Google's AI Overviews treat shopping searches differently from every other kind of search we measured. For buying searches such as "best cheap gaming headphones", 83.6% of AI Overviews cited a Google product page. The opinions in those answers came from video sites, forums and independent reviewers. Big retailers ranked well but were cited far less often.
These numbers come from our own study of AI Overviews statistics in 2026. This post covers the shopping finding only. If you sell products online, it shows where an AI Overview takes its product link and where it takes its opinions.
The 660 searches behind these numbers
The sample was 660 US English Google searches, repeated daily for 15 days. 600 were generic searches, 100 in each of six industries, picked by a fixed rule from the highest-volume US searches. The other 60 were "[brand] reviews" searches. Online shopping was one of the six industries.
For every search, we recorded the organic top 10 and both AI answers (AI Overview and AI Mode) on day one, and measured the pages they pointed to. The 601 searches that showed an AI Overview were then run again every day for 15 days. Data was collected 26 September to 12 October 2026.
A site counts once per answer, however many of its pages are cited. "Google's own pages" means any google.com link that an AI Overview cites. In online shopping these are product pages. The full data is free to download from the study page.
How often do shopping AI Overviews cite Google product pages?
68.0% of online shopping AI Overviews cited a Google product page, across 1,331 AI Overviews that cited at least one site. The share depends on what the person is trying to do. It rose to 83.6% for buying searches and fell to 6.7% for how-to searches.
| Type of shopping search | Example | AI Overviews citing a Google product page |
|---|---|---|
| All online shopping searches | Any of the 100 | 68.0% |
| Buying searches | "best cheap gaming headphones" | 83.6% |
| How-to and information searches | "laptop how to upgrade ram" | 6.7% |
Base: 1,331 online shopping AI Overviews citing at least one site, collected 26 September and 28 September to 12 October 2026.
A buying search, in this study, is one that contains best, top, rated, cheap, cheapest, affordable, low cost, vs, review, price or which, and not "how". A how-to or information search contains none of those words. A person asking which product to buy gets a Google product link in most answers. A person asking how to fix or use a product almost never does.
Google lists its own page first only 2.0% of the time
Google rarely put its own product page at the top of the cited sources. It was listed first 2.0% of the time, and was typically sixth. The product link is almost always there on a buying search, but other sites lead the list.
A Google product page in sixth place is still a citation, and still a link the reader can click. For a seller, the two questions are separate: whether your product appears in the Google link, and which sites fill the places above it. Our post on how to rank in AI Overviews covers what earns a site one of the first places in the list.
Online shopping leads every industry for Google's own pages
Online shopping is where AI Overviews cite Google most, by a wide margin. 68.0% of shopping AI Overviews cited a Google page, against 25.8% in travel, the next highest. In the other four industries, Google's own pages were rare.
| Industry | AI Overviews citing Google's own pages | AI Overviews in the base |
|---|---|---|
| Online shopping | 68.0% | 1,331 |
| Travel | 25.8% | 1,259 |
| B2B software | 8.0% | 1,514 |
| Local services | 4.3% | 1,127 |
| Health | 2.6% | 1,545 |
| Finance | 0.7% | 1,519 |
AI Overviews citing at least one site, generic searches, 26 September and 28 September to 12 October 2026.
In travel, the Google pages were mostly flight searches. In shopping, they were product pages. Both are industries where Google has its own listings to send people to. In the four other industries, Google cited itself in under one AI Overview in ten.
Big retailers rank on page 1 but AI Overviews rarely cite them
Big retailers and brand stores were cited far less than they ranked. In the 26 September results they held 18.1% of page-1 results on these shopping searches, but were only 6.6% of the sites the AI Overviews cited. These are high-volume commercial US searches, not a random sample, and the rankings were recorded on that one day.
| Measure | Big retailers and brand stores | Any other page-1 site |
|---|---|---|
| Share of page-1 results on shopping searches | 18.1% | |
| Share of sites cited by shopping AI Overviews | 6.6% | |
| Chance of being cited when on page 1 | 22.4% | 32.7% |
The 100 online shopping searches, page-1 results recorded 26 September 2026.
A retailer on page 1 was cited 22.4% of the time. Any other page-1 site was cited 32.7% of the time. "Big retailers and brand stores" is a fixed list that includes Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, Nike and Apple, and the full list is published on the study page.
Our guess is that the two findings are linked. Google already supplies the product link through its own pages. A retailer's product page offers the same kind of link, so the AI Overview has less need for it.
Which sites do shopping AI Overviews cite for opinions?
Video, forums and independent reviewers supply the opinions in shopping AI Overviews. YouTube was cited in 68.2% of them, just ahead of Google's own pages. Reddit came next at 26.3%, followed by two review sites.
| Site | Share of online shopping AI Overviews citing it |
|---|---|
| YouTube | 68.2% |
| Google's own pages | 68.0% |
| 26.3% | |
| RTINGS | 23.1% |
| New York Times | 18.5% |
1,331 online shopping AI Overviews citing at least one site, 26 September and 28 September to 12 October 2026.
Each of these sources does a different job. YouTube carries video reviews and demonstrations. Reddit carries discussion between buyers. RTINGS and the New York Times publish product reviews. None of them sells the product. An AI Overview on a buying search pairs a Google product link with opinions from sites like these.
What sellers can do about AI Overviews in ecommerce
Sellers should put their effort where shopping AI Overviews take their sources. There are three: Google's product listings, independent reviews, and video. For a buying search, your own product page ranking matters less than these. The study's own reading is that Google supplies the product link itself and takes the opinions from reviewers and video.
Google product listings. 83.6% of buying-search AI Overviews cited a Google product page. If your products do not appear in Google's product listings, they are missing from the link that most of these answers carry.
Independent reviews. RTINGS was cited in 23.1% of shopping AI Overviews and the New York Times in 18.5%. Reviewers who test and compare products are a main source of the opinions. Getting your products in front of independent reviewers in your category is how you appear in that part of the answer.
Video. YouTube was cited in 68.2% of shopping AI Overviews, more than any other site. Videos that review or compare your products, whether yours or a creator's, give the AI Overview a source to cite. Reddit, at 26.3%, plays a similar role for discussion between buyers.
These three channels also matter outside Google. Our guide to GEO for ecommerce covers the product data and third-party proof that AI assistants use more widely.
How-to shopping searches rarely cite Google product pages
How-to shopping searches rarely cite Google product pages: only 6.7% of these AI Overviews did. The split between buying and how-to searches changes what a seller should measure. The citations in those answers go to other sites.
Our guess is that guides and how-to videos fill that space, which gives a seller with good support content a second way in. The two kinds of search need different work. Checking only one of them gives you half of the picture of your AI visibility.
Track which sources AI cites for your products
Babel42 AI Visibility checks whether Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini and Grok cite and recommend your brand, and lists the sources they used. For a store, that shows whether the answer cites your site, a Google product page, a reviewer or a video, and which of your rivals appear in the same answers.
The study shows that AI Overviews change their sources from day to day, so one check tells you about one day. Repeated checks show the pattern. You can see how it works on our AI visibility tool page, and the full shopping data is on the study page.
