Google will soon be testing ads within its recently launched AI Search Insights feature

Google plans to test ads on its recently launched artificial intelligence (AI)-powered search experience called AI Reviews. Namely, AI Overviews is the rebranded Search Generative Experience (SGE), which was released as an experimental feature to beta testers in May 2023. Now that the feature has become generally available in the US, the tech giant plans to introduce sponsored content within the experience. The company did not reveal whether these ads will be shown to a limited number of users or if they will be shown to everyone.

The development was announced by Google in its Ads and Commerce blog post. The company said: “We will soon begin testing Search and Shopping ads in AI views for users in the US. They will have the opportunity to appear in AI views in a section clearly marked as ‘sponsored’ when they are relevant to both the query and the information in the AI review.”

Highlighting the benefit of placing ads within AI Previews, the tech giant claimed that its early test results showed that people found ads placed above and below the AI-generated summary useful. Currently, advertisers do not need to take any action to show their ads in this space as Google continues to test reception. Furthermore, it said that advertisers running campaigns with the search engine platform under Performance Max and Standard Shopping will be selected for this space.

Responding to the concerns of some website owners, Google also asserted that links included in AI Previews receive more clicks than those appearing through a traditional web listing for a given query. It also claims that users who have access to AI-generated summaries are more likely to use Google search than those who don’t. However, the company did not explain if there are any specific criteria for websites to display their links in this space. “As we continue to test and develop the search experience, we will remain focused on sending valuable traffic to publishers and creators,” the company added.

Interestingly, this development comes just a day after Google reportedly announced that it will create a special space on smartphones where users will experience immersive content from apps they haven’t used in a while to bring them back to it. The feature is said to be powered by the Engage SDK and is currently granted access to 35 major app developers on an invitation basis.