metrics
Answer rate
Percentage of queries where an AI engine generates an answer instead of returning a SERP — AI Overviews now hit ~50%+ for common informational queries.
Definition
Answer rate is the share of queries for which a search/AI engine returns a generated answer (AI Overview, featured snippet, AI Mode response) instead of a traditional list of links. For informational queries, answer rates climbed past 50% in 2025 and continue rising. High answer rate compresses traditional SERP traffic and makes AEO citation the dominant source of brand visibility.
Example
Query 'what is AEO' has ~85% answer rate (AI Overview fires almost every time). Query 'AEO tool pricing' has ~30% (more navigation-focused).How to optimize
Audit which of your target queries trigger AI Overviews vs SERPs. Prioritize AEO optimization for high-answer-rate queries (your SEO traffic is leaking to AI Overview either way).