Google brings YouTube content and experimental ecommerce formats to AI Overviews as SearchGPT’s multimodal experience leads to 150% month-over-month growth

BrightEdge, the global leader in AI-driven organic search, released key findings from its Generative Parser™ data for September, revealing new ecommerce updates in Google’s AI Overviews (AIOs), including the shift towards a multimodal search experience with the growing incorporation of video in search results. BrightEdge is empowering marketers to stay ahead of the evolving search experience by providing personalized insights into AI Overviews through intelligent capabilities such as BrightEdge Instant, BrightEdge Data Cube X, and BrightEdge reporting.

“As the first holiday season with AI-powered search approaches, marketers are under extra pressure to optimize for the latest search advancements,” said Jim Yu, Founder and Executive Chairman at BrightEdge. “Google is progressing towards a consistent AI presence for marketers to plan confidently around while also accelerating multimodal AI innovation to infuse text, images, video, and speech into search results. This is a new opportunity to leverage non-traditional platforms such as YouTube tutorials, customer testimonials, and more to gain a foothold in AIOs and drive referrals at a crucial time.”

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Key findings from BrightEdge Generative Parser™ September data include:

Multimodal Content Explodes in Popularity

• After an initial shift away from user-generated content (UGC), Google is now tapping into YouTube audio to cite information. While video content has been included in search results for years, only transcripts and descriptions contributed to search results. Now, Gemini is demonstrating its multimodal capabilities by using the audio from YouTube to generate search results in AIOs.
• Since August, general queries citing YouTube content grew by 310%, and ecommerce-specific queries showing YouTube citations rose by 121%.
• As the second largest search engine and a subsidiary of Google, YouTube’s content was cited as a source at least once in 60% of all AIOs in September.
• This represents a significant opportunity for brands to orient their video strategies and leverage their UCG/influencer network on the platform to influence how AIOs are generated and provide an additional referral source.

AI Overview Responses Stabilize and Decrease for Ecommerce Searches

• Ecommerce results in AIOs dropped over 36% between August and September in favor of traditional search results and product grids.
• In a high-stakes time for brands, Google is pulling back on ecommerce queries and keywords in AIO results, meaning marketers must focus on well-optimized keywords to increase their search engine visibility.
• Queries that do show AIOs are stabilizing. Volatility in shopping queries decreased from 37% (early August) to 26% (late September), indicating a more predictable environment​.
• With fewer fluctuations in AIO appearances, marketers can better understand and prepare for when AI responses will be triggered.

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Ecommerce Queries See Updated Formats to Promote Purchases

• AIOs are gaining more screen real estate each month, growing by over 40% (from 651 pixels to 914 pixels) in September.
• As AIOs command more space on the screen with collapsed content and comparisons, marketers must refine their descriptions to be concise but detailed to improve the chances of being included in AIO results and influence shopper decision-making.
• In tandem, the data revealed increased collapsed content, rising over 14% in September, and product comparison lists, rising 1.6%.
• Collapsed content and unordered lists, which expand and provide visuals and guidance on what to consider while shopping for specific items, are likely to keep rising into the holiday shopping season as Google leans into compact and user-friendly presentations for dense product information.

SearchGPT Sees Drastic Growth to Compete with Google, Perplexity, and Claude

• While Google still owns 92% of the market share for search, OpenAI’s SearchGPT is gaining ground spectacularly with a 150% month-over-month growth rate.
• Additionally, Perplexity and Claude saw 22% growth in the same month.
• Despite still being in limited beta, SearchGPT is giving brands 4x the amount of referrals over Perplexity and Claude.
• At this rate, it’s predicted that launching out of beta will result in a surge of referrals, continue to gain market share and be an essential resource for holiday ecommerce strategies.

In this period of rapid transformation in search, BrightEdge empowers customers to optimize their content and prepare for Cyber Weekend by leveraging BrightEdge Data Cube X, BrightEdge Reporting, and BrightEdge Instant to plan, track, and monitor their presence in AIOs. These features offer deep insights into when and how to participate in AIOs and detailed metrics to measure the impact and real-time rankings for up-to-minute updates. BrightEdge’s unparalleled access to comprehensive analytics before, during, and after a campaign allows marketers to stay nimble, boost visibility into AIOs, and increase referrals this holiday season and beyond.