Featured Snippets, People Also Ask, rich results, and voice search are being reshaped by Google's AI push. This tracker documents every change and what it means for AEO-built content.
Google is showing both a Featured Snippet and an AI Overview on the same SERP for many informational queries. This means AEO-structured content can capture two positions simultaneously — the snippet and a citation inside the AI Overview. Sites with FAQPage schema and direct answer formatting are winning both.
People Also Ask coverage has expanded massively in 2026. Almost every query now surfaces a PAA block — often above organic results. Content structured around natural language question clusters (who, what, when, where, why, how) is capturing this real estate consistently. Conversational heading structures and question-first content organisation are the key signals.
Google quietly reduced HowTo rich result display in November 2023 and has continued restricting FAQ rich results to select site types (government, health). The schema itself still signals to AI systems — it simply doesn't always produce the visible rich result star ratings and expanded listings it used to. AEO strategy has shifted toward AI citation signals over SERP decoration.
Voice search usage for informational queries has declined slightly as AI tools handle more of that intent. But voice for local, decision, and action queries is growing — "find an SEO consultant in Chennai", "is this a good time to hire". Content structured around decision-stage questions with clear, conversational answers is capturing this shift.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) changes — ChatGPT Search, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overviews — tracked separately because the surfaces and signals are distinct.
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