As AI Overviews cement themselves as a prominent part of the search experience, the way advertisers think about paid search, targeting and user intent needs to change with it.
Rather than simply matching an ad to a keyword, Google is increasingly using AI to understand both the query and the wider context behind a search. This creates new opportunities for advertisers to reach users at the exact moment they are exploring a topic, comparing options or moving towards a purchase.
For businesses already investing in Google Ads, this represents a fundamental shift rather than a reason to abandon existing campaigns. Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns can already be eligible for new ad placements around AI Overviews, while AI Max for Search provides additional AI-powered capabilities within existing Search campaigns.
So, what does this mean for your paid strategy?
What Are AI Overview Ads?
AI Overviews are Google’s AI-generated responses that appear within Search when its systems determine that generative AI can help answer a user’s query. They are particularly useful for complex or information-seeking searches where users may previously have needed to visit multiple websites to find an answer.
Google now allows eligible ads to appear above, below or within AI Overviews.
Existing text, Shopping, local and app ads from Search, Shopping, Performance Max and App campaigns can be eligible to appear above or below AI Overviews in markets where AI Overviews are available. Ads in AI Overviews are a more limited placement and are currently available in English on mobile and desktop in selected countries.
The important change is how Google determines relevance.
For ads within AI Overviews, Google considers the user’s query alongside the content of the AI Overview itself. This means an advertiser does not necessarily need to target the exact wording of the original search to become relevant to the user’s journey.
An Example Of AI Overview Ads
Imagine someone searches:
“Why is my pool green and how do I clean it?”
They may receive an AI-generated answer explaining how to test the water, remove debris and clean the pool.
The original query has relatively little obvious commercial intent. However, the content of the AI Overview may reveal that the user could benefit from a pool vacuum or another product.
Google can therefore identify commercial intent within the wider search journey and serve relevant Shopping ads.
This is an important development for search advertising. Instead of thinking only about the keyword someone entered, advertisers need to consider the wider context in which their products or services could become relevant.
How AI Overview Ads Work
AI Overview ads are designed to bring paid advertising into Google’s new AI-powered search experience. However, advertisers do not need to create a separate campaign specifically for AI Overviews.
Automatic Eligibility
Existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns can automatically qualify to serve in AI Overviews. This means advertisers can potentially access these new ad placements without setting up a new campaign or making significant changes to their existing account structure.
Google determines when an ad is eligible based on the same core signals used throughout its advertising ecosystem, alongside the context of the AI Overview and the user’s query.
No Direct Targeting Or Opt-Out
AI Overview placements cannot currently be targeted or excluded as a standalone placement. Advertisers cannot create a campaign specifically targeting users viewing AI Overviews, nor can they independently opt out of these placements.
Instead, Google’s systems determine whether an ad is relevant based on factors such as the user’s query, contextual alignment, campaign settings and auction signals.
This means advertisers need to focus on the fundamentals that influence performance across Google Ads, including relevant keywords, strong creative, quality landing pages and accurate conversion signals, rather than trying to optimise specifically for an AI Overview placement.
Ads Are Matched To The Wider Context
The key difference is the role of context.
Google can consider both the query and the content of the AI Overview when determining whether an ad could be useful. This allows paid ads to become relevant during searches where the original query may not have contained an obvious commercial keyword.
For example, someone could make an informational search and receive an AI-generated answer explaining a particular problem. If that answer introduces products, services or solutions that are commercially relevant, Google may be able to connect the user with an appropriate advertiser.
This creates opportunities to reach customers at the exact moment their search behaviour develops from information gathering towards commercial intent.
Restricted Verticals
Not every advertiser or industry is currently eligible for ads within AI Overviews. Google restricts certain sensitive categories, including finance, healthcare, politics, adult content, alcohol and gambling.
These restrictions mean businesses operating in affected verticals should not assume that their existing paid ads will be eligible for every AI Overview placement, even where their campaigns otherwise meet Google’s advertising requirements.
Limited Reporting
One of the current limitations for advertisers is reporting.
At present, impressions and clicks associated with AI Overview placements are included within standard top-ad metrics rather than being provided through a dedicated, separately segmented AI Overview report.
This makes it difficult to isolate the precise performance of these placements and understand exactly how much traffic or conversion value they are generating.
For now, advertisers should therefore evaluate performance through their wider campaign data, while continuing to monitor how Google’s reporting capabilities develop.
