Google moves AI Overviews for brand searches to the right column

Google has moved the AI Overview for many brand searches to the right-hand column. Search Engine Roundtable reported the change today. The right column is the same spot that used to show the Knowledge Panel on brand queries.

Chris Long and David McSweeney first posted about the change on X on 31 October. Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable published screenshots on 2 November. The sample covers Apple, Zillow, Coca-Cola, Google and Search Engine Roundtable itself.

What the layout looks like now

On a brand search, the main column still shows the usual results. The right column holds a boxed AI Overview. The box carries the brand's name, a short summary and links to the sources Google used. The AI Overview sits in the slot the Knowledge Panel used to fill on those queries.

Barry Schwartz said the new placement "works much better than having it in the main results". It leaves the ranked blue links alone. He also raised a concern about model accuracy. The right-column box no longer draws its facts from a database a brand can edit.

Who spotted it, and what Google has said

David McSweeney wrote on X about the change. He said Google has changed the layout for branded searches. In his words, AI Overviews are now generally in a right panel on desktop. Chris Long shared his own screenshots in a separate post. Both posts are the primary record of the change. Google has published nothing about it. The company has made no announcement and no statement to Search Engine Roundtable.

The screenshots are a small sample on five brands. Google tests search layouts on a share of users and often rolls them back. The change may still move. An SEO team watching brand queries should check its own sample before trusting the new placement.

Why this is a bigger change than a layout tweak

The Knowledge Panel came from the Knowledge Graph. A brand could file a correction through Google Business Profile. It could also file through Google Search Help, or through schema markup on its own site. Those paths exist for a reason. The box carries facts people act on.

The right-column AI Overview is written by a model. It summarises the open web about the brand. There is no form a brand can file to correct a wrong sentence in it. The fix path is the same path as fixing the sources the model read. That is slower and less direct.

A team that tracks brand searches now has three questions to answer. First, does the AI Overview on the right say the right thing about the brand. Second, which sources did Google cite in it. Third, if a fact is wrong, which source carries it.

Source

Search Engine Roundtable.