AI Overview Ads Can Appear Above Or Below, Or Within. But Never All At Once, Said Google

At its core, web monetization is the process of turning digital content, services, or user attention into revenue.

This can happen in a number of ways. But of all the models, ads remain the web's most dominant currency — and this is where Google excels like no other. Thanks to its search engine, the company is able to gather users' search intent, behavior, location, device type, interests. This data fuels programmatic advertising, where ad space is bought and sold in real time, often in milliseconds.

Google sits at the center of this ecosystem through platforms like Google Ads, AdSense, and Ad Manager, connecting advertisers with publishers and users across billions of webpages.

This time, AI Overviews is taking over.

Touted as the replacement (if not a complementary) for Google Search, the company is seeing an increase is usage.

And now it knows that it's time to monetize the traffic.

To do this, Google introduces 'AI Max.'

Google AI Max is essentially a suite of AI-powered features designed to supercharge Search campaigns within Google Ads.

This toolset harnesses the power of Google’s most advanced AI models to deliver smarter, more efficient advertising experiences — both for advertisers and users. It represents a significant shift in how search campaigns are built, optimized, and scaled in the age of generative AI.

At its core, AI Max helps advertisers expand their reach by moving beyond traditional keyword matching. It taps into Google’s understanding of search intent, enabling ads to appear in front of more relevant users, even if they don’t use exact keyword phrasing. This means businesses can engage a wider audience without needing to manually predict every possible search term.

The suite also brings in generative AI capabilities, allowing advertisers to automatically generate creative assets — such as headlines, descriptions, and even visuals — using models like the Imagen AI. The result is high-quality, on-brand content produced at scale, tailored to each campaign’s specific goals.

To maintain control and transparency, AI Max provides advertisers with advanced tools for brand safety, location targeting, and performance insights. These features ensure that while the campaigns are more automated, they’re not running blind. Advertisers can fine-tune their strategies with real-time feedback and granular data.

As Google expands AI Overviews to more countries, the company needs to inform advertisers where their money is going to at Google.

In this case, regarding to how these ads are shown, Ginny Marvin, Google's Ads Liaison, confirmed on X that they can be either be above or below the AI Overviews or within the AI Overviews itself, but not in both positions at the same time.

Google also details this in a dedicated help page, saying that "ads are eligible to show above or below the AI Overview in all 200+ markets where AI Overviews are available."

Google's AI Overviews—previously known as the Search Generative Experience (SGE)—are changing the way users interact with Search. Powered by Google's custom version of the Gemini models, these summaries aim to provide instant, concise answers to complex or nuanced queries, all generated using real-time data from across the web.

Instead of presenting a traditional list of blue links, AI Overviews synthesize relevant information into a single, coherent response. The system draws from high-authority sources, analyzing billions of documents on the fly to craft an answer tailored to the user's intent.

The result? A conversational-style summary that reduces the need for multiple clicks and deeper digging.

These AI-generated responses can include not only textual summaries but also supporting visuals like images, videos, and even shopping suggestions—depending on the nature of the search.

They're especially useful for exploratory or multi-step queries where users might be unsure how to phrase what they’re looking for.

As AI Overviews become more widely available around the globe, Google is also refining how advertising fits into this evolving format. According to updated documentation, only broad match keywords are eligible to appear within the AI Overviews box itself. Meanwhile, both exact and broad match keywords can trigger ad placements above or below the Overview.

In cases where both keyword types are in play, Google gives auction priority to exact match for placements around the AI Overview. But for visibility inside the Overview, broad match is essential.

This new structure reflects Google’s continued push toward a more intelligent, streamlined search experience—where both organic content and ads are integrated more seamlessly into the user journey.

Further read: Good Google, Bad Google: How 'AI Mode' Is Changing Web Browsing And Killing Websites