Brand searches on Google are showing a new layout: for many company and product names, the AI Overview now sits in a right-hand column on desktop, where a Knowledge Panel used to appear, instead of at the top or middle of the main results. The shift, spotted by search specialists in recent days, changes what searchers see first when they look up a brand.
What changed on the results page
Previously, an AI Overview for a brand term appeared inside the main results column, pushing organic listings down the page. Now, for many brand-related keywords, the AI-generated summary appears in the right-hand panel, leaving the main column to the usual mix of results.
The examples circulating show the pattern across very different brands. Searches for Apple, Zillow and Coca-Cola all produced right-column AI Overviews, as did searches for Google itself and for Search Engine Roundtable. The layout is not uniform: some sightings show the panel further down the page, suggesting variations in how widely the change has rolled out.
Who spotted it
SEO Chris Long posted examples on November 2, writing that Google was changing how it showed AI Overviews for brand searches. He put it plainly: instead of a Knowledge Panel, brand terms were now getting AI Overviews in the right column.
David McSweeney had reported a similar layout a couple of days earlier, on October 31, noting that AI overviews now generally appeared in a right panel on desktop for branded searches. He added that, assuming it was a change, it was a good one, while noting other variations he had seen.
Search Engine Roundtable’s own assessment cuts both ways. The right-column placement works better than crowding the main results, the site argues, but it is not great to trust AI to write about a brand when the brand’s own website could do the job. In effect, the change replaces brand Knowledge Panels with AI Overviews.
Our read: better placement, harder brand control
This is a quiet concession to a loud complaint. AI Overviews atop the main results have been blamed for pushing organic listings, including brands’ own pages, out of view, and for answering questions so fully that nobody clicks through. Moving the summary aside restores the main column while keeping the AI answer on the page.
For brands, the trade is mixed. A Knowledge Panel draws on the brand’s own verified facts, while an AI Overview synthesizes whatever the model considers relevant, with all the risks that carries. A company that once managed its panel must now monitor an AI-written summary it does not control, in the very spot where searchers look for authoritative brand information.
The open question is whether this is a test or a rollout. No Google comment is attached to the sightings, and the variations reported so far suggest the layout is still settling. If it sticks, brand search becomes a two-column experience: the brand’s own pages competing for attention in the middle, and Google’s AI summary holding the right rail.
Why It Matters
For publishers and brands, the placement of AI answers is now as important as whether they appear at all. AI Overviews already appear on more than 80 percent of searches, and a small study put click-through from AI answers at about 0.9 percent. Where the answer sits decides whether anyone ever reaches the source sites behind it.
The change also matters for the wider traffic story. Reddit’s stock crash showed how quickly the market prices lost search referrals, and every layout tweak that moves AI answers around reshuffles who gets seen. A right-column overview may send brands less traffic than a top-of-page one, but more than being buried beneath one.
For SEOs, the work changes too. Tracking brand visibility means watching the side panel as well as the main results, and teams will need to check what the AI summary says about them, not just where they rank. The click-through study showed opting out of AI answers did not restore organic clicks, so disappearing from the panel is no strategy.
Background
Google has spent the year expanding AI Overviews deeper into search, including into queries with typos and queries that return no results, while publishers have pressed for more visibility into how AI answers affect their traffic. The brand-column shift is the latest sign that the layout of those answers is still being negotiated in public.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable report
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