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Google Ads in AI Mode: Eligibility, Targeting and Privacy

Google has named several campaign types eligible for AI Mode ads, but eligibility is not guaranteed delivery. Here is what advertisers can and cannot conclude about targeting, reporting and privacy.
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To give Google Ads a chance to appear in AI Mode, use a campaign type Google has named as eligible: Performance Max, Shopping, or Search with broad match, including AI Max for Search. Eligibility is not a guarantee of serving. Google describes AI Mode ads as an evolving test, and its published announcements do not yet spell out a complete set of AI Mode-specific targeting, reporting, or privacy rules.

What ads in AI Mode look like

AI Mode is Google’s conversational Search experience. Google says ads may appear below or integrated into AI Mode responses, and that integrated formats will be clearly labeled. Its May 2026 announcement describes newer formats powered by AI Max and Performance Max, designed to provide product details and guidance in the context of an AI-generated response. The announcement mentions verified product details and an independent AI explainer, but does not establish the full range of formats or how every placement is selected. Google’s Ads in AI Mode announcement and its 2025 Search announcement describe the test and earlier placement plans.

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These announcements describe a test, not a permanent placement with a complete public specification. They do not say that every eligible campaign will receive impressions, or that an advertiser can require an ad to appear in a particular AI Mode answer.

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Which Google Ads campaigns are eligible?

Google’s 2025 announcement named these existing campaign types as eligible to have ads appear in AI Mode:

  • Performance Max
  • Shopping
  • Search campaigns using broad match, including AI Max for Search

This is Google’s published eligibility statement, not a guarantee of delivery or a complete current checklist. Google’s May 2026 announcement says newer AI Mode formats are powered by AI Max and Performance Max, but neither announcement gives an exhaustive specification for required bidding strategies, campaign settings, languages, markets, keywords, exclusions, or account controls.

Can you target ads only in AI Mode?

The reviewed AI Mode announcements do not document an AI Mode-only targeting control, a way to force an ad into a specific response, or a complete list of placement exclusions. Do not assume that a control documented for another Search surface also applies to AI Mode.

AI Overviews are a separate Search feature. Google’s help page says AI Overviews placements use the user’s query and Overview content, identifies eligible Search, Shopping, and Performance Max ads under specified conditions, and says advertisers cannot target only AI Overviews, opt out of appearing there, or get segmented reporting for those placements. Those are AI Overviews rules, not confirmed AI Mode policy. See Google’s guidance on ads and AI Overviews for that product’s details.

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How AI Mode differs from AI Overviews

Question AI Mode AI Overviews
Surface Conversational AI responses in Search; Google says ads may appear below or integrated into responses. Google’s 2025 announcement AI-generated Overviews within Search results. Google Ads Help
Published campaign eligibility Performance Max, Shopping, and broad-match Search, including AI Max for Search, were named in Google’s 2025 announcement. Source Google’s help page identifies Search, Shopping, and Performance Max under specified conditions. Source
Placement-specific targeting and opt-out Not established by the reviewed AI Mode announcements. Source Google says advertisers cannot target only AI Overviews or opt out of appearing there. Source
Placement-level reporting Not established by the reviewed AI Mode announcements. Source Google says segmented reporting for AI Overviews placements is not available. Source
Privacy detail General Google ad settings and AI-creative disclosures exist, but the reviewed sources do not fully explain AI Mode ad selection. Privacy help; transparency announcement The cited AI Overviews help page covers placement and eligibility; it should not be treated as a full privacy specification for AI Mode. Source

What Google says about privacy and ad transparency

Google’s general personalized advertising guidance says signed-in users can review and adjust topics used for personalized ads in Ads Settings, or opt out of personalized ads. It also describes restrictions related to sensitive categories. These are general advertising controls, not a dedicated explanation of all data collected, retained, or used to rank ads in AI Mode. Read Google Ads Help’s privacy and personalized ads guidance.

On July 9, 2026, Google announced a “How this ad was made” section in My Ad Center, accessible globally from the ad menu or info icon on ads across Search, YouTube, and Discover. Google said it would indicate whether an ad was created or edited with AI. This is transparency about ad creative; it does not, by itself, disclose all signals used to select an AI Mode placement. The announcement is Google’s July 2026 AI transparency update.

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What Google’s AI Mode performance figure does—and does not—show

Google reported that 75% of people said they made faster, more confident decisions using AI Mode in Search. The figure comes from an Ipsos Global Consumer Journeys survey commissioned in December 2025: an online survey of 13,189 adults aged 18 or older in selected countries who had made a considered consumer-goods purchase in the prior week and used Google AI Overviews and/or AI Mode for shopping. It is a self-reported survey result, not a measurement of ad performance or evidence that AI Mode ads caused faster or more confident decisions. Google describes the figure in its May 20, 2026 announcement.

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