Ads in AI Overviews — The Channel That Did Not Exist 12 Months Ago

What Changed

Google now serves ads above, below, and within AI Overviews on Search. Ads in AI Overviews are currently available in English on mobile and desktop in the US, Canada, Australia, India, and several other markets. Both the user query and the content of the AI Overview are considered when serving these ads. Existing text and Shopping ads from Search, Shopping, and PMax campaigns are automatically eligible.

Why This Is a Bigger Deal Than Most Realize

AI Overviews trigger on complex, exploratory queries—the kind advertisers rarely target with exact match keywords. Someone searching “why is my pool green and how do I clean it” is not typing a product keyword, but the AI Overview surfaces commercial intent within that research journey. Google matches your ads against both the query and the AI Overview content, creating entirely new advertising opportunities that traditional keyword targeting cannot access.

This is the structural shift I wrote about in our playbook: paid media is extending to AI interfaces. Google is doing it first, but OpenAI launched ads in ChatGPT, and Perplexity is testing ad models. The advertisers who figure out AI surface advertising first will have a significant head start.

What You Need to Do

AI Overviews ads require AI-powered targeting. That means broad match keywords, AI Max search term matching, or keywordless targeting via PMax and Dynamic Search Ads. If your account is still built entirely on exact match keywords, you are invisible in AI Overviews. This is a concrete, measurable reason to start testing broad match with Smart Bidding.

Second, your creative must be relevant at a deeper contextual level. Google is matching against the content of the AI Overview, not just the query. Strong sitelinks, callout extensions, and structured snippet assets give Google more context to match against. And your landing pages need to answer the exploratory questions AI Overviews address—not just display a product page.