AI Overviews appeared on 82.06% of branded queries on September 29, the most recent day in DemandSphere's tracking data, up from 26.12% on September 1.

The rate peaked at 90.48% on September 27 before settling in the low 80s, DemandSphere's numbers show. A separate dataset from Ahrefs, limited to U.S. desktop results, reported 82.91% on the same September 29 cutoff, up from 65.1% in August. Both vendors agree the late-September rate exceeded 80%, though they disagree on the size of the jump.

What changed for branded searches?

Chris Long, co-founder of Nectiv, posted on X on September 30 that he had found AI Overviews for 93 of 100 enterprise brands he tested. Search Engine Roundtable's Barry Schwartz tested several brands himself and confirmed the same pattern, with two exceptions: Google's own name and most news publications did not trigger an AI Overview.

Schwartz also noted that Long reported a similar, smaller-scale finding in July, when AI Overviews showed for far fewer queries than they do now.

The rise was not smooth. DemandSphere's daily numbers jumped to 57.43% on September 18, dropped back to 31.15% the next day, and moved between roughly 30% and 57% for another week. The rate reached 69.21% on September 26 and stayed elevated. Google has not announced a change related to branded queries and has not said whether the rollout is finished.

Why does this matter for branded visibility?

Branded queries traditionally come from people already searching for a specific company or product, which made those searches a relatively predictable part of the customer journey. An AI Overview inserts Google's synthesis of information about the brand directly into that flow.

That changes the measurement problem. Branded rankings can hold steady while click behavior shifts underneath them. Traditional rank-tracking no longer captures the full picture. Marketers now need to know whether their brand appears in the AI-generated answer, how Google describes it, which sources support the response, and whether competitors appear alongside it.

What the data does and doesn't measure

DemandSphere measured only whether an AI Overview appeared for a branded search, not whether the brand itself appeared or was cited in the AI-generated answer. Ahrefs used a similar methodology. The rising rate shows Google's deployment has shifted. It does not directly show brands losing visibility within those answers. The two questions are related but separate.

Neither vendor has disclosed its full keyword sample size, and Google has not commented on the late-September shift. The change is documented at the SERP level, not at the brand-citation level.

How should brands monitor this?

The most practical diagnostic is comparing branded click-through rates in Google Search Console before and after AI Overviews appeared. For brands that don't know the exact start date, comparing the week of September 8-14 with September 29-October 5 captures the period when DemandSphere's rate shifted from roughly 30% to above 80%.

If branded rankings held steady while CTR dropped, the AI Overview is the first place to look.

Searching the brand name while signed out shows what the AI Overview actually says: which pages it cites, whether those pages are current, and whether competing brands appear in the response.

Ranking tools that track AI Overview citations separately from organic positions add another view. Semrush's Position Tracking treats a citation in an AI Overview as a top placement and includes a toggle to view organic positions with AI Overviews excluded. The same vendor's AI Visibility Toolkit tracks brand mentions across Google AI Overviews and other AI platforms.

What to watch next

The first question is whether the late-September rate holds. DemandSphere's daily numbers showed volatility through the month, and Google has not confirmed any policy or deployment change.

Watch for an official statement, for movement in the daily rate back below 50%, and for clarification on whether the brand name itself is cited within the AI Overview or simply adjacent to it. The September 29 figure is a snapshot, not a settled answer.