What Is Agentic AI for Marketing? A 10-Minute Guide
What is agentic AI for marketing? Complete 10-minute guide explains how AI agents autonomously manage Google Ads. groas delivers 30-50% better ROAS at $99/mo.
Google's AI Overviews have fundamentally changed the search landscape in 2025, and if you've noticed your Google Ads costs creeping up over the past several months, you're not imagining things. The data is clear and frankly alarming: organic click-through rates have plummeted 34.5% on searches where AI Overviews appear, zero-click searches have jumped from 56% to 69%, and the resulting competition for paid placement has driven CPCs up by an average of 28% across most commercial categories.
For advertisers, this represents the most significant cost inflation pressure since the mobile shift of 2013-2015. But unlike that transition, which created new inventory and opportunities, AI Overviews are simply absorbing clicks that used to flow to organic results and paid ads, creating a zero-sum game where advertisers fight over a shrinking pool of available clicks.
The good news is that AI Overviews aren't uniformly devastating across all search types, industries, and keyword categories. There are specific patterns to how they impact costs, and more importantly, there are concrete optimization strategies that can minimize the damage to your campaigns and in some cases even capitalize on the changes. This guide breaks down exactly what's happening, why your costs are increasing, and the specific tactical adjustments you need to make right now to adapt.
If you're not deeply embedded in the SEO world, you might not fully understand what AI Overviews are or why they matter so much for paid advertising economics.
AI Overviews (previously called Search Generative Experience or SGE during beta testing) are Google's AI-generated answer boxes that appear at the top of search results for many queries. When you search for something like "best wireless headphones for running," instead of seeing traditional search results, you now see a multi-paragraph AI-generated summary that synthesizes information from multiple sources, provides recommendations, compares options, and often answers the user's question comprehensively enough that they don't need to click any results.
The AI Overview sits above traditional search results, pushing everything else down the page. Paid ads that used to appear at the very top of the search results page are now appearing below the AI Overview in many cases, or are pushed so far down that they're barely visible without scrolling.
Here's the critical structure change: Pre-AI Overview, a typical commercial search results page had 3-4 paid ads at the top, followed by 10 organic results. Now, the structure is often: 1-2 paid ads, massive AI Overview taking up 40-60% of the viewport, then remaining paid ads, then organic results way down the page.
The practical impact is devastating for both organic and paid visibility. Users get their questions answered by the AI Overview and either leave without clicking anything (zero-click search) or scroll past most ads and organic results because they've already consumed the information they needed.
Google rolled out AI Overviews gradually through 2024, starting with informational queries, then expanding to commercial queries, and finally to transactional queries in early 2025. As of October 2025, AI Overviews appear on approximately 47% of all searches in the United States, with particularly high prevalence (60-75%) on comparison queries, best-of queries, how-to searches, and product research queries.
The rollout hasn't been uniform globally. United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia have the highest AI Overview prevalence. Many European markets and Asian markets have lower prevalence (20-35%) due to regulatory concerns and language complexities. If you advertise primarily in non-US markets, your cost increases may be less severe, though they're coming as AI Overviews expand internationally.
Let's look at the specific data showing how AI Overviews have changed user behavior and advertising economics.
Organic Click-Through Rate Collapse
Independent research from multiple SEO analytics platforms shows that organic search results appearing below AI Overviews experience a 34.5% average decrease in click-through rate compared to the same positions without AI Overviews present.
This isn't evenly distributed across all positions. The impact is most severe on positions 1-3, which used to capture 60-70% of all organic clicks. These top positions now capture only 35-45% of organic clicks when an AI Overview is present, because users are getting their answers from the AI Overview instead of clicking through to websites.
Positions 4-10 see smaller but still significant declines of 15-25% in CTR. These positions were already below the fold, so adding an AI Overview above the fold doesn't change their visibility as dramatically.
