AI vs. Ads: The Fight for Ranking Supremacy
▼ Summary
– Google’s AI Overviews are reshaping search by pushing both organic and paid listings lower on the page, reducing click-through rates and revenue for advertisers.
– Adthena’s research shows that across seven major industries, paid ads lose visibility by appearing below the AI Overviews 25% of the time, creating revenue instability.
– Performance varies significantly by industry, with sectors like Travel often appearing above the AI Overviews, while Healthcare ads are pushed below them nearly two-thirds of the time.
– The disruption is most severe on mobile devices, where limited screen space means ads placed below an AI Overview become virtually invisible without scrolling.
– The data reveals counterintuitive opportunities, as ads on longer, informational queries in some industries (like Automotive) often secure better placement above AI Overviews than on short, transactional terms.
The introduction of Google’s AI Overviews has fundamentally altered the search engine results page, creating a new battleground for visibility. For paid search marketers, the fight for user attention is no longer just about outbidding competitors; it’s a critical struggle to secure placement above the AI-generated summary itself. This shift pushes both organic and paid listings downward, directly threatening click-through rates and revenue. New research provides a crucial benchmark, revealing that ad position visibility is lost to AI Overviews roughly 25% of the time across major industries, though this impact varies significantly by sector, device, and user intent.
Industries like Travel, Energy, Financial Services, and Retail demonstrate relative strength, with ads appearing above AI Overviews more than 75% of the time. However, this still means one in four paid advertisements are affected, creating immediate instability for high-value keywords. In stark contrast, Healthcare emerges as the clear outlier, with ads appearing below the AI Overviews nearly 65% of the time. Given the high-stakes, research-heavy nature of health queries, Google’s AI prioritizes delivering “expert” information first, severely limiting commercial visibility. The Gaming industry presents a volatile landscape with a near 50/50 split, making visibility unpredictable and demanding highly dynamic bidding strategies.
The threat is magnified on mobile devices, where limited screen real estate is severely compressed by the presence of AI Overviews. While the Automotive sector shows a solid overall performance, daily trends reveal a mobile problem, with ads pushed below the AI summary nearly half the time. On a small screen, an ad buried beneath a lengthy AI answer becomes virtually invisible without scrolling, cratering visibility and CTR. For healthcare, the situation is a “double whammy”: desktop ads sit below AI Overviews most of the time, while mobile performs only slightly better. This suggests the AI box may be tuned for mobile, occasionally leaving a narrow window for ad visibility that marketers must exploit with tailored creative.
Analyzing query intent uncovers counterintuitive patterns that challenge traditional PPC strategies. Longer, informational queries in Healthcare see ad visibility above AI Overviews drop to 0% for 10-word searches, confirming Google’s push of commercial intent down the page. Gaming reveals the opposite dynamic: short, broad terms see 0% visibility above AI, but on longer, specific queries (7-9 words), ads capture 100% of the space above the AI summary. This presents a massive opportunity to intercept users during deep research. Perhaps most surprisingly, industries like Automotive and Travel see ads perform better on longer, informational queries than on short, high-volume terms. For Automotive, the rate of ads appearing above AI Overviews jumps from under 22% for one-word queries to over 74% for four-word queries.
This data confirms the AI Overviews threat is highly segmented, demanding a strategy of precision. Marketers must know exactly when and where their ads can beat the AI’s position. Three critical next steps are essential. First, explore a device-specific strategy, particularly for campaigns in sectors like Automotive where mobile magnifies visibility loss. Second, identify quick wins in keyword coverage by targeting long-tail informational queries in industries like Gaming and Automotive, where competitors may be overlooking high-visibility opportunities. Third, review and sharpen ad copy against the AI answer. To earn the click, ads must do what the AI cannot: provide compelling, human-centered reasons to choose a brand. Focus on transactional hooks like deals, guarantees, and urgency, while building trust with testimonials and unique brand stories.
The search results page has irrevocably changed. Success now belongs to marketers who gain granular, real-time insight into their ad position relative to AI Overviews and possess the agility to act on it.
(Source: Search Engine Land)
