Ads in AI Overviews are ordinary Google Ads ads that appear above, below or within the AI-generated answer at the top of the results page, with the "Sponsored" label. It is not a new campaign type to create: they are the Search, Shopping, Performance Max and App campaigns you already run, served in one more space.
There is, however, a distinction that most articles on the subject skip, and it changes everything. Above and below the AI answer, your ads are already running in the UK too: the official Google Ads help page says that placement is live in all 200+ markets where AI Overviews exist. Within the answer, no: that space is available only in English and in twelve countries, and the United Kingdom is not one of them.
The difference is not academic. In the first case you are already paying to appear on a page that behaves differently from the one of two years ago, without being able to isolate it in your reports. In the second you are reading advice on a format you cannot yet buy from the UK, even though most of that advice is written in English. Below you will find what is live and what is not, the effect AI answers are having on the figures of a real e-commerce site, and which Google Ads deadline actually concerns you from September.
Above, below or within: three different positions
The positions are mutually exclusive. Ginny Marvin, Google's Ads Liaison, clarified this on X and Search Engine Land reported it on 29 May 2025: an ad can appear above or below the AI Overview, or within the answer, never in both places in the same impression.
The eligible formats differ too. Above and below, text, Shopping, local and app ads can show, from Search, Shopping, Performance Max and App campaigns. Within the answer, for now, only text and Shopping ads from Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns.
The practical difference also lies in match type, and therefore in how you set up your keyword research. For the space above and below, both exact and broad match compete, and when both are available exact match takes precedence in the auction. For the space within the answer, among keywords only broad match is eligible (alongside the keywordless targeting of AI Max, Performance Max, Shopping and Dynamic Search Ads): anyone who has built the account on exact match keywords alone is excluded from the most visible placement from the start.
Google has not provided an opt-out. There is no box to tick saying "I don't want to appear around AI answers": if the campaign is eligible, that space is part of the inventory you are already bidding on. That applies to your UK account as well.
What is live today, surface by surface
This is the picture as of September 2026, rebuilt from Google's documentation and from the publications that have followed its updates. It is the table missing from the first page of results, where several articles explain "how to make the most of" a format that cannot yet be bought from the UK, and others describe as unavailable a space that is already serving their ads.
| Surface | Status in the UK | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Overviews (organic result) | Live since August 2024 | 200+ countries and 40 languages | Google Search Blog |
| Ads above and below AI Overviews | Live | All 200+ markets with AI Overviews. Text, Shopping, local and app ads | Google Ads Help |
| Ads within AI Overviews | Not available | English only, mobile and desktop, in 12 countries: Australia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, United States | Google Ads Help |
| AI Mode (conversational interface) | Live since July 2025 | 200+ countries and territories | |
| Ads in AI Mode | Not available | In testing in the United States | |
| Shopping ads in AI Mode | Not confirmed for the UK | Announced on 11 February 2026, no country list published | PPC Land |
The twelve countries were first counted by PPC News Feed, and the news was picked up by Search Engine Roundtable on 22 December 2025. The same document specifies that ads are not shown within AI Overviews for sensitive verticals: adult, alcohol, gambling, finance, healthcare, politics.
Why the UK and Europe remain outside the in-answer space, while English-speaking markets such as Australia and Canada are in, is a question Google has not answered publicly. The explanation cited most often is regulatory: in the EU the Digital Markets Act and the AI Act, in the UK the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, under which the CMA designated Google with strategic market status in general search in October 2025. Until there is an official statement, it remains a hypothesis and should be treated as one.
What is already happening
Even without the in-answer space, AI answers are already moving your numbers. On the organic side it is very visible, and from there you can see what is happening to the paid side as well.
Public UK data on how often AI Overviews appear is still thin. A study by Studio 36 Digital on 1,000 keywords across several industries, tracked from April 2024 to October 2025, found AI Overviews on roughly 42% of UK searches, with the highest concentration on informational and health queries. It is a small sample, so treat it as an order of magnitude. If you want the full picture of how sources are selected, we analysed it in the AI Overviews ranking factors.
