If you’re seeing branded searches decline, don’t rush to conclusions about consumer demand or brand health.
A new study from marketing agency Boathouse, based on data from one of its healthcare provider clients, found branded search had declined by 11.1% over the last month, with similar trends observed among its financial services clients.
‘Branded search rarely moves in wild fluctuations, specifically in reference to a healthcare provider,’ according to Boathouse’s Alex Pagliano. So, why is it happening?
It’s plausible that consumers are entering the market with weaker brand preferences or are feeling the pinch of a sluggish economy. But Boathouse says these theories aren’t borne out by the data, with platform-reported impression shares and macroeconomic indicators remaining virtually unchanged. Rather, the process of elimination points in one direction — AI Overviews.
Boathouse points to data from one of its clients. Fewer than 12 months ago, AI Overviews appeared in 57.2% of commercial searches for one core keyword query. By June 2026, that figure had risen to 95.9%, effectively inserting an additional layer between consumer preference and observable search behaviour.
Other research supports that conclusion on a broader basis. A study by Washington University researchers, based on 55,393 trending queries, found AI Overviews appear in 13.7% of searches overall, but in 64.7% of question-based queries. Since these are often the searches consumers make early in the buying journey, more questions are being answered within Google before users ever reach a branded search.
User behaviour also appears to change once an AI Overview is displayed. Research by Eric Van Buskirk, analysing 846,000 US Google Search sessions, found users spend significantly longer on a results page when an AI Overview appears. For navigational users, only 12% remain active on a traditional results page after 21 seconds, but that rises to 46% when an AI Overview is present. As Van Buskirk writes: ‘Users who would have been on your site within seconds are now spending far longer on Google before acting.’
The implication is that marketers should be careful not to mistake declining branded search volume for declining brand strength. Instead, it may reflect the way AI Overviews are changing online behaviour.
But that doesn’t necessarily make branded search obsolete. Instead, marketers may want to place greater emphasis on share of search: the proportion of branded searches a company receives relative to its competitors. Research from the IPA has shown that share of search correlates strongly with both market share and future buying behaviour.
James Hankins, who, along with Les Binet, helped develop and popularise the metric, believes the underlying signal remains intact. ‘The signal is still there,’ he says. ‘Searches are still significant enough.’ Share of search allows marketers to ‘see the narrative of your business written through customer behaviour’, according to Hankins.
If AI Overviews are reducing branded searches for one brand, they’re likely affecting competitors, too. In other words, absolute search volumes may become less meaningful, but relative performance can remain a reliable indicator of brand strength. As Hankins puts it, ‘It’s results versus performance. Performance is about comparison.’
