Google’s AI search summaries officially have ads

Google is rolling out ads in AI Overviews, which means you’ll now start seeing products in some of the search engine’s AI-generated summaries.

Let’s say you’re searching for ways to get a grass stain out of your pants. If you ask Google, its AI-generated response will offer some tips, along with suggestions for products to purchase that could help you remove the stain. The products will appear beneath a “sponsored” header, and Google spokesperson Craig Ewer told The Verge they’ll only show up if a question has a “commercial angle.”

Google has been testing ads in AI Overviews since May but says it’s moving forward with a full rollout because it helps people “quickly connect with relevant businesses, products and services to take the next step at the exact moment they need them.” For now, ads are only coming to AI Overviews in the US on mobile. Microsoft similarly includes ads in its Copilot chatbot and recently changed how they surface in responses.

Google is also making some tweaks to the formatting of AI Overviews. Following a test in August, Google will now display cited webpages more prominently on the right side of the summary, as it found this “has driven an increase in traffic to supporting websites compared to the previous design.”

It’s rolling out AI-organized search pages as well — a feature that displays a custom results page with relevant information instead of showing just a list of links. This is currently only available on mobile in the US for searches related to recipes and meal ideas.