Google says AI Mode monetizes worse and is expanding ads in answers

Google says AI Mode monetizes worse than traditional search. Philipp Schindler, the company’s chief business officer, said the strong growth in queries through the format affected monetization; as a result, Google is expanding ads in AI Overviews and AI Mode to more users and queries, including international markets and multi-turn conversations in the United States. Schindler said the company’s ad experiments produced promising results.

Xataka argues that AI has made search better at answering questions directly, reducing the need to open other results. That may reduce ad exposure and value, creating a tension between offering more useful answers and preserving search revenue.