How to get found in AI Overviews and AI search in 2027

What has changed in AI search going into 2027?

AI answers are now routine in UK search, and they have started to carry on into conversations. An AI Overview is the written summary Google puts above the normal results for some searches. Ofcom’s Online Nation report of 10 December 2025 found that 82% of UK adults use Google Search and that about 30% of searches show an AI overview. 53% of adults said they often see one. ChatGPT had 1.8 billion UK visits between January and August 2025, against 368 million in the same months of 2024.

At Google I/O on 19 May 2026, Google said people can ask a follow-up question right from an AI Overview, and that AI Mode, its conversational search, has passed one billion monthly users worldwide. Search Engine Land reported AI Mode reaching the UK from 28 July 2025. For some people, then, an AI Overview is the start of a longer answer rather than a one-off box. I found no UK figure for how many carry on that way.

What does the CMA decision change for a local business?

It should put clearer links to your pages inside Google’s AI answers, but not before about March 2027. The CMA, the UK competition regulator, imposed a conduct requirement on Google on 3 June 2026. It is final, not a proposal. It covers AI features in search such as AI Overviews, requires clear attribution links to the sites used, and adds a way for publishers to opt out of having their content used to fine-tune Google’s AI. Google has nine months to put all the changes in place, which points to early March 2027.

Your site counts as a publisher here, because Google quotes it. I could not confirm whether Google has switched the opt-out control on, or what the links will look like. I would leave that opt-out alone until Google explains what it switches off. Put a note in your diary for March 2027 to repeat the searches in the last section. Links inside the answer are the first thing that could send clicks back, and nothing I found measures whether they will.

How many clicks do AI Overviews take?

Where an AI Overview appears, far fewer people click the top result. Ahrefs, an SEO software company, reported on 4 February 2026 that AI Overviews cut clicks on the first result by about 58% against its forecast. It studied 300,000 keywords using desktop Search Console data. The effect shrinks to 19.4% at position 10.

Treat this as correlation. Ahrefs compared keywords that show AI Overviews with a forecast built from keywords without them. It also notes that older search features have long cut clicks, such as Featured Snippets, the quoted answer boxes, and the local pack, the map with a short list of businesses. A separate US study by Pew Research Center followed 900 adults and 68,879 searches in March 2025. People clicked a result on 8% of visits with an AI summary and on 15% of visits without one. 1% clicked a link inside the summary. Neither study is about UK local firms.

Do AI Overviews show for local searches such as “plumber near me”?

Rarely for searches that name a business type and a place, and almost always for searches that ask a question, in the one study I found. Whitespark, a local SEO company, checked 540 searches in Houston, Phoenix and Denver (US) and published on 12 May 2025. An AI Overview appeared on 15% of local-intent searches, 92% of informational ones and 97% of mixed ones. The local pack appeared on 93% of local-intent searches and 6% of informational ones. These are US cities and 2025 figures, and I found no UK local data.

As an example, someone searching “plumber Rotherham” still meets the map list first. Someone searching “how much does it cost to replace a boiler” meets an AI answer first, and your page is quoted only if it answers that question.

What should a local business do about AI search in 2027?

Keep your listing and pages accurate and specific, then check the results yourself every few months. Ahrefs found in March 2026 that only about 38% of the pages cited in AI Overviews appear within the first 10 results blocks for the search itself. A page that answers a narrow question well can be quoted without ranking first.

1. Search ten questions your customers ask, on your phone. Write down who is quoted and who is not.
2. Write one page for each service and each town you cover. State what you do, where, what affects the price and how to get in touch. A salon page could answer “how long does balayage take and what does it cost”, as an example.
3. Keep your Google Business Profile hours, services and phone number correct.
4. Repeat the searches after early March 2027, when the CMA changes are due.

Be wary of anyone who sells a guaranteed place in AI answers. Nobody controls them.

Related: How to check ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google answers, Google Business Profile guide