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Most writing about AI Overviews treats them as weather: a thing happening to search generally, at some percentage, rising over time. That framing is not useful for deciding what to do, because the distribution is not even. It is close to binary.

On August 1, 2026 we ran two sets of queries through Google and recorded which SERP features appeared. Twenty queries in the AI search tools category, the global research-style space where people compare AEO and LLM visibility platforms. Eighteen queries for local marketing services, the kind a business types when hiring an agency in their city. Both sets captured the same way, on the same day.

The result is close to a clean inversion

There is no middle. In one category a generated answer sits above everything, every time, and no map appears. In the other a map sits above everything, almost every time, and no generated answer appears. Across 38 results pages the two features never co-occurred.

It is the query type, not the country

The obvious objection is that we tested a US category against a Canadian one and measured a market difference. We checked.

Chicago, Denver, Austin, Seattle, Phoenix and Miami behaved exactly like Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver. Zero AI Overviews in either market. The split follows what the query is asking for, not where it is asked.

That fits the mechanism. A query like "best AI visibility tools" wants a synthesized comparison, which is what a generated answer is good at. A query like "calgary web design" wants a business you can phone, which is what a map is good at. Google is routing by answer shape.

What this changes

The advice "optimize for AI Overviews" and the advice "AI Overviews are killing your clicks" are both category-specific, and neither travels.

If you sell to a global research audience, assume the generated answer takes the click. In our tools sample there was no query where a conventional listing sat unobstructed at the top. Content there earns presence inside answers, brand familiarity, and links from other publishers. Judging it on click-through measures a ceiling the layout has already set, and will cause you to cancel work that is doing its job.

If you sell locally, the AI Overview panic does not apply to you yet. Zero of 18. Your competition for the top of the page is the local pack, which showed up 17 times out of 18. That makes Google Business Profile, reviews, and conventional local ranking the lever, and it means organic clicks in local search are still genuinely available in a way they are not in saturated categories.

The uncomfortable version for agencies: these two categories need opposite playbooks, and a single "AI search" service sold identically to both is selling one of them the wrong thing.

What this does not show

One day, one engine, two categories, 38 queries. It is a snapshot, not a trend, and we cannot tell you from this data whether local coverage is zero permanently or merely zero today. AI Overview rollout has moved before and will move again. The honest read is that as of August 1, 2026, in these two categories, the split is total.

We also did not measure what the AI Overviews said, only that they appeared. Presence is the structural fact; citation is a separate study.

Method

Thirty-eight Google queries run on August 1, 2026: 20 in the AI search tools category in the United States, 18 local marketing service queries split across the United States (6) and Canada (12). For each query we recorded the presence of every SERP feature returned, including AI Overview and local pack, alongside the organic results. Feature presence is read mechanically from the response, so no judgment is involved in the headline numbers.

Download the 38-query dataset (CSV) or read the method record (JSON). Our companion study on who publishes the AI search tools category uses the same tools sample.

Questions

Do local service searches show AI Overviews?

In our sample they did not. Across 18 local service queries in both the United States and Canada, zero returned an AI Overview. Every one of those searches still shows a conventional results page, usually led by a local pack.

Why do AI search tool queries always show an AI Overview?

All 20 queries we tested in the AI search tools category returned one. These are research questions with no geographic answer, which is the pattern Google appears to route to a generated summary. Local service queries have a map answer instead.

Is the difference caused by testing different countries?

No. We controlled for it. Six of the local queries were run in the United States and twelve in Canada, and both returned zero AI Overviews. The split follows query type, not market.

Does this mean local SEO still gets clicks?

Yes, relative to categories saturated by AI Overviews. With no generated answer above the results, the organic list on a local query is still reachable. The competition for attention is the local pack, which appeared on 17 of 18 local SERPs, not a generated summary.

What should a local business do differently from a SaaS company?

A local business should invest in Google Business Profile and conventional local ranking, because the top of those results is a map pack and clicks are still available. A company selling to a global research audience should expect AI Overviews to absorb the click and measure presence inside answers rather than click-through.

Can I see the underlying data?

Yes. The full 38-query dataset, recording AI Overview and local pack presence per query with its market, is published as CSV and JSON so the analysis can be independently re-cut.