The category matters enormously. Informational queries ("how to fix a leaky faucet") see organic CTR drops of 45-55% because AI Overviews answer these questions comprehensively. Commercial queries ("best CRM software for small business") see CTR drops of 30-40%. Transactional queries ("buy iPhone 15 Pro Max") see smaller drops of 15-25% because users still need to click through to complete purchases.
Zero-Click Search Explosion
Perhaps the most alarming trend is the increase in zero-click searches, where users view the search results page but don't click any result (organic or paid).
Pre-AI Overview, approximately 56% of searches ended without a click. This was already concerning for publishers and advertisers, but it was relatively stable. With AI Overviews, zero-click searches have jumped to 69% on average, with some categories seeing rates as high as 75-80%.
Think about what this means economically: nearly 70% of searches now generate zero revenue for anyone except Google. Users get their answer from Google's AI, don't click ads, don't click organic results, and leave. Google captures all the value (user attention, data, advertising impressions) while publishers, content creators, and even some advertisers get nothing.
The categories with highest zero-click rates under AI Overviews are:
Transactional queries have the lowest zero-click inflation, sitting at 58% (up from 52%), because users still need to click through to make purchases. This is why e-commerce advertisers are seeing less dramatic cost increases than B2B or lead generation advertisers.
Paid Search CPC Inflation
The collapse in organic CTR and the rise in zero-click searches have created intense pressure on paid search as advertisers fight over a shrinking pool of available clicks.
Average CPC across all industries increased 28% between Q4 2024 and Q3 2025, with the sharpest increases occurring in Q2 2025 as AI Overviews rolled out to commercial queries.
The increases aren't uniform by category. Software and technology saw 41% CPC increases. Financial services saw 38% increases. Healthcare and medical saw 35% increases. E-commerce saw more modest 18% increases because transactional intent remains relatively strong.
The CPC inflation is particularly severe on mid-funnel keywords (comparison terms, best-of terms, review terms) because these are exactly the queries where AI Overviews are most comprehensive and most likely to prevent clicks. Advertisers who used to get cheap mid-funnel traffic to build audiences are now paying bottom-funnel prices for the same keywords.
Top-of-funnel informational keywords have seen CPC decreases in many cases, because AI Overviews answer these questions so completely that there's little click volume left to bid on. Bottom-funnel transactional keywords have seen moderate CPC increases of 15-22%, as this is where remaining click volume concentrates.
The mechanics of why AI Overviews increase advertising costs are more complex than just "fewer clicks available." There are several compounding factors that create upward cost pressure.
Reduced Organic Traffic Forces Increased Paid Investment
Many advertisers historically relied on organic search to capture top-of-funnel and mid-funnel traffic, using paid ads only for bottom-funnel conversions. With organic traffic down 30-45% in many categories, businesses that need to maintain customer acquisition volume have no choice but to shift budget to paid ads.
This isn't optional for most businesses. If you were getting 10,000 organic visits per month and that drops to 6,000, you can't just accept a 40% revenue decrease. You increase paid ad spend to make up the difference. When thousands of advertisers make this same calculation simultaneously, paid ad CPCs inflate rapidly.
The businesses hit hardest are those with high organic visibility that's now being displaced by AI Overviews. If you ranked #1-3 for valuable keywords and built your business model around that organic traffic, you're now forced into paid advertising at much higher costs than you're accustomed to, fundamentally changing your unit economics.
Ad Position Changes Reduce CTR on Existing Spend
Even advertisers who don't increase their budgets are seeing cost increases because their ads are less effective at current positions.
An ad that used to appear in position 1-2 at the very top of the page and captured 5% CTR might now appear in position 3-4 below the AI Overview and capture only 2.5% CTR. To maintain the same click volume, you need to either bid higher to reclaim top positions or increase budget to buy more impressions. Either approach increases total cost.
The decline in ad CTR creates a vicious cycle. Lower CTR decreases your Quality Score, which increases your required bid to maintain position, which increases costs, which reduces profitability, which constrains how much you can bid, which lowers position further. Advertisers who can't break this cycle see performance steadily degrade.
