SERP features in 2026: what still sends clicks alongside AI Overviews
A practical 2026 guide to which Google SERP features still drive clicks, which mainly build visibility, and how to optimize for both.
Search results used to be easy to describe: a ranked list of links, with the top position getting the most attention. In 2026, that model is incomplete. A Google results page can mix AI Overviews, featured snippets, People Also Ask boxes, maps, shopping results, images, videos, knowledge panels and sitelinks before a user reaches a conventional organic result.
That changes the job for marketers. Some SERP features are still designed to move people somewhere else. Others can satisfy the query directly, which means the value is visibility, citation or brand exposure rather than an immediate visit.
Interest in “SERP features” is up 775% over two years, with 880 monthly searches as of 2026. The volume is modest, but the growth shows marketers are paying more attention to the mechanics of the results page, according to Exploding Topics.
Key Takeaways
- Not every SERP feature should be judged by clicks. Some are traffic opportunities, while others are primarily visibility opportunities.
- AI Overviews suppress click opportunity on many informational searches, but being cited inside the overview can materially improve performance.
- Market, query intent and feature type now matter enough that a single sitewide organic CTR benchmark is increasingly misleading.
Table of contents
Jump to each section:
- What are SERP features?
- Which SERP features still send clicks?
- How have AI Overviews changed click behavior?
- Why does your market change the SERP strategy?
- How do you optimize for each SERP feature?
- How should you measure visibility when clicks are falling?
What are SERP features?
SERP features are result-page elements that go beyond a standard organic listing, giving users answers, media, products, places or navigation directly inside Google Search.
Google's own Search appearance documentation treats the results page as a collection of different presentation systems rather than one uniform list. Some features expand an ordinary result, while others create an entirely different surface above or beside traditional organic links.
The useful distinction for marketers is not simply “organic versus paid.” It is whether the feature still creates a reason to click. A sitelink can shorten the path into a site. A local pack can produce a call or directions request without a website visit. A knowledge panel can answer a brand query almost entirely on Google.
That means the same impression can have very different business value depending on where it appears.
Which SERP features still send clicks?
Local packs, shopping results, sitelinks, video results and some snippets can still create strong click paths. AI Overviews and knowledge panels often behave more like visibility surfaces.
The table below is a practical way to classify the main feature types. “Click potential” is directional, not a universal CTR benchmark. The actual result depends on query intent, device, market and how completely the feature answers the searcher's question.
| Feature | Typical trigger | Click potential | Best optimization focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Overviews | Informational, comparison and increasingly commercial queries | Low to medium | Clear, citable answers backed by original evidence and authority |
| Featured snippets | Questions, definitions, steps and concise factual answers | Medium | Answer the query directly, then provide useful depth below |
| People Also Ask | Question-rich informational searches | Low to medium | Use natural question headings and concise standalone answers |
| Knowledge panels | Entities such as brands, people, places and organizations | Low | Strengthen consistent entity information across authoritative sources |
| Local packs | Local intent and “near me” searches | High for calls, directions and local actions | Maintain a complete Google Business Profile, categories, hours and reviews |
| Video and image carousels | Visual, tutorial, product and inspiration queries | Medium | Create indexable visual assets with useful titles, context and metadata |
| Shopping results | Product and purchase-intent queries | High | Keep product feeds, pricing, availability and structured product data accurate |
| Sitelinks | Branded and navigational searches | High | Use clear site architecture, descriptive titles and internal links |
Google says structured data can make pages eligible for supported rich search features, but eligibility is not a guarantee that Google will show them. The same principle applies broadly: optimization improves the signals Google can use, but the search engine ultimately chooses the result format.
How have AI Overviews changed click behavior?
AI Overviews add a new answer layer above organic results, reducing click opportunity on many informational searches while making citation inside the answer a valuable secondary goal.
The strongest evidence comes from Seer Interactive's continuing CTR study. Its 2026 update expanded the dataset beyond the earlier informational-only work and tracked paid and organic performance across multiple intent types.
Seer's 2026 analysis covered 53 brands, 5.47 million queries and 2.43 billion organic impressions. The actual-data window ran from January 2025 through February 2026, according to Seer Interactive.Organic CTR on AIO-present queries reached 2.4% in February 2026, versus 3.8% for queries without an AI Overview. AIO-present CTR had been 1.3% in December 2025, so Seer's early-2026 data suggests stabilization rather than an endless decline, though the researchers caution against treating two improving months as a forecast.Seer's September 2025 work found cited brands had 35% higher organic CTR and 91% higher paid CTR than uncited brands on AIO-present queries. The earlier comparison comes from Seer's September 2025 update. In the expanded 2026 dataset, cited brands generated about 120% more organic clicks per impression than uncited brands, while still underperforming no-AIO queries.
