence of its current strategic focus.

The Data Reveals: AI Overviews Skew Informational, Not Commercial

The data unearthed from analyzing the query landscape fed to AIOs paints a remarkably consistent picture: the AI is optimizing for ease of answerability rather than market saturation.

Finding 1: Keyword Difficulty (KD) provides the sharpest contrast. The vast majority of queries successfully generating an AI Overview fall squarely within the 0-40% difficulty range. This means the AI is comfortably answering questions that established, high-authority websites are not struggling intensely to rank for. It actively sidesteps the highly contested ground where KD scores push 70% or higher, suggesting a built-in aversion to complex, frequently litigated search terms.

Finding 2: Search Volume (SV) reinforces this trend toward the low end. AIO-generating queries overwhelmingly register between 0 and 200 searches per month. The high-volume "head terms" that often exceed tens of thousands of monthly searches—the very terms that dominate traditional SEO discussions—are conspicuously absent from the AIO query profile. The AI favors informational whispers over commercial shouts.

Finding 3: Commercial Intent (CPC) acts as the final confirmation. Queries yielding AIOs exhibit decidedly low CPCs. When advertisers are unwilling to bid aggressively for the traffic associated with a term, it’s a strong indicator that the transactional value—the likelihood of a sale or high-value lead—is minimal. This directly contrasts with the high-CPC terms that underpin substantial digital advertising budgets.

Synthesis: When these three data points—low KD, low SV, and low CPC—are combined, the narrative becomes crystal clear. AI Overviews are currently prioritizing accessible, straightforward, and low-competition informational gaps. They are acting as sophisticated encyclopedias for niche questions, rather than authoritative battlegrounds for high-intent commercial traffic.

Implications for SEO and Content Strategy

This emerging pattern demands an immediate recalibration of digital strategy. The age-old wisdom of targeting the biggest, most competitive keywords as the foundation of content success may be undergoing a swift devaluation, at least concerning AIO visibility.

For content creators, the necessary shift is profound: expertise must now pivot away from the brute-force battle for highly competitive terms toward mastery over specificity. If the AI is serving answers for low-difficulty queries, then the pathway to early visibility lies in owning those unanswered, specific informational long-tail questions that currently lack clear, consolidated summaries. This is the space where informational authority can be built quickly.

The good news is that this AI blind spot creates a fertile opportunity. Content focused on deeply specific, long-tail informational needs—the types of questions that might have been too low-volume to warrant a major pillar piece previously—are now precisely the content that the AI seems designed to reward with visibility. This favors depth and specificity over sheer breadth.

Conversely, a significant risk looms for those who have staked their entire strategy on legacy SEO models. Any major investment made solely to capture the traffic associated with ultra-competitive head terms—content built on the assumption that capturing that volume is the ultimate goal—risks being sidelined by the AI Overview feature itself. Why click through when the AI provides the answer instantly?

Conclusion: The Future of Search is Accessible, Not Aggressive

The central thesis emerging from this analysis is that Google’s AI Overviews are, at present, optimized for accessibility and immediate informational fulfillment, not for capturing the highest-value, most competitively sought-after search traffic. They are proving adept at answering the "how-to" and "what-is" questions that have manageable barriers to entry, effectively short-circuiting the click path for those specific queries.

The critical question now facing the industry is one of trajectory. Will Google actively retrain or adjust the AIO algorithms to incorporate and aggressively tackle high-KD, high-volume keywords, thereby forcing content creators back into the competitive fray? Or does this current focus on the accessible, lower-stakes query landscape represent a fundamental, long-term philosophical shift in how Google intends to satisfy the majority of user intent? The answer will define the next era of search marketing.

Source: Analysis based on findings shared by @semrush at: https://x.com/semrush/status/2018706821049909642