Public 98% of "Review" Searches Now Show an AI Overview. Here's What Still Gets Cited.

Most affiliates still build review pages like it's 2023. Keyword in the title, a feature list, a buy button.

Then they wonder where the clicks went.

The problem isn't your page. It's what Google now puts on top of it.

What changed

NetPartners published data from 1,761 live US Google results, captured Sept 23, 2026, across SaaS and recurring-commission programs:

→ 98% of "[brand] review" searches show an AI Overview → 100% of "[brand] alternatives" searches show one → 75% of "[brand] pricing" searches do

And people search "[brand] review" less. Of 177 review keywords they tracked, 86% lost search volume year over year. Median drop: 50%.

Read that twice. The AI box sits on top of your page. And fewer people even type the query, because they ask ChatGPT instead.

Quick rule: one data set, SaaS niches only. Read it as direction, not law.

Now the interesting part. Look at who gets cited inside those AI answers (8,503 citations):

→ Independent sites: 36% → Forums + video: 23% (YouTube is the #1 domain, in 53% of the overviews) → Vendors: 19% → Review platforms: 18%

Independent reviewers still hold the biggest slice. The ones that get cited just look different.

Add Google's September spam update (Sept 24 – Oct 8). Google didn't say what it targets, but the drops people reported were mostly thin, mass-produced pages. Google also just added a line to its guidelines that fake author profiles count as deception.

Generic review pages lose. Pages with proof survive.

The Proof-First Review Page

Step 1: Answer the query in sentence one. "Is X worth it? For beginners, yes. For agencies, no." AI pulls clean answers. Make yours easy to pull.

Step 2: Pair every review with a video. Your own screen recording. Five minutes is enough. YouTube is the most-cited domain in those answers. Put yourself there and embed it on the page.

Step 3: Add one dated, original data point. "Ran 3 test campaigns on Oct 12. Here's what it cost." A screenshot, a number, a date. Something nobody else has.

Step 4: Write a "Who it's NOT for" block. Honest verdicts get trusted. By readers and by AI.

Step 5: Capture the email. If an AI answer takes the click, you still own the reader. Bonus page + opt-in.

Don't: rewrite 50 old reviews with AI in one weekend. Scaled rewrites are exactly what gets hit. Do: pick your 3 best-earning review pages and upgrade those first.

Action Step (do this now)

• Open Search Console → filter queries containing "review" → compare clicks for the last 3 months with the same period last year
• Pick the 3 pages with the biggest drop that still earn money
• Record one 5-minute screen walkthrough per product
• Add a verdict sentence at the top, a "Who it's NOT for" block and one dated result
• Put an opt-in box above the fold

Which review page lost the most for you? Drop the keyword below. I'll tell you what I'd fix first.

Sources: NetPartners study · Google spam update status · SERoundtable on fake authors