“Ads that serve within the AI Overview will be search and shopping ads from existing campaigns that are able to win the auction and address the query and the information in the AI Overview.”
No new reporting. Want to know how your AI Overviews Ads are performing? Well, bad news. You won’t know. Google’s spokesperson told Search Engine Land:
“We are currently not offering segmented reporting when ads show above, below or within Search AI Overviews. Advertisers can consult the Search Terms Report, as usual.”
No way out. I also asked Google whether advertisers could opt out of AI Overview Ads. Google told me:
“No. We’ll continue listening to feedback from advertisers and consumers to learn how Ads in AI Overviews can be helpful in people’s information-seeking journeys.”
Why we care. AI Overviews occupy the most valuable space on Google’s search results. So appearing here could lead to clicks, sales and revenue for your business.
That said, the ads appear lower (under an AI-generated answer) than the classic location of search ads (above the organic search results) – so questions remain about whether this location could result in a worse return on investment for advertisers (which, again, will be hard to know given the lack of reporting transparency).
Of course, if you believe Google, they continue to tell us (while sharing no data) that people find these ads “helpful.”