AI Overviews are changing how paid ads appear in Google Search. As more searches are answered directly in the SERP, you have fewer opportunities to earn clicks and more pressure to appear inside AI-generated responses.
Google is already signaling which campaign types are best positioned for this shift: Shopping, Performance Max, and AI Max for Search. But campaign selection alone isn’t enough. Feed quality, contextual landing page content, audience signals, and conversational creative all influence whether your ads appear.
Enable Google-recommended campaigns to sync with AI Overviews
Google has been fairly transparent about which campaign opportunities offer the best chance to appear in AI Overviews. Interestingly, these are the same opportunities that seasoned marketers seem reluctant to adopt because of a lack of control.
However, the right mix of control, data, and understanding of intent will assist both the advertiser and the searcher in the long run. This strategy involves more than just advocating for specific campaign types. AI Overviews are won through contextual alignment, fully optimized feed data, and robust on-page content.
One of the first steps toward increased visibility within the AI Overviews is to enable the campaigns Google recommends for syncing with this new feature. Specifically, these campaigns are Shopping, Performance Max, and AI Max for Search, with the latter being coupled with broad match keywords and smart bidding and utilizing final URL expansion.
Google recommends these campaigns in particular because of how they interact with search terms, using keyword flexibility to determine when to show ads.
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Shopping campaigns
They are the original keywordless campaign. How well they perform is the product of many factors, but primarily the quality of your data feed. Make sure your product data feed is well-built and optimized, with high-quality images of your product. Ensure your titles and descriptions are thorough and, if possible, even populate the optional feed attributes.
The product data feed is the essential indicator of whether an ad will show for a specific query. When a user asks a high-intent question, the AI Overview can generate a product carousel at the top or bottom of the summary in addition to the shopping results in the SERP.
Performance Max campaigns
Performance Max is a keywordless campaign that utilizes a combination of page content, data feed, and audience insights to determine how it will serve ads. Together, these inputs help determine when and where ads appear for specific queries.
Opting into Final URL expansion will enable your ad to appear for more searches as Google leans into page content to determine relevance to the user’s query.
AI Max for Search campaigns
AI Max for Search uses the existing keywords as a jumping-off point. However, it expands beyond them to find the right means to serve the ads. This flexibility turns the keyword into an intent signal rather than a specific indicator of when the ads will serve.
Note that AI Max uses both search term matching and asset optimization to reach more of these queries that wouldn’t be covered under traditional keyword targeting searches.
6 best practices when setting up your ad campaigns
To increase your chance of having your ad chosen as a featured section in an AI Overview, make sure you’re optimizing your campaign across creative, copy, schema, and link building tactics that strengthen brand authority.
1. Diversify your assets
An important factor to consider when utilizing campaigns like AI Max and Performance Max is the creative you’re using. Make sure you have a diverse variety of informative assets.
Include varied headlines and descriptions alongside descriptive and informational video and image assets within Performance Max.
When using images and video, provide assets in square (1:1), landscape (1.91:1), and vertical (4:5 or 9:16) orientations to allow placement across many different response iterations.
2. Use a conversational tone in your messaging
Google indicates that “ads in AI Overview are matched to their understanding of the user intent based on not just the user query, but also the content of the AI Overview.
In your Responsive Search Ads, shift from generic sales pitches to a more conversational tone. Avoid overused phrases like “Buy now” and use assistive language for the user.
3. Be clear and informative
Attempt to answer the who, what, how, and why of a query. Include at least 3-5 headlines that are phrased as answers or helpful summaries. This clarity will give your ad a better chance of being selected as the featured selection in an AI overview.
Because final URL expansion relies so heavily on landing page content, utilizing information-first copy alongside a context-rich landing page is especially important. It appears that the more content the final URL expansion has to draw from, the more opportunities your ad has to appear in the AI overviews for specific queries users are asking.
4. Check schema markup and links
In addition to on-page content, make sure the schema markup is thorough and aligned to verify the content. If you’re able to link back to reputable sources from your landing page, do so to build authority. Work closely with your SEO team to implement these best practices.
5. Guide the automation through strong audience signals
One thing that all of these campaigns have in common is a perceived lack of control over what the advertiser is actually bidding on. It’s important to guide the automation with strong audience signals and the strategic use of exclusions and negative keywords.
Your audience signals are strong hints to Google about who’s most likely to convert. A strong audience strategy that leverages first-party signals helps the system learn and optimize quickly toward intent-based conversions.
6. Regularly monitor your campaigns for brand alignment
As in all campaigns, brand safety and profitability are still of utmost importance. It’s vital to regularly monitor the search terms report, landing pages stemming from final URL expansion, and any automatically created assets.
Utilize account-level exclusions, negative keywords, and ad copy optimization often to ensure that your message remains aligned with your landing page and offer.
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Adapt your approach for AI Overviews
The fundamental shift toward conversational AI Overviews means marketers must pivot from driving clicks to maximizing visibility directly on the SERP.
Winning in this new environment requires a strategic, holistic approach that leverages Google’s recommended campaign types — Shopping, Performance Max, and AI Max for Search — by prioritizing data feed quality and contextual alignment.
By focusing on robust, information-first landing page content, diverse and intent-signaling creative assets, and thorough schema markup, you can ensure your offerings are chosen as the featured selection in an AI Overview, turning this disruption into a powerful new channel for growth.