LAGOS: Fresh data from BrightEdge reveals that Google’s AI Overviews (AIO) are increasingly favoring authoritative websites, particularly in healthcare, education, B2B technology, and travel, while ecommerce and entertainment queries are seeing a sharp decline.
Healthcare dominates AIO visibility with an 84% presence in search results as of February 2025, while education queries have grown steadily to 71% visibility.
Researchers note that medical and academic queries demand accuracy and trustworthiness, making authoritative sources more likely to appear.
With 57% of B2B tech queries triggering AI Overviews, decision-makers and researchers rely on simplified explanations of complex terms like “data modeling or associative analytics engines.
BrightEdge data shows that 15–22% of AIO responses now come from major tech giants such as Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft.
Once absent from AI Overviews, travel-related searches now appear in 20–30% of queries, while restaurant-related searches have jumped to 5%.
The insurance sector surged from 18% to 47%, and finance-related queries doubled from 5% to 10% in less than a year.
In contrast, ecommerce AIO presence plunged from 23% in May 2024 to just 4% in February 2025, while entertainment dropped to 3%.
Analysts suggest Google may be relying more on traditional search features like product grids and in-platform engagement tools instead of AI-generated summaries.
Experts compare the trend to Google’s 2018 Medic Update, which prioritized relevance and reliability over low-authority content.
For sensitive topics such as healthcare and finance, users expect authoritative information not speculation or marketing copy.
BrightEdge notes that in healthcare searches, 72% of AIO answers now come from research centers and medical institutions, up from 54% at the beginning of 2025.
-
Healthcare, Education, B2B Tech, Travel, and Insurance are gaining visibility.
-
Ecommerce and Entertainment are in decline.
-
Authoritative sites and big brands dominate AI-generated answers.
-
SEOs should focus on trust signals, topical expertise, and aligning with user expectations rather than gaming algorithms.
