Google introduces ads in Search AI overview, Lens and others

Tech giant, Google has announced that it has begun a global rollout of ads to be displayed within and alongside the AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of search results. At a recent Google Marketing Live event, the company demoed how Search and Shopping ads would appear directly within AI Overviews when relevant to both the query and the answer provided.

“This new ad format was designed to help people discover new brands and make informed
purchasing decisions”, Vice President of Google Ads, Shashi Thakur said as he described it as the future of advertising in an AI-powered world. He added that the ads will feature a clear and transparent “Sponsored” label.

The company said in May that it would start testing ads in these search summaries, called AI Overviews, and now it’s rolling the feature out to anyone in the US using Google’s mobile app. “After several months of careful testing, we’re excited to announce that Ads in AI Overviews are
now available for mobile users in the US”, Shashi said.

Google introduced the AI Overviews in May. It summarizes the contents of search results, at the top of the page for some queries. They were initially criticized for displaying inaccurate information and reducing the need to click through to cited websites that would earn ad revenue from visits.

Read also: Here is all you need to know about Google’s latest AI-powered updates on Search

Shopping ads in Google Lens

Lens queries are now one of the fastest-growing query types on Search and younger users
(ages 18-24) are engaging most with it.

The company said that Google Lens, the visual search app, will now be able to process video and voice input in addition to photos and text. “Starting this week, you’ll see an even more helpful results page that shows key information about the product you’re looking for, including reviews, price comparisons across retailers and where to buy”, the company said.

It also said that shopping ads will now appear above and alongside visual search results by the end of the year. According to Google, this feature is being rolled out on Android and iOS devices in select countries starting with top holiday shopping categories like toys, electronics and beauty.

This presents a unique opportunity for advertisers as people use Lens for nearly 20 billion visual searches every month and 20 per cent of all Lens searches are shopping-related. “Because your product listing ad will show up for visual searches the same way it does for query searches, you can showcase your business to a highly engaged audience”, Shashi said.

How do you use it?

Say you’re at the aquarium and want to learn more about some interesting fish at one of the exhibits. Open Lens in the Google app and hold down the shutter button to record while asking your question out loud, like, “Why are they swimming together?” Then, Google will make sense of the video and your question together to produce an AI Overview, along with helpful resources from across the web.

Other updates

In a separate announcement, the search company also said it has been testing a new design for AI Overviews that adds prominent links to supporting webpages directly within text. This means that Google will start adding inline links to sources used in AI-generated summaries.

Initial tests indicate that these links sent more traffic to websites compared to the old design with links at the bottom, said Rhiannon Bell, Google Search’s vice president of user experience, during the media demonstration.

“Based on this positive reception, starting today, we’re rolling out this experience globally to all countries where AI overviews are available”, Liz Reid, VP, Head of Google Search said.

In addition, Google said that it will begin sorting search results into scrollable lists of suggestions tailored to the user’s query and account history. The “AI-organized search results,” will be limited to suggesting recipes to American users of Google’s mobile app for now.