Overall, AI Overview ads are less about creating a new campaign and more about adapting to a new search environment. Your existing campaigns may already be eligible, but the quality of your targeting, creative, landing pages and conversion signals will influence how effectively Google’s AI can match your ads to relevant searches.
Why AI Overviews Matter For Google Ads
The emergence of AI Overviews does not mean traditional search advertising is disappearing.
Instead, Google is creating a new environment in which AI-powered search, paid placements and organic content increasingly work together.
AI Overviews can answer questions directly, introduce users to new concepts and help them explore complex topics. From there, paid ads can provide a route to relevant businesses, products or services.
For advertisers, the key benefits include:
- Reaching users during earlier stages of discovery
- Connecting with users beyond exact-match keyword behaviour
- Appearing alongside AI-generated answers
- Capturing commercial intent that emerges during an information journey
- Using Google’s AI to interpret query context and relevance
- Creating opportunities across Search and Shopping ads
This is particularly important as search behaviour becomes more conversational.
A user may not begin with a commercially focused query. They may ask a question, explore a problem and only then become ready to take action.
AI Overview ads give advertisers another opportunity to quickly connect with that user as their intent develops.
AI Max For Search: The Next Step For Existing Search Campaigns
One of the biggest changes advertisers should be paying attention to is AI Max for Search.
AI Max is not a completely new campaign type. Instead, it is an optimisation layer that can be activated within existing Search campaigns. It combines targeting and creative enhancements designed to help Google understand searches and optimise ad delivery in real time.
AI Max includes features such as:
- Improved search term matching
- Broad match and keywordless technology
- Text customisation
- Final URL expansion
- Additional reporting and controls
- AI-powered creative optimisation
The objective is to move beyond a rigid relationship between a keyword and an ad.
Google can use signals from your existing keywords, creatives and landing pages to understand which searches are relevant and determine which ad and landing page should be used.
Google reports that advertisers activating AI Max in Search campaigns typically see 14% more conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA or ROAS, based on Google internal data for non-retail advertisers.
Of course, this is Google’s own reported data rather than a guarantee of performance, so advertisers should test AI Max against their own commercial objectives.
AI Max And AI Overview Ads Work Together
The relationship between AI Max and AI Overview ads is particularly important.
Google says AI Overviews can trigger for complex, answer-seeking queries where advertisers may not traditionally have been targeting the exact keywords involved.
This creates a challenge for traditional keyword-based strategies.
If your campaigns only target a tightly defined list of keywords, you may miss some of the searches that emerge as users explore a topic.
Google therefore recommends AI-powered targeting approaches, including broad match and keywordless targeting through AI Max, Performance Max and Shopping campaigns.
This doesn’t mean simply switching everything to broad match and increasing your budget.
Instead, it means giving Google’s systems enough useful signals to understand:
Who your customers are → What they are looking for → Why they are searching → What action matters to your business
That requires the right combination of targeting, creative, conversion data, landing pages and bidding.
Broad Match Is Becoming More Important
Broad match keywords have traditionally been approached cautiously by advertisers because they can introduce searches that don’t exactly match the original keyword.
AI-powered search changes the role of broad match.
Google’s AI can use signals beyond the keyword itself to determine whether a search is relevant. AI Max’s search term matching combines broad match and keywordless technology to identify additional relevant queries and potential conversions.
This is particularly useful for AI Overviews because users may ask questions that advertisers have never explicitly added as keywords.
For example, a business selling specialist software may traditionally target:
“project management software”
A user could instead search:
“How can I keep a remote construction team on top of deadlines?”
The second search may not contain the original keyword, but it could indicate strong commercial intent.
AI-powered targeting gives Google more flexibility to understand the relationship between the query, the advertiser’s offering and the user’s likely intent.
Don’t Forget Landing Pages
More automation does not make your website less important.
In fact, the opposite may be true.
AI Max uses information from your landing pages alongside other campaign signals, while Final URL expansion can direct users to different relevant pages based on their search intent. Google states that Final URL expansion is designed to increase landing-page relevance to a user’s intent.
This means your landing pages need to clearly communicate:
- What you offer
- Who it is for
- What problem it solves
- Why your business is relevant
- What action users should take
Strong contextual alignment between your ads and landing pages becomes increasingly important.
Your website also needs to provide high-quality information that Google’s systems can understand. Strong content, logical site architecture and appropriate schema markup can all contribute to making your website easier for search engines and AI systems to interpret.
