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Ads in AI Overviews: what paid search teams need to know

Your ads may already be running inside Google's AI answers, and the account won't tell you which ones. Ads can sit inside the AI Overview in 12 English-language markets, and above or below it in all 200+ markets where Overviews appear.

Most paid search teams didn't launch anything to get here. If you run broad match, AI Max, Performance Max or Shopping, you're probably already eligible. The question is what that means for structure, reporting and the page people land on.

This post sticks to what Google has confirmed in its help docs and announcements, flags what's still in testing, and ends with a checklist. If you're comparing Google's AI surfaces to OpenAI's, our ChatGPT ads guide is the other half of the picture.

Ads in AI Overviews at a glance

What are ads in AI Overviews?

AI Overviews are the Gemini-generated summaries that appear at the top of many Google results pages. Ads in AI Overviews are regular Search and Shopping ads that Google places in or around that summary when the query has commercial intent and an eligible ad is relevant.

There's no new campaign type and no new ad format to build. Google matches your existing ads to the query and the AI Overview content. Your ad might appear above the summary, below it, or inside it as a sponsored unit.

How did we get here?

Which campaigns can show ads in AI Overviews?

Google's help doc is direct: text and Shopping ads from existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns are eligible. To reach the longer, more conversational queries that trigger AI Overviews, Google requires AI-powered targeting: broad match on Search, the keywordless technology in AI Max for Search, Performance Max, Shopping campaigns or Dynamic Search Ads.

The practical reading: a Search campaign built only on exact and phrase match is unlikely to show there. That's not a reason to switch everything to broad overnight. It's a reason to know which of your campaigns are eligible and which aren't.

AI Max for Search is where Google is pointing. It bundles three features: search term matching beyond your keywords, text customization of headlines and descriptions, and final URL expansion, which picks the landing page it judges most relevant. Search Engine Land reports that Google plans to upgrade Dynamic Search Ads campaigns to AI Max starting February 2027.

Where are ads in AI Overviews available?

It depends where on the page. Inside the AI Overview, ads serve on English-language queries in 12 countries: Australia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore and the US, on mobile and desktop. Above or below the AI Overview, ads are eligible in all 200+ markets where AI Overviews are available. A lot of coverage still quotes only the 12. That undersells it: outside those countries your ads can already sit right next to an AI answer, just not inside it.

The vertical exclusions matter more for B2B than they look. Google says it doesn't currently show ads in AI Overviews for sensitive verticals including finance and healthcare. If you sell fintech or healthtech, your exposure to this placement may be limited regardless of match type. Google hasn't published how narrowly those categories are drawn.

What about ads in AI Mode?

AI Mode is Google's separate, chat-style search experience for longer and follow-up questions. Google started testing ads there in the US in May 2025, saying ads may appear below and integrated into AI Mode responses, with the same eligible campaign types as AI Overviews.

At Google Marketing Live on May 20, 2026, Google announced new formats built with Gemini:

Google says all of these remain labeled as sponsored and run on AI Max and Performance Max. Market availability beyond the US hasn't been published for the new formats.

Notice the direction: Google is generating more of the ad copy itself, per query. Your inputs (assets, feeds, website content) become the raw material. Your landing page becomes the source Google reads to write about you.

How are ads in AI Overviews reported?

Not separately. Google states that ads in AI Overviews are reported as Top ads, and there's no segment to split AI Overview impressions from standard top-of-page ones.

Two other changes affect what you see:

• Search terms from AI experiences may be interpreted. In May 2026, Search Engine Journal reported a Google help doc update saying search terms tied to AI Mode, AI Overviews, Lens and autocomplete may reflect Google's interpretation of intent rather than the literal query. Read those rows in your search term report as a summary, not a transcript.
• AI Max has its own reporting. The search terms report shows a Source column for AI Max traffic, the keywords report adds AI Max totals, and the landing pages report shows which URLs final URL expansion selected.

What should paid search teams change?

The thread running through all of it: the person who clicks from an AI Overview has just read a summary of their options. They land wanting the specific thing that summary pointed to. A page that answers that one need does better than a page that covers everything, which is the core of our PPC landing page best practices.

What we don't know yet

• Performance in AI Overviews vs. standard positions. With no segment, nobody outside Google can measure it cleanly.
• How often ads appear inside the summary. Google lists above, below and within, but not the mix.
• AI Mode at scale. The new formats were in testing at announcement. Rollout timing and markets are unpublished.
• B2B exposure. Longer, research-style B2B queries may trigger AI Overviews often, but there's no public data on how often ads serve there.

Weighing Google's AI placements against buying ads inside ChatGPT? We compare the two directly in ChatGPT ads vs. Google Search ads.

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