How to advertise in Google AI Overviews and AI Mode

Where ads show

An ad inside an AI Overview has to fit both the search and what the AI Overview says. Google says it does not show ads inside AI Overviews for "sensitive verticals like adult, alcohol, gambling", nor for finance, healthcare and politics.

Which campaigns are eligible

Google, on 21 May 2025: "Advertisers who are already using Performance Max, Shopping and Search campaigns with broad match" are eligible "to have their ads appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode." Its help page adds that it "requires AI-powered targeting solutions like broad match on Search", or the keywordless targeting in AI Max for Search campaigns. For ads inside AI Overviews it also names Dynamic Search Ads.

• Search: with broad match keywords, or with AI Max.
• Shopping: your existing Shopping campaigns.
• Performance Max: your existing campaigns.

Eligible does not mean shown. The ad still has to win the auction.

What you cannot control

• Opting out. "No, you can't opt out of serving ads in AI Overviews."
• Targeting. "No, you can't directly target ad placements in the AI Overviews."
• Reporting. Ads inside AI Overviews "are reported as Top Ads", and Google Ads "currently doesn't offer segmented reporting" for them. You cannot see which clicks came from an AI Overview.

Google's pages do not say whether the same holds in AI Mode.

New formats Google is testing in AI Mode

Google says these ads are labeled "Sponsored". Its pages give no country list and no sign-up for them: they are tests and pilots, and Google names AI Max for Search, AI Max for Shopping and Performance Max as the campaigns to build on.

How you pay

These placements have no price of their own. They come from your existing campaigns, so you pay what those campaigns bid, within the budgets you set. Google's pages on AI Overviews and AI Mode name no minimum spend.

Before you start

• Check that your country and language are in Table 1 for the placement you want.
• Run Search with broad match or AI Max, Shopping, or Performance Max. Exact match alone is not enough for ads inside an AI Overview.
• Plan without separate numbers: AI Overview clicks are counted with your top ads.
• Ads are one way in. Being cited in the AI Overview itself is free and separate: see how to get cited in Google AI Overviews.
• Other engines that sell ads in answers: ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot. Perplexity sells none publicly.

Sources

Every page below is Google's own, checked on 24 October 2026. The date after each is the one the page carries.

1. Google Ads Help, About ads and AI Overviews (no date on the page) support.google.com
2. Google, New ad formats built with Gemini coming to Google Search, 20 May 2026 blog.google
3. Google, What to expect in digital advertising and commerce in 2026, 11 February 2026 blog.google
4. Google, New tech and tools for retailers to succeed in an agentic shopping era, 11 January 2026 blog.google
5. Google Ads Help, Google Ads highlights of 2025, 8 December 2025 support.google.com
6. Google, New ways AI in Search helps your business, 21 May 2025 blog.google