For businesses looking to strengthen this foundation, DNRG’s SEO content services can help create content that is structured around search intent, relevance and commercial outcomes.
AI Overview Ads And Shopping Campaigns
The opportunity isn’t limited to text-based search ads.
Shopping ads can also play an important role as AI Overviews change how users discover products.
Google says existing Shopping and Performance Max campaigns can be eligible to appear around AI Overviews, while Shopping ads can also appear within AI Overviews where they meet the required relevance and auction criteria.
For retailers, this makes feed quality increasingly important.
Product titles, descriptions, imagery, pricing and other feed information need to accurately represent what you’re selling. High-quality assets can help Google understand your products and identify when they are relevant to a user’s search journey.
This also makes asset quality increasingly important across paid campaigns more broadly.
What About Performance Max?
Performance Max campaigns already use Google’s AI to optimise delivery across Google’s advertising inventory.
AI Overview ads add another potential environment in which Performance Max campaigns can reach users.
However, AI Max and Performance Max should not be treated as interchangeable.
AI Max for Search is specifically an optimisation layer for existing Search campaigns, while Performance Max is a broader campaign type designed to access Google’s advertising channels using AI-powered optimisation. Google describes AI Max as an evolution of Search rather than a replacement for Performance Max.
The right approach will therefore depend on your objectives, conversion data, campaign structure and customer journey.
How To Upgrade Your Paid Strategy For AI Search
The emergence of AI Overviews means advertisers need to think beyond individual keywords.
1. Build Around User Intent
Start with the problem your customer is trying to solve rather than simply the keyword they type.
Consider informational, commercial and transactional intent and how a user might move between them.
2. Test AI Max
AI Max can be activated within existing Search campaigns, meaning advertisers don’t necessarily need to rebuild their entire account. Google also provides AI Max experiments so advertisers can test the feature before applying it more widely.
3. Strengthen Your Conversion Data
AI-powered bidding works best when Google has reliable conversion signals to optimise against.
Make sure your tracking reflects the actions that actually matter to the business, rather than relying purely on clicks or traffic.
4. Review Your Bidding Strategy
Google recommends combining AI Max with Smart Bidding, particularly where reliable conversion data is available. Smart Bidding allows Google’s systems to optimise towards business outcomes rather than simply maximising traffic.
5. Improve Your Landing Pages
Your landing pages should satisfy the intent behind the search and clearly communicate your value proposition.
Don’t rely on an ad to do all the work.
6. Expand Your Content Strategy
AI Overviews are designed to answer increasingly complex questions.
That means businesses need useful content that addresses the questions customers ask throughout the buying journey, not just pages targeting obvious commercial keywords.
7. Think Beyond Keywords
Keywords remain important, but they are no longer the entire picture.
AI-powered search considers query context, user intent and wider signals to determine which results and ads are relevant.
This makes keywordless targeting, broad match and AI-powered campaign types increasingly important parts of a modern paid strategy.
The Future Of Paid Search Is More Contextual
AI Overviews represent a fundamental shift in how Google understands search.
The traditional model was relatively straightforward:
Query → Keyword → Ad → Landing Page
The emerging model is much more contextual:
Query → Intent → AI-generated response → Context → Relevant ad → Landing page → Conversion
For advertisers, this creates both opportunity and complexity.
The brands most likely to benefit will not necessarily be those spending the most. They will be those giving Google’s AI the strongest signals about their products, services, customers and commercial objectives.
That means combining high-quality creative, accurate conversion tracking, strong landing pages, useful website content, appropriate campaign types and a clear understanding of user intent.
Paid search isn’t disappearing. It is becoming more intelligent.
And as AI Overviews, AI Mode and other AI-powered search experiences continue to develop, advertisers that adapt early can put themselves in a stronger position to reach customers in these new moments of discovery.
Upgrade Your Paid Strategy With DNRG
AI is changing how Google understands searches, but successful advertising still comes down to strategy.
At DNRG, we combine Paid Media, SEO, AI Search and data-led optimisation to help businesses adapt to changing search behaviour and turn visibility into measurable growth. Our paid media team builds campaigns around commercial objectives, while our SEO and AI expertise helps ensure your wider digital presence supports the signals Google’s systems increasingly rely on.
Whether you’re looking to improve existing Google Ads campaigns, explore AI Max, strengthen your landing pages or build a strategy for the changing AI search environment, DNRG can help you understand where the opportunities are and turn them into action.
