There is no bid, no placement setting and no opt-out for ads in AI Overviews.
Google's own help page answers both of the questions UK advertisers ask first. Can I target the AI Overview? "No, you can't directly target ad placements in the AI Overviews." Can I keep my ads out of it? "No, you can't opt out of serving ads in AI Overviews."
So the honest answer to "how do I get my ad into the AI Overview" is that you don't, at least not directly. You run the campaign types Google has made eligible, and its auction decides the rest. This article sets out what Google has actually published, where the UK stands in October 2026, and what is still unknown.
Two different placements with the same name
Google uses "ads and AI Overviews" to cover two things, and only one of them is restricted by country. The Google Ads help page separates ads that appear above or below an AI Overview from ads that appear within it.
Above and below is the familiar Search results page with an AI Overview in the middle. Google says existing text, Shopping, local and app ads from Search, Shopping, Performance Max and App campaigns are eligible there, in more than 200 markets. If your ads already serve on Google.co.uk, they are already serving around AI Overviews.
Within the AI Overview is the new part. Here the ad sits inside the generated answer, labelled "Sponsored", and Google says both the user's query and the content of the AI Overview itself are used to decide whether an ad is relevant enough to show.
Where the UK stands in October 2026
Ads within AI Overviews are not yet available in the UK. The help page lists the countries where the placement is live, in English on mobile and desktop: Australia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore and the US. The UK is not on it, and nor is any EU country.
That list was quietly added on 19 December 2025. PPC Land reported that there was no announcement; advertisers noticed when the help page changed from "will expand to select English speaking countries soon" to the eleven named markets. Google had told attendees at its October 2025 Google Access event that the expansion would reach "select English-speaking markets by the end of 2025", according to Search Engine Land.
The UK was left out of that wave despite being an English-speaking market where AI Mode has been live since 28 July 2025. At the time, PPC Land noted that Google had plans to introduce ads in AI Mode but that "specific implementation details for the UK market remain undisclosed." As of this month, they still are.
Google has not explained why the UK and the EU were left out, and we have found nothing on the record that does.
Which campaign types are eligible
Eligibility for ads within AI Overviews runs through Search, Shopping and Performance Max. Google's wording is that "Text and Shopping ads from existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns are eligible" to show within AI Overviews. The May 2025 Google announcement was more specific about Search: advertisers "already using Performance Max, Shopping and Search campaigns with broad match, including AI Max for Search campaigns, will be eligible to have their ads appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode."
The help page's best practice section says why. Google says it needs "AI-powered targeting solutions like broad match on Search or the keywordless targeting technology available through AI Max for Search campaigns" to match an ad to a long, conversational query that no keyword list anticipated. It also names Performance Max, Shopping and Dynamic Search Ads as keywordless routes, and recommends Smart Bidding.
| Campaign type | Eligible within AI Overviews (Google help page) | Route to eligibility | UK status, October 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search, broad match | Yes | Broad match plus Smart Bidding | Above/below only; within not available |
| Search with AI Max | Yes | Search term matching (keywordless) | Above/below only; within not available |
| Search, exact and phrase only | Not listed | A "small experiment" in AI Mode only, confirmed 4 September 2026 | Not stated |
| Shopping (standard) | Yes | Product feed, no keywords | Above/below only; within not available |
| Shopping with AI Max | Not stated separately | Launched 30 April 2026; Google says AI Mode formats "function best" with it | Not stated |
| Performance Max | Yes | Keywordless by design | Above/below only; within not available |
| Dynamic Search Ads | Named as a keywordless route | Being folded into AI Max | Above/below only |
| App, Local | No (above/below only) | Not applicable | Above/below only |
The table shows where the line sits. The campaign types Google recommends for AI placements are the same ones it has been pushing for two years: broad match, AI Max, Performance Max. There is no setting labelled "AI Overviews" anywhere in the account.
The exact match exception, and why it matters
A tightly controlled Search campaign can now show in AI Mode, but only in a limited test. On 4 September 2026, Google's Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin confirmed to Search Engine Roundtable that exact and phrase match text ads were serving in AI Mode after Anthony Higman of Adsquire spotted it across several accounts.
"Exact and phrase match keywords are eligible to serve text ads in AI Mode." Ginny Marvin, Google Ads Liaison, Search Engine Roundtable, 4 September 2026
Marvin added two caveats. It is "a small experiment that recently kicked off", and it is "limited to cases where there is explicit and direct user intent." AI Max and Performance Max, she said, remain the way to capture conversational intent and access the newer formats such as Highlighted Answers. PPC Land's write-up notes that Google gave no geography, no vertical list and no duration.
This matters for UK SMEs because it is the first sign that a tight keyword structure does not automatically shut you out. It applies to AI Mode, not to ads within AI Overviews, and it is a test. But it undercuts the "go broad or go home" message that circulated through 2025.
How Google decides who shows
Google says it uses "existing signals and systems" to decide whether an ad shows above, below or within an AI Overview. That is the full published answer. There is no separate auction, no separate bid and no quality score specific to the placement. The help page adds one condition that ordinary Search ads do not have: the ad must be relevant to the AI Overview's content as well as to the query.