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The exposure is also concentrated by query type.
95.4% of comparison queries and 76.9% of informational “near me” queries in Seer's sample triggered an AI Overview. Seer says question-format queries were also heavily exposed, which makes citation strategy especially important for informational content.Semrush found AI Overviews on 24.61% of its tracked queries at a July 2025 peak, before the share fell to 15.69% in November. Its study analyzed more than 10 million keywords, according to Semrush. BrightEdge separately says AI Overview presence grew from roughly 30% to 48% of its tracked queries over the past year as of 2026. That figure comes from BrightEdge and uses a different tracked-query universe.
Those figures describe different datasets and periods. The tactical lesson is to measure AIO exposure in your own keyword set instead of choosing one industry-wide percentage and treating it as Google's global rate.
Why does your market change the SERP strategy?
AI Overview exposure differs sharply by country, so an SEO playbook built from US results can misread the risk and opportunity in APAC markets.
Ahrefs provides a clear APAC warning. Its international Brand Radar analysis compared AI Overview presence across a very large query set.
Indonesia led Ahrefs' global analysis with AI Overviews on 37.2% of tracked keywords as of 2026. The analysis covered 108 million queries; the Philippines and Mexico followed at 29.1%, India at 26.8%, and the US ranked 13th at 20.5%, according to Ahrefs.
For a marketer in Indonesia, that makes AI Overview optimization less of a future experiment than it may appear from US-centric reporting. Comparison content, informational pages and even some local-intent searches may face an AI layer before the conventional result set.
Country differences also reinforce why local-pack optimization still matters. An informational “near me” query may now contain both an AI answer and local results, so brands need to compete for the citation and the local action rather than treating them as separate channels.
How do you optimize for each SERP feature?
Match the format of your content and data to the feature you want: concise answers for snippets, entity clarity for panels, complete business data for local results, and source-worthy evidence for AI Overviews.
For featured snippets and People Also Ask, build sections around real questions and answer them immediately before expanding. Avoid padding the first sentence with context the user did not ask for. A short definition, list or sequence is easier for both search systems and humans to extract.
For AI Overviews, the optimization target is different. Being merely indexable is not enough. Publish claims that can be traced, distinguish first-party evidence from interpretation, keep important facts close to descriptive headings, and make your page worth citing rather than merely summarizing. The goal is to become a source in the answer.
For rich results and shopping surfaces, structured data and feed hygiene matter because the SERP is displaying attributes, not just prose. Prices, availability, reviews, product identifiers and other eligible fields should match what users see on the page.
For local packs, prioritize a complete and accurate Business Profile, consistent location details, correct categories, opening hours, reviews and useful photos. Local visibility can create calls, directions and visits without producing a conventional website session.
For sitelinks, Google's official guidance emphasizes logical site structure, informative page titles and concise internal anchor text. In practical terms, make it easy for Google to understand which pages are important and how they relate.
Finally, treat images and video as their own search inventory. Use original assets when possible, give them descriptive context, and place them on pages that explain what the visual actually demonstrates. A video carousel win and an organic text ranking are different surfaces even when they answer the same query.
How should you measure visibility when clicks are falling?
Separate traffic metrics from visibility metrics. Track clicks and conversions where the SERP sends traffic, then add impressions, citations, branded demand and local actions where users can act without visiting.
The broader zero-click trend is real, but it should not be blamed entirely on AI Overviews.
68.01% of US Google searches ended without a click in the first four months of 2026. The figure comes from Similarweb clickstream data analyzed by SparkToro, and includes the effects of AI features, instant answers and other Google result-page behavior.
That distinction matters because featured snippets, knowledge panels, maps, shopping modules and other features were creating zero-click behavior before generative AI arrived. A falling click rate does not tell you which feature caused the change.
Instead, segment reporting by query and feature. Track impressions and organic clicks separately for AIO-present and no-AIO keywords where your tooling allows it. Monitor whether your brand is cited in AI answers. For local search, include calls, directions and profile actions. For ecommerce, include shopping visibility and product-level performance.
Branded search can also work as a supporting signal. If non-click exposure is building awareness, some users may return later through a brand query rather than clicking the original result. That is not clean attribution, but it is a useful trend to watch alongside direct traffic and assisted conversions.
The modern SERP therefore needs two scorecards. One asks whether a feature sends qualified traffic. The other asks whether your brand is visible, credible and actionable even when Google answers the query itself.
