Pakistan
USA
Canada
UK
Dubai
Australia
Germany
- There is no separate AI Overviews campaign or bid; existing campaigns become eligible.
- Ads inside AI Overviews need broad match, AI Max, Dynamic Search Ads, Shopping or Performance Max.
- Placement inside AI Overviews is limited to English in a list of markets that includes Pakistan and the US.
- Google does not currently give a separate report for this placement, so measure at campaign level.
Where do ads appear around AI Overviews?
There are two positions. Ads can show above or below an AI Overview, in the normal ad slots, wherever AI Overviews are available. Ads can also appear inside the AI Overview itself, as a sponsored result placed within the answer. Google labels these as sponsored and, at the time of writing, reports them as top ads.
You cannot target or bid for the AI Overview placement directly, and you cannot opt out of it. Google decides, per search, whether an ad is relevant to both the query and the AI answer. Your job is to make sure your campaigns are eligible and that the ads and landing pages would make sense next to an answer.
Which campaign types are eligible?
Eligibility differs between the two positions.
Campaign type | Above or below AI Overviews | Inside AI Overviews |
|---|---|---|
Search with exact or phrase match only | Yes | Not eligible |
Search with broad match, AI Max or Dynamic Search Ads | Yes | Eligible (text ads) |
Shopping | Yes | Eligible (Shopping ads) |
Performance Max | Yes | Eligible (text and Shopping ads) |
App campaigns | Yes | Not currently listed |
Which markets and languages qualify?
Ads above and below AI Overviews follow AI Overviews into every market where they run. Ads inside AI Overviews are narrower. Google's Help page lists English-language searches in a set of markets that includes the United States, Pakistan, India, Canada, Australia, Singapore and others. The UK and the Gulf were not on that list at the time of writing, so check the current page before you plan.
Some sensitive categories, such as finance, healthcare, gambling, alcohol and politics, are excluded from the inside placement. AI Mode, Google's conversational search, started showing ads in the US first and Google has been extending them. Treat AI Mode as a placement that is still changing, and assume similar rules on broad, AI-powered matching apply.
How do I set my account up to be eligible?
Most of this is good practice anyway.
- Fix conversion trackingBroad, AI-led matching needs reliable conversion signals, or it will find cheap but useless traffic. See how to set up conversion tracking.
- Add broad match or AI Max to core Search campaignsRun it with Smart Bidding and strong negative keyword lists. AI Max adds keywordless matching on top.
- Review Performance Max and ShoppingKeep the product feed complete and accurate, because product titles and descriptions drive matching. Our notes on Performance Max cover the basics.
- Write ads that answer questionsHeadlines that state what you do, for whom and where read naturally beside an AI answer.
- Check landing pagesThe page should answer the same question as the search, quickly, on mobile.
How do I measure ads in AI Overviews?
Honestly, only partly. Google does not yet give a segment that separates AI Overview impressions or clicks from other top ads. So you cannot report exactly what this placement delivered, and anyone who quotes you a precise figure for it is estimating. Google has said it will share more reporting when it can.
What you can do is measure the change you made to become eligible. If you add broad match or AI Max to a campaign, run it as an experiment and compare cost per qualified lead or revenue against the control. Watch the search terms report for longer, question-style searches, which are a sign you are matching the kind of queries that trigger AI Overviews.
What are the common mistakes?
These stop campaigns from qualifying or waste the traffic they get.
Exact match only
An account built only on exact and phrase match cannot appear inside AI Overviews, however good the ads are.
Broad match without guardrails
Switching to broad match with weak tracking and no negatives brings irrelevant clicks, AI Overview or not.
Expecting a separate report
There is no AI Overview segment yet, so do not set targets for it as if there were.
Ignoring the feed
Shopping and Performance Max ads match on product data. Thin titles and missing attributes reduce eligibility.
What does this mean for budgets?
You do not need a separate budget line for AI Overviews. Spend flows through the same campaigns. What changes is how you split budget between tightly controlled exact match campaigns and broader, AI-led campaigns. If all your spend sits in exact match, you are not eligible for the inside placement at all.
A sensible approach is to keep exact match for your proven, high-intent terms and move a portion of budget into broad match or AI Max with clear limits. Then let results, not the novelty of the placement, decide whether to shift more. Performance Max is another route, which we manage through our Performance Max campaign management service.
What should Pakistani, Gulf and UK advertisers know?
Pakistan is one of the markets listed for ads inside AI Overviews in English, so Pakistani businesses targeting local English searches can be eligible now. Searches typed in Roman Urdu or Urdu are a different matter, because the inside placement is English only at the time of writing.
For the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the UK, ads still appear above and below AI Overviews, so the same setup work matters even before the inside placement arrives. Gulf audiences search heavily on mobile and often in Arabic, which means your landing pages need fast mobile load times and the right language version. UK advertisers in finance or health should note those sectors are excluded from the inside placement.
How we handle this for clients
We review which campaigns are eligible for each position and why. Where it fits the business, we test broad match or AI Max in a controlled experiment, with negative keywords, brand controls and URL exclusions set first. Shopping feeds and Performance Max asset groups are checked for accuracy.
We then watch search terms and landing pages closely and judge the change on qualified leads or revenue. We do not report results from the AI Overview placement as a separate number, because Google does not provide one. If the broader setup does not pay its way, we roll it back to the tighter structure.
Junaid has more than 18 years in SEO, paid media, web development and custom software. He founded SEOnumber1, builds WordPress plugins, CRMs and web applications, has served 500+ clients in 48 countries, and holds Google Ads, Analytics and Google Blue and Green Belt certifications. He is a National Level Award Winner in Digital Marketing. Read his story or ask a question about this article.