You Don't Need AI Max to Show Ads in Google's AI Overviews or AI Mode
If you've spent any time in Google Ads communities lately, you've probably seen a wave of confusion following Google Marketing Live. The headlines make it sound like Google Search is being completely rebuilt around AI, and that advertisers now have to adopt AI Max to have any shot at showing up in AI Overviews or AI Mode.
That's not accurate, and it's worth clearing up before it changes how you plan your campaigns.
First, Google Search Isn't Disappearing Into AI Mode
Despite the noise coming out of Google Marketing Live, traditional Google Search with its familiar list of links isn't going away. What's actually happening is that Google is expanding two AI-driven experiences further into the search results:
- AI Overviews — the AI-generated summary that appears above traditional results for certain queries
- AI Mode — a fully conversational search experience built on Gemini, closer to using ChatGPT than typing into a search box
Both are getting more real estate, and both are getting more ads. That's the actual shift. Google isn't walking away from a business that generates billions of dollars a year in ad revenue just to hand users a chatbot with no monetization. It's evolving the ad model to fit the new format, not replacing it.
The Misinformation: "You Need AI Max to Show Ads in AI Overviews or AI Mode"
This is the claim that's been circulating, and it's simply not true.
According to Google's own documentation on ads in AI Overviews, ads are eligible to show above, below, or within AI Overviews without requiring any special new campaign type. Specifically, Google states that search and shopping ads from existing Search, Shopping, and Performance Max campaigns that win the auction and are relevant to both the user's query and the AI Overview content are automatically eligible to show inside the AI Overview.
Google does note that because AI Overviews tend to trigger on broader, more exploratory queries, it recommends using AI-powered targeting, broad match on Search, or the keywordless targeting available through AI Max for Search, Performance Max, Shopping, or Dynamic Search Ads, since these are more likely to match those less-predictable queries. That's a best practice for improving match coverage, not a hard eligibility requirement. If your account already leans on broad match keywords, Performance Max, or standard Shopping campaigns, you already have a path into AI-powered placements.
The same logic extends to AI Mode. Reporting from Search Engine Land on an internal Google document describes how ads in AI Mode will be based on the full context of a conversation rather than a single keyword-matched query. That same reporting notes that advertisers using Performance Max or AI Max for Search will see their ads appear in AI Mode as it rolls out further — again, without singling out AI Max as mandatory.
So What Actually Gets You Eligible?
Based on Google's guidance, any of the following gives you a path to showing ads in AI Overviews or AI Mode:
- Broad match keywords in your Search campaigns
- Performance Max campaigns
- Standard Shopping campaigns
- AI Max for Search (optional, not required)
If you're already running one of the first three, you have coverage. You do not need to turn on AI Max if it hasn't performed well for your account, or if you're simply not ready to adopt it yet.
The Catch: You Can't See Any of This Happening
Here's the part that makes this genuinely frustrating for advertisers: Google gives you almost no visibility into when or how often your ads are showing in these AI-powered placements.
Per Google's own FAQ on the topic:
- You cannot directly target ad placements to show only within AI Overviews
- You cannot opt out of showing ads within AI Overviews
- You do not get segmented reporting when your ads serve within AI Overviews — Google currently lumps this into existing reporting rather than breaking it out separately
Ads that do show in AI Overviews are counted as Top Ads in your existing reports, but you won't get a clean breakdown of "this many impressions came specifically from inside an AI Overview." Google has said it's still developing what reporting for this experience will eventually look like.
What This Means for Your Account
Practically speaking, this doesn't change much about how you should be running things day to day:
- Keep your feeds clean and current if you're running Shopping or Performance Max — Google explicitly calls out feed hygiene (accurate pricing, product descriptions, images) as increasingly important since these ads have to match not just a query but the AI-generated content around it.
- Don't feel pressured to switch to AI Max if it hasn't worked for you. Broad match, Performance Max, and standard Shopping are already giving you a shot at these placements.
- Don't expect reporting clarity anytime soon. Optimize based on your overall account performance rather than trying to isolate AI Overview or AI Mode results, because right now, you can't.
The bigger picture is that Google is going to keep expanding AI Overviews and AI Mode, and ad placements inside both will keep growing right along with them. As an advertiser, the game is shifting in terms of where impressions come from, but the core mechanics — auction, relevance, quality — are still the same. You're not locked out just because you haven't adopted every new AI-branded product Google ships.
Sources: Google Ads Help — About ads and AI Overviews; Search Engine Land — Google briefs brands on AI Mode ads ahead of Q4 rollout