Sensitive verticals are excluded. Google names adult, alcohol, gambling, finance, healthcare and politics as categories whose ads will not appear within AI Overviews. A UK mortgage broker or private clinic is therefore outside this placement regardless of campaign type, even once the UK is switched on.
The only independent data on who actually shows comes from the US. SE Ranking checked 50,032 commercial keywords on 30 June 2026 and, as Search Engine Land reported, AI Mode showed text ads on 29.45% of them. Ad presence rose with cost per click: 24.33% of keywords under $2, 32.45% between $2 and $10, and 53.56% at $10 or more. Pets had ads on 72.38% of queries; healthcare, which is excluded, on 2.64%.
Two further figures from the same study are worth holding onto. Only 11.53% of advertiser domains were also cited as a source in the AI answer they advertised against, and about 85% of advertisers did not rank organically for the keywords their ads appeared on. Paid and cited are separate lists.
How reporting works, and what it does not tell you
Google Ads does not break out ads within AI Overviews. The help page says plainly that Google "currently doesn't offer segmented reporting when ads show within Search AI Overviews", that the feature is "still in early stages", and that it "will announce when there is more to share." Those impressions and clicks are reported as Top Ads, mixed in with everything else on the page.
The search terms report has also changed under this. In May 2026, Search Engine Journal reported that Google had added a line to its ad group prioritisation help page: for AI Mode, AI Overviews, Google Lens and autocomplete, the reported search term may reflect the inferred intent behind a search, not the words the user typed.
So the two tools an account manager would reach for, a segment and the search terms report, are the two Google has not provided or has softened. You can see your ads serving on a page that contains an AI Overview. You cannot see which of them were inside it, what they cost, or exactly what the person asked.
What Google announced in May 2026, and where it stands
Google Marketing Live 2026 added four AI formats, all tested or launched in the US only. Search Engine Land's coverage lists Conversational Discovery ads and Highlighted Answers (both in AI Mode, US test on mobile and desktop), AI-powered Shopping ads (US, later in 2026) and Business Agent for Leads (open beta, US). Google attributed the announcements to Vidhya Srinivasan, VP and GM of Ads and Commerce.
For eligibility, PPC Land reports Google saying the AI Mode formats "function best" when paired with AI Max for Search, AI Max for Shopping and Performance Max. AI Max for Shopping itself launched on 30 April 2026, adding text customisation and final URL expansion to standard Shopping campaigns, according to PPC Land.
Herdl, a UK agency that attended the EMEA event on 21 May 2026, wrote that it expected a UK rollout "soon" but that nothing was confirmed. Five months on, that is still the position. Nothing on Google's help pages names the UK for any of these formats.
What a UK SME should do now
The practical job is to be ready without spending on readiness. Because the UK is not yet in the list for ads within AI Overviews, there is no reason to restructure a working account for a placement that does not exist here. There is a short list of things worth doing, most of which are good practice anyway.
- Check the help page country list once a month. The December 2025 expansion appeared with no announcement, and the UK may arrive the same way.
- Confirm which of your campaigns are already eligible by type: any Performance Max, any Shopping, and any Search campaign with broad match or AI Max search term matching on. Those will enter the placement automatically on day one.
- If you are in finance, healthcare, gambling, alcohol or politics, note that this placement is closed to you. Do not let anyone sell you an "AI Overviews ads strategy".
- Make sure conversion tracking reports qualified leads, not form fills. With no segment for the placement, the only way you will judge it is through blended CPA, so the blended CPA must mean something.
- Keep the negative keyword lists current. They still apply to broad match and AI Max, and search terms from AI surfaces may be interpreted, so review them by intent, not by exact string.
- Decide in advance how you will judge it. Note one campaign's CPA for the four weeks before the UK switch-on and compare the four weeks after. Crude, but it is the only test Google's reporting currently allows.
- Treat your organic presence in AI Overviews as a separate task, closer to generative engine optimisation than to paid search. The US data suggests the advertiser and the cited source are usually different businesses. Our AI Overviews optimisation work covers the cited side; this article covers the paid side.
What is not yet known
The unknowns outnumber the knowns. Google has not said when, or whether, ads within AI Overviews will reach the UK. It has not said what the eleven-country list has in common. It has not said whether a separate bid or a placement report is coming, only that it "will announce when there is more to share."
It has not published a performance figure for ads within AI Overviews beyond a 2024 internal survey saying people find them "helpful". Its Chief Business Officer told the Q3 2025 earnings call, as PPC Land reported, that monetisation is "at approximately the same rate" above, below and within AI responses. That tells an advertiser nothing about their own cost per click.
Nobody outside Google knows whether the exact match experiment in AI Mode will become policy, whether it includes the UK, or how long it will run.
Our decision rule for UK clients is simple. Do not change the account for a placement that is not live here. Do keep it in a state where, when the help page changes, nothing needs doing. The advertisers who show in UK AI Overviews on day one will be the ones whose campaigns were already eligible the day before, which is the kind of readiness a UK Google Ads agency should maintain without being asked.
If you want a second opinion on whether your Google Ads account is in that state, our paid media team will look at it, or you can contact us directly.