Did you know? There’s a new way to serve ads on Google! The best part is, you don’t necessarily have to do anything differently to reap the benefits.
The short of it is that Google is now serving ads through its AI Overviews and Google Lens. For now, it looks like this is exclusive to mobile searches in North America. For marketers looking to deliver relevant ads to shoppers at precisely the right moment, this is an exciting update.
I’ve scoured sources for all the information I can find about ads in Google’s AI Overviews and Lens to bring you everything you need to know, from how to have your ads appear there and why you would even want to serve something there in the first place.
Why are Ads in AI Overviews and Lens Such a Big Deal?
Google announced its ads in AI Overviews and Lens feature back at the beginning of October 2024 on its Ads and Commerce blog, stating:
With ads in AI Overviews and Google Lens, you can connect with the right customers at the perfect moment.
Curious, I wanted to see what this looked like for myself. In their original blog, Google said that this new feature was only available in the U.S. to start, but I’m in Canada and it looks like they’ve rolled it out here, too. It’s likely that they started testing it with a smaller user base and have gradually continued to expand it.
Since I recently dyed a piece of clothing, I chose to use that fresh-in-my-mind experience to test drive these new AI Overview ads. First, here’s something we’re all used to seeing at this point:
Below the generated result, you’re served links to relevant websites, as demonstrated in this screenshot (thanks, Martha):
And underneath those website links, here’s what you get:
Google, in collaboration with Ipsos, conducted a customer survey that revealed that 75% of U.S. consumers get excited when they come across a new product perfectly aligned with their needs. Had I not already purchased dye and completed the job, these ads would have been enticing, I admit. It’s interesting that it served ads for black dye … because that’s exactly what I used — but maybe that was just a spooky coincidence.
I wasn’t able to trigger the feature in Google Lens. Perhaps it’s not available in Canada yet, or the admittedly obscure photos I tested just didn’t trigger any relevant sponsored material.
If you want to try this for yourself and you’re in the U.S. or Canada, just pull up the Chrome app on your smartphone and start searching.
A couple of things to note: These ads are not also AI-generated. These are real ads from real businesses that just live underneath AI-generated Search results. Secondly, Google is still committed to transparency in sponsored content, so these ads, like traditional SERP ads, also include the recognizable ‘Sponsored’ text to let users know they’re looking at something that a business has paid to put in front of them.
This is an exciting new opportunity for markers to home in on their audience at an even more granular level — at the apex of their interest in a product. But how do you get your stuff to pop up in these new-fangled AI places?
How To Serve Your Ads in Google AI Overviews and Lens
Google has made the process pretty simple if you want to start testing the AI Overview waters with sponsored posts. You don’t actually need to do anything differently. If you’re already running AI-powered Search ads, Shopping or Performance Max campaigns, you can show ads in both AI Overviews and Google Lens experiences, so they say. There’s no need to upend your entire strategy to take advantage of this new ad format, which is pretty nice.
What Does the Future of Ads and AI Look Like for Marketers?
As Google continues to roll out this new Ads experience, and as other organizations and leaders inevitably delve into what’s possible when they marry AI and ads, there will no doubt be some exciting new opportunities.
Enhanced Targeting
Since AI Overviews are more precise in their targeting and derived from near-exact user intent, serving ads here could lead to higher engagement and conversion rates than you may be used to with typical sponsored SERP ads.
Increased Visibility
AI Overviews appear right at the top of the SERP — the single most coveted space on the entire page for some time now. Having ads appear right there, before even traditional search results, means you could gain significant visibility.
Sounds great, right? It mostly is! But with anything new, there will undoubtedly be some growing pains:
Increased Competition
Bidding for a top spot on SERPs has always been challenging. However, since AI Overviews automatically claim the top spot for relevant search results, competition may get even more heated. With more advertisers vying for space within AI Overviews, we could be in for higher costs and increased competition for ad placements.
Adapting to New Formats/Zero Click Searches
Zero-click searches have been a growing trend for some time, but AI Overviews have essentially kicked things into high gear. For marketers relying on traditional click metrics — like CTR — it may be more difficult to measure ad success as we get used to this new format. Instead, KPIs like impressions may work their way to the forefront.
What We Don’t Know About Ads in AI Overviews Yet
The rollout of ads in AI Overviews is still fresh. While Google’s blog covers the basics, it’s still a bit early to discern certain nuances, like how much control advertisers will have over these ads, whether or not they can opt out of appearing in AI Overviews, etc.
This new format is being championed as a way to get directly in front of high-intent users at the pique of their interest, but since it’s so new, we also don’t truly know how effective they are just yet.
Generative AI results, now followed by these new sponsored posts, have a way of cluttering up the SERP. This may make it more difficult for users to find the information they are looking for if they don’t like what the AI presented to them.
Overall, ads in AI Overviews are a new and exciting development in digital advertising. However, there is still much that we don’t know. As Google continues to refine this new ad format — and as more users and advertisers have a chance to interact with them — we’ll learn more about their effectiveness and impact on user experience.
For now, here’s my advice:
- Don’t ignore it. There’s a chance that ads appended to generated results become the next big thing in SERP advertising. While I don’t necessarily think you have to put your nose to the grindstone for this new format quite yet, definitely pay attention to how it unfolds and start thinking about how you may fold it into your overarching strategies.
- Collaborate with your agency or marketing team. Beyond keeping an eye on information sources for new revelations about ads in AI Overviews, start having conversations with your advertising experts about this new format and how you should begin to prepare.
There’s still a lot of unknowns here. But it’s never a bad thing to be prepared. Considering you don’t have to set up new campaigns if you’re already running AI-powered Search ads, Shopping or Performance Max, you have lots of time to explore and experiment with this new ads experience.
