Comparing SERP Feature Appearance in Google
Following on from our ultimate guide to SERP features article, which has recently been updated for 2026, we thought it might be helpful to do a deeper dive into the state of search in 2026, and explore how SERP features have changed since April 2025.
TLDR; AI Overviews up massively, snippets/instant answers down (AI eating clicks). Entities (sitelinks, KP) shrinking. Reviews/Local Pack up News/Top Stories down oddly. Video exploding. Ads grabbing more space, Shopping Ads nearly dead. Blank SERPs vanishing, making structured data now mandatory, not optional.
As you can see from the table below, there have been some big changes in the types of SERP features and how often they appear.
This data is taken from SEMRush Sensor and compares April 2025 Desktop (USA) vs July 2026 Desktop (USA) with April 2025 Mobile (USA) vs July 2026 Mobile (USA).
| SERP Feature | April 2025 (D) | July 2026 (D) | % Change | April 2025 (M) | July 2026 (M) | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Featured snippet | 3.39% | 0.22% | -93.51% | 2.18% | 0.16% | -92.66% |
| Sitelinks | 70.59% | 56.06% | -20.58% | 75.26% | 41.84% | -44.41% |
| AI Overview | 8.51% | 42.09% | +394.59% | 9.8% | 50.27% | +412.96% |
| Reviews | 16.99% | 37.22% | +119.07% | 37.82% | 49.99% | +32.18% |
| Instant Answer | 3.9% | 2.73% | -30.00% | 4.83% | 1.75% | -63.77% |
| News | 0.01% | – | N/A | 0.02% | – | N/A |
| Image | 34.97% | 24.7% | -29.37% | 53.21% | 57.73% | +8.49% |
| Image Pack | 35.24% | 17.47% | -50.43% | 0.12% | – | N/A |
| Featured Images | 26.26% | – | N/A | 62.81% | 26.26% | -58.19% |
| Video | 34.65% | 58.1% | +67.68% | 21.34% | 55.17% | +158.53% |
| Featured Video | 0% | 0.27% | N/A | – | – | N/A |
| Video Carousel | 1.39% | 31.53% | +2168.35% | 46.52% | 40.87% | -12.15% |
| Short Videos | 2.34% | – | N/A | 19.29% | 2.34% | -87.87% |
| People Also Ask | 58.92% | 68.32% | +15.95% | 62.22% | 70.2% | +12.83% |
| Local Pack | 11.91% | 18.51% | +55.42% | 15.23% | 22.2% | +45.76% |
| Knowledge Panel | 26.82% | 20.65% | -23.01% | 31.86% | 20.16% | -36.72% |
| Carousel | 0.51% | – | N/A | – | – | N/A |
| Top Stories | 7.05% | 3.28% | -53.48% | 7.35% | 1.34% | -81.77% |
| Events | 0.15% | – | N/A | – | 0.03% | N/A |
| Hotels Pack | 0.82% | 0.64% | -21.95% | 0.81% | 0.69% | -14.81% |
| Flights | 0.17% | 0.03% | -82.35% | 0.15% | 0.04% | -73.33% |
| Recipes | 2.72% | 1.04% | -61.76% | 2.48% | 0.55% | -77.82% |
| Jobs | 0.39% | 0.32% | -17.95% | 0.42% | 0.34% | -19.05% |
| 3.75% | – | N/A | 0.34% | – | N/A | |
| Twitter Carousel | – | – | N/A | 4.56% | – | N/A |
| Application | 0.24% | – | N/A | 4.28% | 0.24% | -94.39% |
| Application List | 0.97% | – | N/A | 2.05% | 0.97% | -52.68% |
| Address Pack | 0.03% | – | N/A | 0.04% | 0.02% | -50.00% |
| Find Results On | 7.98% | – | N/A | 8.1% | – | N/A |
| See Results About | 3.99% | 0.69% | -82.71% | 0.2% | – | N/A |
| Related Searches | 94.88% | 97.87% | +3.15% | 95.21% | 97.64% | +2.55% |
| Related Products | 0.17% | – | N/A | – | – | N/A |
| Popular Products | 12.96% | 13.5% | +4.17% | 13.39% | 14.98% | +11.87% |
| Shopping Ads | 2.73% | 0.02% | -99.27% | 0.37% | – | N/A |
| Ads top | 2.15% | 3% | +39.53% | 0.23% | 0.84% | +265.22% |
| Ads bottom | 2.95% | 3.82% | +29.49% | 0.18% | 1.48% | +722.22% |
| No SERP Features | 1.47% | 0.14% | -90.48% | 1.16% | 0.12% | -89.66% |
How AI Is Changing the SERP Feature Landscape
Some of the stand-out learnings from these figures and how they could relate to AI overviews and large language models (LLMs) changing the way that we search:
- AI overviews appearances have increased from 8.51% on a desktop to 42.09% on a desktop (a nearly 400% increase!), and have a 412% increase on a mobile, supporting the view that they are “stealing clicks”.