To the public data we add our own. These are the Search Console figures of an Italian outdoor equipment e-commerce site we work with, traffic from Google Italy, where ads and AI Overviews are served on the same terms as in the UK, same quarter compared year on year.
| Device | Impressions 2025 | Impressions 2026 | Clicks 2025 | Clicks 2026 | CTR 2025 | CTR 2026 | Average position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Desktop | 22,627 | 47,771 | 877 | 866 | 3.88% | 1.81% | from 13.6 to 9.2 |
| Mobile | 57,986 | 90,714 | 1,753 | 2,128 | 3.02% | 2.35% | from 6.4 to 5.1 |
| Total | 81,461 | 139,633 | 2,661 | 3,055 | 3.27% | 2.19% | from 8.4 to 6.5 |
The row to read is the first. On desktop, impressions more than doubled, average position improved by more than four places, and clicks fell from 877 to 866. A year of work that put the site higher and more often in front of people, with eleven fewer clicks. Desktop CTR halved, from 3.88% to 1.81%.
On mobile the drop is there but smaller, from 3.02% to 2.35%, and clicks still grow by 21%. The difference between the two devices is consistent with how much space the AI Overview takes on a large screen compared with a small one. On desktop the generated answer, its links and the follow-up questions fill the first screen on their own, and push everything else down, including organic results and the ads below the answer.
This is the number to bring to the meeting when someone asks why organic traffic is not growing in line with rankings. It is not a ranking problem, it is that a position is worth less than before. We measured the same effect on a larger scale in our study on the impact of AI Overviews on organic search.
The deadline that affects UK advertisers now
While the discussion focuses on a space that cannot be bought from the UK, there is a change that affects every account with Dynamic Search Ads campaigns, and it is starting now.
Google announced on 15 April 2026 that Dynamic Search Ads are being replaced by AI Max for Search. The timeline is as follows: from September 2026 automatic upgrades begin and new DSA campaigns can no longer be created; the final deadline, moved with an update on 11 June 2026, is February 2027. During the upgrade, dynamic ad groups become standard ad groups.
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| Ongoing | Voluntary upgrade with a migration tool that carries over the history |
| September 2026 | Automatic upgrades start, no more new DSA campaigns |
| End of September 2026 | Automatic upgrades expected to be completed |
| February 2027 | Dynamic Search Ads are shut down for good |
The figure Google states is 7% more conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA or ROAS, using the full AI Max suite instead of search term matching alone. Treat it as a reference, not a promise: it is an average across all advertisers, not a forecast for your account.
The link with the rest of this piece is direct. AI Max works on search term matching and automatic asset generation, which are exactly the signals that feed the placements within AI answers. When that space opens in the UK, accounts already on AI Max will arrive with months of data; the others will start from zero at a time when the auction is already crowded.
Why you will not find an "AI Overviews" row in the report
It is always the second question, after "how much does it cost". There is no dedicated segment. Ads served above, below or within AI Overviews flow into standard Search Network reporting, and their clicks and impressions are added to those of the other placements. Asked about it, Google replied that it is still evaluating what reporting for this experience will look like.
This has an unwelcome consequence, and it applies to UK accounts too: you cannot isolate the performance of the space above and below the AI answer, nor decide to spend more or less there. You buy a bundle and see a single number. Anyone who promises you a separate measurement of AI Overviews is selling you an estimate, and you should ask what signals it is built on.
What you can measure is the indirect effect: how much demand arrives already filtered by an AI answer. The most readable signal is the divergence between impressions and clicks in Search Console, as in the table above, cross-checked against the trend in brand searches. If generic searches fall and brand searches hold, the AI answer has already done the filtering before the person reached you.
What to do in a UK account between now and the end of the year
Five concrete steps, in order of urgency.
- Review your DSA campaigns now. If you have any, decide yourself when to migrate them using the tool that keeps the history, instead of discovering the automatic upgrade after the fact. A budget that behaves differently without anyone having touched anything is the worst way to start a quarter.
- Stop relying on exact match alone. An ad group on broad match with automated bidding is already useful today to capture long queries, and queries in AI Mode are two to three times longer than traditional ones. It is also the only route into the space within the answer, on the day it opens here.