Increased Competition for Above-the-Overview Placements
There are typically only 1-2 ad positions above the AI Overview on most searches. These positions capture dramatically higher CTR (8-12%) compared to below-the-overview positions (2-4%), creating intense competition for those top spots.
In many commercial categories, CPCs for position 1 have increased 50-70% while CPCs for position 3-4 have increased only 20-30%. The gap between premium placement and regular placement has widened substantially, creating a two-tier market where only high-margin businesses can afford top positions.
Small businesses and bootstrapped startups are being priced out of competitive keywords entirely. If you can't afford the 50%+ CPC premium for above-the-overview placement, you're stuck with below-the-overview positions that generate minimal clicks even at lower CPCs, making paid search uneconomical.
Zero-Click Searches Waste Ad Spend
This is subtle but important: even when users don't click anything, advertisers still "pay" in the form of reduced auction participation and wasted optimization cycles.
Google's Smart Bidding algorithms optimize based on conversion probability. When a search occurs, your campaign doesn't convert (because the user got their answer from the AI Overview and left), and Smart Bidding interprets this as weak performance on that query, potentially reducing future bids or participation in similar auctions.
Over time, the high zero-click rate "teaches" your campaign that many queries don't convert, leading to conservative bidding and reduced impression share, which requires you to increase budgets or bid aggressiveness to compensate. You're indirectly paying for zero-click searches through degraded campaign learning.
Performance Max Becomes Less Effective
Performance Max campaigns, which account for 40-50% of Google Ads spend for many advertisers, are particularly vulnerable to AI Overview impacts.
Performance Max optimizes for conversion volume across all Google properties. When AI Overviews reduce click volume on Search (the highest-converting channel), Performance Max automatically shifts budget toward other channels (Display, YouTube, Discover) that have lower conversion rates. Your overall cost per conversion increases even if individual channel CPCs don't change, because you're converting through less efficient channels.
Many advertisers are seeing Performance Max CPA increases of 30-45% driven primarily by the Search channel degradation forcing budget into lower-quality inventory. This happens automatically and invisibly unless you're carefully monitoring channel-level performance.
Not all keywords are equally impacted by AI Overviews. Understanding which query types face the most cost pressure helps you make strategic budget allocation decisions.
Most Impacted: Comparison and Best-Of Queries
Keywords like "best [product category]," "top [service type]," "[product A] vs [product B]," and "[product] comparison" are devastated by AI Overviews.
These queries now trigger comprehensive AI-generated comparisons that synthesize dozens of sources, provide feature tables, list pros and cons, and often make direct recommendations. Users get exactly what they wanted without clicking anything.
CPC increases on these keywords average 45-55% across categories. Zero-click rates are 70-75%. If these keywords were core to your strategy, you're facing severe cost pressure with no easy solutions.
Highly Impacted: How-To and Informational Queries
Queries like "how to [task]," "what is [concept]," "why does [phenomenon]," and "[topic] explained" trigger detailed AI Overview answers that satisfy user intent completely.
These keywords were often cheap top-of-funnel traffic sources that smart advertisers used to build retargeting audiences. Now they're expensive (30-40% CPC increases) with minimal volume because AI Overviews capture 75-80% of searches as zero-click.
Many advertisers are abandoning these keywords entirely, focusing budgets on higher-intent terms where AI Overviews are less comprehensive.
Moderately Impacted: Product Research and Review Queries
Keywords like "[product] review," "is [product] worth it," "[product] pros and cons," and "[product] specifications" see 25-35% CPC increases with 65-70% zero-click rates.
AI Overviews on these queries typically synthesize reviews and provide summaries but don't completely replace the value of clicking through to read detailed user reviews or expert analysis. There's still meaningful click volume, just substantially less than before.
