People Also Ask answers are now almost entirely AI Overviews. See what the latest data means for your content, citations and SEO strategy.
Your next customer can research a problem, compare options and ask follow-up questions without leaving Google. In AlsoAsked’s latest sample, 97% of People Also Ask answers are now AI Overviews.
For brands investing in useful content, this changes where visibility needs to happen. A strong organic ranking still matters. But when someone reads an AI-generated answer inside People Also Ask, your position further down the page does not ensure they see your brand.
Being selected as a source now deserves a place in your core SEO strategy.
What is People Also Ask, and what has changed?
People Also Ask, usually shortened to PAA, is Google’s expandable list of questions related to a search. Someone researching a service might see questions about cost, suitability or how the process works.
Traditionally, opening a question revealed an extract from a webpage with a link to that source. The new format generates an answer using AI and can show several supporting sources. Allintitle describes this change in its analysis of PAA responses.
PAA was one of the remaining places where traditional answers still sat alongside Google’s expanding AI features. Its near-total conversion closes that gap.
That matters across the informational, comparison and how-to questions people explore before choosing a supplier. Within those answers, visibility depends on whether Google cites your page. Ranking underneath the answer is a different opportunity.
For us, this is the milestone: optimising content for AI citations has become a basic visibility requirement. It belongs in the work you prioritise now.
What the two datasets show
The findings come from two independent providers. Saeed Khosravi of Allintitle and Mark Williams-Cook of AlsoAsked shared their analyses on LinkedIn. Barry Schwartz brought both together in Search Engine Roundtable’s reporting on 9 September 2026.
AlsoAsked analysed a sample of 19.2 million English-language queries made during 2026. Its September figure covers the first week of the month.
| Period | AI-generated share of PAA answers | Dataset |
|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | About 12%, with the original analysis reporting 12.6% | AlsoAsked’s earlier findings |
| August 2026 | 86% | AlsoAsked |
| First week of September 2026 | 97% | AlsoAsked |
| From August 2026 | Approximately 100% | Allintitle’s Also Ask Miner |
In fourteen months, the reported picture has moved from a small minority of answers to almost all of them. The two datasets differ on exactly when PAA reaches 100%, but agree on the scale of the change.
We have not independently verified the underlying datasets. These percentages describe PAA answers in the providers’ samples. They do not establish equivalent coverage across every Google query, every country or every sector.
For your business, the useful next step is to examine the questions your customers ask.
What to change in your content and SEO strategy
Prioritise questions that influence a purchase
Start with questions your sales and account teams hear repeatedly. Costs, comparisons, limitations, implementation and suitability give you a useful starting point.
Choose a manageable set linked to the services or products you want to grow. Check the PAA answers for those searches. Record who Google cites and which page provides the supporting information.
This gives your content work a commercial purpose. A question that helps someone decide whether your service suits them deserves attention even when a broader definition attracts more searches.
Use those findings to decide which existing pages need updating and where a missing answer warrants new content.
Put the answer before the background
Our existing point of view in AI Overviews: What Actually Earns a Citation is straightforward: pages that answer directly near the top get cited. Pages that spend several paragraphs building towards the answer risk being summarised without attribution or overlooked.
For each priority page, read the heading and opening paragraph together. Can someone immediately find the answer the heading promises?
If the question concerns what your onboarding includes, open with the stages you actually deliver. Put responsibilities and exclusions alongside them. Explain the background afterwards.
Use clear headings and keep each answer understandable on its own. This also helps a reader who lands halfway through the page.
Give the answer something worth sourcing
AI can already produce a general explanation of a familiar topic. A reliable claim about your delivery times, tested approach or measured results needs evidence it cannot supply independently.
Useful material includes a number, a threshold, a named process, a date or a specific consequence. Include the context that makes each detail meaningful.
For a delivery estimate, explain what the estimate covers and which conditions change it. For a result, state how you measured it. For a process, show what happens at each stage and who takes responsibility.
Ask the people delivering the work for these details. Their practical knowledge often supplies the substance that a broad marketing introduction leaves out.
Keep the technical foundations in place
Clear answers still need accessible pages. Google says a page must be indexed and eligible to appear with a snippet before it can become a supporting link in an AI Overview. Its guidance for AI features keeps established SEO practices at the centre.
That means content improvements belong alongside technical checks, internal linking and work that strengthens your credibility.
Our AI Search Optimisation Guide for UK Brands explains how to bring those priorities into your wider strategy. Start with the pages closest to a customer decision, then expand where the evidence supports further investment.
Measure whether your brand appears in the answer
Add citation checks to the reporting you already use. For each priority question, record whether your brand appears, which URL Google cites and which competitors feature alongside it.
Check the expanded PAA answers as well as any AI Overview at the top of the results. Record the date, location and device so you can compare observations sensibly.
Review those findings alongside organic traffic and enquiries. Citations show that you appeared in an answer; they do not prove that appearance generated a customer. Keeping both in view helps you decide where further work earns its place.
Questions we get asked
Does this mean People Also Ask is dead for SEO?
No. PAA still helps you understand customer questions and provides opportunities to appear as a cited source. The change is how Google presents the answer and selects the pages supporting it.
Should we stop trying to rank in the ten blue links?
No. Organic results still provide a route to your website, and the SEO foundations supporting them also support eligibility for AI features. Keep improving rankings while checking whether your brand appears in the answers above and within those results.
How do we know if we’re being cited?
Search your priority questions and expand the PAA answers to inspect their source links. Record the cited URLs, or use a tracking tool that explicitly captures citations inside PAA. Google includes AI-feature traffic within Search Console’s Web reporting, so that report alone does not identify individual PAA citations, as its measurement guidance explains.
Do we need to rewrite every blog post?
No. Start with pages answering questions that influence buying decisions, particularly where the useful answer is buried or lacks supporting detail. Improve those pages and review the results before widening the work.
Understand your position in AI search
If you want a clearer picture of where your brand appears in AI answers, we would be happy to talk through your current position. We bring this work into our SEO approach, helping you decide which content and visibility improvements deserve attention first.