- Fix your Google Merchant Center feed. Shopping ads are already eligible above and below AI Overviews in the UK, and all the commercial formats announced for AI Mode read the feed. Wrong titles, attributes and availability today become exclusions tomorrow.
- Measure the impressions/clicks divergence by device. In aggregate you cannot see it: in the case above the total shows CTR down by a third, desktop alone shows it halved. Desktop is what tells you how much the AI Overview is taking from you.
- Work on getting your site cited in the answers, not just ranked. That is generative engine optimisation work, and in AI answers it is the only space in the UK you can win rather than buy. If the line between the acronyms is not clear, we drew it in AEO vs SEO.
Point five pays the most, and the figures from a real case show it better than any forecast. For Macropix, a Milan-based LED screen manufacturer, the keyword "monitor pubblicitario" (advertising display) moved from position 88 to position 2, and in July 2026 the domain held a 25.55% share of voice on the LED wall cluster, ahead of Amazon at 18.08%. The method is described in full in the piece on SEO for manufacturing, and the same reasoning about a content structure that holds up against AI answers applies to any B2B project.
How much is at stake
To give a sense of the sums involved: according to the IAB UK Digital Adspend study with Oliver Wyman, published on 3 March 2026, UK digital advertising was worth £40.5bn in 2025, up 10%, and is forecast to reach £44.7bn in 2026. Search accounted for £17.9bn, 44% of digital spend, growing 6%.
On the other side, at Google Marketing Live on 20 May 2026 Google presented four formats built on Gemini: Conversational Discovery ads, Highlighted Answers, AI-powered Shopping ads and a Business Agent for leads. In the same announcement it cites Ipsos Global Consumer Journeys research from December 2025 on 13,189 online shoppers in 25 countries, the UK included, according to which 75% of people say they make faster, more confident decisions using AI Mode.
These two numbers belong side by side. The UK market is growing, and the surface where Google is moving its new formats is only half open here. Anyone managing budgets in the UK has a window in which to build before the in-answer auction opens, which is a more comfortable position than that of US colleagues, who are already learning to spend inside a space they cannot measure. If you want us to handle it, the starting point is our Google Ads management, and for visibility in AI answers there is AI SEO.
Frequently asked questions
Above and below the answer, yes. The Google Ads help page states that this placement is live in all 200+ markets where AI Overviews exist, so the UK included, for text, Shopping, local and app ads from Search, Shopping, Performance Max and App campaigns. Within the answer, no: that space is available only in English and in twelve countries, and the UK is not one of them.
In twelve countries, in English only, on mobile and desktop: Australia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore and the United States. Google does not show ads within AI Overviews for sensitive verticals such as adult content, alcohol, gambling, finance, healthcare and politics.
No. Google has not provided an opt-out setting. If the campaign is eligible, that space is part of the inventory you are already bidding on, just like the other Search Network placements.
You cannot. There is no dedicated segment: impressions and clicks are added to standard Search Network reporting. Google has said it is still evaluating how to report on this experience. The only measurement possible today is indirect, looking at the divergence between impressions and clicks in Search Console and at the trend in brand searches.
They become AI Max for Search campaigns. Google announced the replacement on 15 April 2026: from September 2026 automatic upgrades start and new DSA campaigns can no longer be created, with a final deadline in February 2027. It is worth migrating early with the dedicated tool, which carries over the campaign history.
Public data is limited. A Studio 36 Digital study on 1,000 keywords across several industries, tracked from April 2024 to October 2025, found AI Overviews on roughly 42% of UK searches, with the highest share on informational and health queries. It is a small sample, so read it as an order of magnitude.
Something the industry rarely says: the real risk for anyone running Google Ads in the UK is not arriving late to the space within AI Overviews. It is continuing to read Search spend as if the results page were the one of three years ago, while your ads are already being served around an answer written by a model. When a large share of searches opens this way, the keyword you buy no longer brings a person who still has to work things out, but one who has already read a summary written by someone else. That changes what the ad needs to say and what the landing page needs to offer. That work can be done today, without waiting for Google to open the in-answer auction.
