New Google Search AI Previews Will Soon Contain Ads

Last week, Google introduced a radical shakeup of search that presents users with AI-generated answers to their queries. The company now says it will soon start including ads in these AI previews, as auto-responses are called.

Google announced plans Tuesday to test search and shopping ads in AI summaries, a move that could extend its dominance in search advertising into a new era. Although Google quickly rolled out AI previews to all English-speaking users in the United States last week after announcing the feature at its I/O developers conference, it’s unclear to what extent or how quickly the ads will start appearing.

Screenshots released by Google show how a user asking how to get wrinkles out of clothes can get an AI-generated summary of tips from around the web, with a carousel of ads underneath for sprays purporting to help freshen up a wardrobe -dress.

Google’s AI previews aim to prevent users from switching to alternatives like ChatGPT or startup Perplexity, which use AI-generated text to answer many of the questions Google has traditionally been asked. How and when Google would integrate ads into AI previews has been a big question regarding the company’s ChatGPT catch-up strategy. Search ads are the company’s largest source of revenue, and even subtle changes in ad placement or design can cause big swings in Google’s revenue.

Google shared some details about its new Preview ad format in its announcement Tuesday. Ads “will have the option to appear in the AI ​​preview in a section clearly labeled as “sponsored” when they are relevant to both the query and the information in the AI ​​preview ”, Vidhya Srinivasan, vice president and general manager of Google ads. , wrote in a blog post.

AI Overview will build on ads from advertisers’ existing campaigns, meaning they will neither be able to opt out of the experience completely nor have to adapt their ad settings and design to appear in the feature. “No action is required from advertisers,” Srinivasan wrote.

Google said last year, when it began experimenting with AI-generated answers in search, that ads for specific products would be integrated into the feature. In one example at the time, it showed a sponsored option at the top of an AI-generated listing of children’s hiking backpacks. Google says early testing showed users found ads above and below AI summaries useful. Bing, Google’s much smaller rival, serves product ads in its Bing Copilot search chatbot, but during testing on Monday, WIRED did not trigger any ads at Bing’s competitor AI Overview.