Google's new AI Overviews in search, do you think it will affect our ad spend?

google will never let their ads business die . they are already putting ads inside the ai answers. it only hurts basic question keywords, so just focus on keywords where people actually want to buy something.

One thing nobody mentioned yet... the AI overviews are actually showing shopping stuff now too on some buyer queries, not just info ones. So I wouldnt get too comfortable thinking commercial intent is safe forever. Saw it happen with a couple product searches last week and it spooked me.

That said @WPGads is mostly right, the real bleeding is on the SEO side for now. Advertisers still eating fine.

What changed for us is we stopped treating Google like the whole strategy. Building email + retargeting pools so when CPCs do climb we arent stuck paying google rent for every single click. Honestly the people who only run google ads are the ones who gonna feel it worst imo.

TheCuriousMind said:

I have been noticing AI answers showing up at the top of Google search results more and more. People are getting answers without even clicking anything. If users stop clicking organic results does that mean they will also skip ads? Or do you think Google will push ads even harder to make up for the lost clicks.

Anyone changed their Google Ads strategy because of this? Curious what people here think about where paid search is heading in next 2 years.

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Yeah but these services are good but only one downside of it is they are very costly but we can get them at a good price

This ai overview thing is definitely messing with organic click-throughs, and that's gonna trickle down to ads. if people get their answers instantly at the top, they're not scrolling down to see what we're offering. google's gonna have to find a way to keep their ad revenue flowing, probably by making ads even more prominent or pushing them into those ai snippets somehow. honestly, i'm more worried about the sheer volume of data and how to efficiently serve it without hitting rate limits on cheap servers. regex processing for ad targeting is already a nightmare, and this ai stuff just adds another layer of complexity to dynamic routing.

AI overviews are def gonna eat into organic clicks, no doubt. if people get their answer right there, google's gonna push ads harder, it's a no-brainer. expect cpc to climb. gotta adapt or get left behind

I think it depends on the query. For simple questions, AI overviews will probably reduce clicks, but when people are ready to buy or compare options, they're still likely to click through.

For us informational keywords are suffering right now. In think, In future google will implement ads inside ai overview because they won't let their revenue go down.

Google will absolutely compensate by pushing ads more aggressively into the remaining click traffic which is already happening with broader match and more ad placements.

I suspect Google will find a way to integrate ads directly into AI-generated results. It's difficult to see them giving up such a major revenue source without evolving their advertising model.

@ricketycricket made the point I was gonna make about shopping showing up in overviews now. Seen the same thing on a couple of my product pages, definitely not just info queries anymore.

What I keep coming back to is Google has zero incentive to let total ad inventory shrink. If clicks drop they just raise auction pressure or open new placements. The ad spot inside the overview itself is coming, just a matter of when they roll it wide.

One thing I'd add... watch what happens to your impression share quietly. We had a niche where conversions held fine but impressions dropped maybe 20% over a few months and we didnt clock it til later cause the convert rate masked it. The overview was eating the top before our ad even loaded. So the danger isnt always obvious in the numbers you usually stare at.

Branded + email is the right hedge imo. Owning the audience is the only thing that doesnt get more expensive every quarter.

I think informational searches will get less clicks, but high intent searches will still convert. Google will probly find more ways to place ads around AI results rather than reduce ad revenue.

Paid ads now need great product pictures and organized shop data to work. Google's AI loves putting product images directly into its answers, so plain text ads are being replaced by visual shopping feeds.

yeah i been noticing that too, AI answers r taking top spot so ppl dont click org results much, but i think google wont let ad clicks drop, theyll just push ads harder or in new ways, like maybe around the AI boxes or in highlighted snippets, i’ve started tweaking my campaigns a bit to watch ctr and bids, feels like next 2 yrs paid search gonna change but wont die, just adapt