Google’s AI Overviews Reach 1.5 Billion Monthly Users

Google’s AI search features have reached widespread adoption. The company announced that AI Overviews in Search now reach 1.5 billion users per month.

This information was revealed during Alphabet’s Q1 earnings call.

Alphabet Earnings Show Growth Across Core Products

Alphabet announced strong financial results for Q1, highlighting the adoption of AI across its products. The company reported total revenue of $90.2 billion, representing a 12% year-over-year increase.

Despite industry concerns that AI will disrupt traditional search models, Google reported that Search revenue grew 10% year-over-year to $50.7 billion.

Pichai said in the earnings report:

“We’re pleased with our strong Q1 results, which reflect healthy growth and momentum across the business. Underpinning this growth is our unique full stack approach to AI. This quarter was super exciting as we rolled out Gemini 2.5, our most intelligent AI model, which is achieving breakthroughs in performance and is an extraordinary foundation for our future innovation.

Search saw continued strong growth, boosted by the engagement we’re seeing with features like AI Overviews, which now has 1.5 billion users per month. Driven by YouTube and Google One, we surpassed 270 million paid subscriptions. And Cloud grew rapidly with significant demand for our solutions.”

Earnings Highlights

Alphabet’s Q1 earnings report showed healthy performance across most business segments:

• Total revenue: $90.2 billion, up 12% year-over-year
• Operating income: $30.6 billion, up 20% year-over-year
• Operating margin: Expanded by two percentage points to 34%
• Google Search revenue: $50.7 billion, up 10% year-over-year
• YouTube ad revenue: $8.9 billion, up 10% year-over-year
• Google Cloud revenue: $12.3 billion, up 28% year-over-year
• Cloud operating margin: Improved to 17.8% from 9.4% last year
• Capital expenditures: $17.2 billion, up 43% year-over-year

One notable underperformer was Google Network revenue, which declined 2% year-over-year to $7.3 billion, suggesting potential challenges in display advertising.

Google Cloud: A Standout

Google Cloud emerged as a standout performer, with revenue growing 28% to $12.3 billion.

The jump in profitability was more impressive, with operating income rising to $2.2 billion (a 17.8% margin) compared to $900 million (a 9.4% margin) in the same quarter of the previous year.

“Cloud grew rapidly with significant demand for our solutions,” noted Pichai, with the earnings report highlighting strong performance across core GCP products, AI Infrastructure, and Generative AI Solutions.

Implications for Search Marketers

For SEO professionals, the earnings data points to several key considerations:

• Google’s successful integration of AI, while maintaining Search revenue growth, indicates that AI Overviews will likely expand further.
• The combined 1.5 billion monthly AI Overviews impressions, along with continued investment, suggest that this shift in search presentation is likely to be permanent.
• Google’s operating margin has improved despite significant investments in AI, providing the company with a financial incentive to continue this strategy.

Looking Forward

Alphabet’s Q1 results demonstrate that the company is successfully navigating the transition to AI-enhanced products while maintaining revenue growth.

For search marketers, the financial strength behind Google’s AI initiatives suggests these changes to search will accelerate rather than slow down.

With 1.5 billion users already experiencing AI Overviews monthly and Google’s continued heavy investment in AI infrastructure, the search landscape is undergoing profound changes, which are now reflected in the company’s financial performance.

Featured Image: Ifan Apriyana/Shutterstock