- Featured snippets have dropped massively by over 90% on desktop and mobile, most likely because people are now using AI mode rather than relying on featured snippets for information.
- Instant answers – where search engines showed phone numbers or other instantly available helpful information have also declined on both a mobile and a desktop.
- Now that most People Also Ask (PAA) results are generated by AI, this has actually seen an increse in appearances for both desktop and mobile.
Entity SERP Features Decreasing
Entity SERP features such as sitelinks and knowledge panels have decreased on both a desktop and mobile devices, by quite a long way. This suggests that knowledge panels may not be as important as they used to be for Google, or it could also suggest that less entities are gaining knowledge panels nowadays. We know from Kalicube’s Knowledge Graph Sensor data that Google regularly culls entities from it’s Knowledge Graph, with it literally dropping off a cliff on 26th June 2026, with a major Knowledge Graph update on 28th June 2026.
Luckily, we can track how brand entities are doing and see whether Google’s Knowledge Graph updates have affected them using our in-house Entity Scout tool.
As sites have become more aware of the impact that reviews can have on their brand entity and EEAT, we’ve seen increases by over 100% on a desktop and 32% on a mobile for review snippets, suggesting that these have become more important, and more companies are now using review structured data.
Good News for Local Businesses
Appearances of the Local Pack have increased on both desktop (55%) and mobile (45%), meaning people are likely performing more “near me” searches.
Impact on Publishers
Interestingly, News articles are now not present in the SEMRush Sensor data, and Top Stories have declined by over 50% on a desktop and 81% on a mobile. This is quite strange, as people do still turn to search results to get the latest news.
Images have also been impacted heavily on desktop, with an over 50% decrease for Image Packs and a nearly 30% decrease in image appearances in general. Mobile tells a different story, with a slight increase of 8% for image Rich Results, but a 58% decrease in Featured Images. This could also be a result of changes in the way that Google displays these Rich Results on different devices.
For video publishers, it’s good news – video appearances have increased well on desktop, with a 67.68% increase, and drastically on a mobile, with a +158.53% increase. Video Carousels have also shown up a lot more, with a massive +2168% increase on desktop (from near-zero!). It looks like Google is pushing video hard, so it’s definitely something to focus on in your 2026/2027 SEO strategy if you aren’t already. It’s also well worth adding VideoObject / Video markup sections into your structured data markup if you showcase videos on your website or have embedded YouTube videos.
Organic Real Estate Still Shrinking
Google Ads on both the top and bottom of search have increased further since 2025, with a +39.53% and +29.49% increase on desktop respectively. Mobile ads have become even more prevalent, with a huge top ads increase of +265%, and a bottom ads increase of +722%.
What is interesting is how much Shopping Ads have died – a whopping decrease of over 99% on desktop since 2025. This is near wipeout levels, and could point to Google using other methods to showcase products now via Merchant Center or free Merchant Center Listings.
This just shows how the SERPs are becoming more and more commercialised, with the available organic real estate area shrinking considerably over time. With potential plans to integrate shopping ads into AI overviews, and the launch of WebMCP and UCP, I can’t see this getting any better as time goes on.
Google Shopping and E-Commerce Site Wins
Popular products appearances are up for both desktop, and particularly, mobile. This could suggest that product schema markup usage is increasingly becoming more important, yet other data suggests that less websites are using it now.
Related Searches Near 100% Saturation
Nearly every single search now shows related searches, with appearances on 97.87% of desktop and 97.64% of mobile queries . Almost every query has it now. If your entity SEO is good, and you have good semantic signals, then you are likely to show up here as a brand for your competitors’ searches. This ties well into topical authority SEO strategies.
Mobile vs Desktop
Several of the search features moved in opposite directions, e.g. Image and Video Carousel, which shows that even with the adoption of AI search, device-specific SEO strategy still matters, AI hasn’t flattened that.
Why Structured Data Matters More Than Ever
This article wouldn’t be complete without me explaining how structured data markup matters more than ever for Rich Results. With the “No SERP Features” literally collapsing over the past 18 months with a 90% decrease on desktop and nearly 90% increase on mobile, it shows that nearly every SERP now has some kind of Rich Result feature. The 10 blue links of yesteryear have definitely been replaced with modern day search features.