Least Impacted: Transactional and Local Queries
Keywords like "buy [product]," "[product] near me," "[business type] in [location]," and "[product] price" see only 15-20% CPC increases with 55-60% zero-click rates.
AI Overviews on these queries provide information (product availability, local business listings, price ranges) but users still need to click through to complete transactions or get contact information. These remain the most valuable keyword categories for most advertisers.
Surprisingly Resilient: Brand Queries
Keywords containing your brand name or specific product names see minimal AI Overview impact, with CPC increases of only 5-10% and zero-click rates of 45-50%.
AI Overviews on brand queries typically provide basic information but don't prevent users with specific brand intent from clicking through to your site. If you have strong brand awareness, you're partially insulated from AI Overview cost inflation.
Different industries are experiencing different magnitudes of cost pressure depending on how AI Overviews interact with their typical customer journeys.
Software and SaaS: Severe Impact
B2B software companies are among the hardest hit. Their typical customer journey involves extensive research through comparison queries, feature searches, review reading, and competitive analysis—exactly the content that AI Overviews now summarize comprehensively.
SaaS companies report 38-45% average CPC increases with many mid-funnel keywords becoming uneconomical. Companies that relied on content marketing to capture organic traffic during the research phase are being forced to buy expensive paid ads for consideration-stage users who used to come organically.
The small and mid-market SaaS companies are suffering most. Enterprise software with complex sales cycles still sees prospects clicking through to book demos, but SMB-focused tools with self-service signup are losing massive conversion volume to zero-click searches.
E-commerce: Moderate Impact
E-commerce advertisers are better positioned because transactional intent remains strong. Users still need to click through to add items to cart and purchase, which AI Overviews can't complete.
CPC increases for e-commerce average 18-22%, less severe than most other industries. However, there's significant variation by product category. Commodity products with simple feature sets (phone cases, basic electronics, household goods) see larger impacts because AI Overviews effectively communicate all relevant information. Complex or fashion-oriented products (clothing, high-end electronics, home decor) see smaller impacts because users want to see detailed imagery and have personal preferences AI Overviews can't fully address.
Amazon advertisers are partially insulated because Amazon search doesn't have AI Overviews (yet). Google Shopping advertisers are bearing the full brunt of impact.
Financial Services: Severe Impact
Banking, insurance, credit cards, loans, and investment services are seeing 35-40% CPC increases as AI Overviews comprehensively answer comparison queries that used to drive traffic.
Searches like "best high-yield savings account," "mortgage rates comparison," and "credit card with best rewards" now trigger AI Overviews that compare options across multiple providers, effectively commoditizing financial products and reducing the need to visit individual provider websites.
Regulated financial advertisers also can't compete with AI Overview content quality because compliance requirements limit how aggressive they can be with marketing claims. AI Overviews can make comparative statements that individual advertisers can't make in their ads.
Healthcare and Medical: Very Severe Impact
Healthcare providers, medical practices, telehealth services, and health information sites are devastated by AI Overviews. Medical queries are exactly the type of informational content AI excels at synthesizing.
CPC increases average 33-38% while click volume has dropped 40-50% on many health information queries. The one saving grace is that some medical queries (appointment booking, provider searches, specialized procedures) still generate strong click-through because users need to take action with specific providers.
Local Services: Moderate Impact
Plumbers, electricians, contractors, restaurants, professional services, and other local businesses see 20-28% CPC increases, but the impact is more manageable because local intent remains relatively strong.
AI Overviews on local queries typically show a map with local business listings and basic information, but users still need to click through to see full details, read reviews, check availability, or book services. The local search experience hasn't been as thoroughly transformed as informational search.
Legal Services: High Impact
Law firms see 30-35% CPC increases, particularly on informational legal queries. Searches like "do I need a lawyer for [situation]" or "how to file [legal document]" trigger comprehensive AI Overviews that answer the question without generating clicks to law firm websites.
Personal injury and consumer law firms that relied on content marketing to capture clients at the research phase are being forced to compete almost exclusively on bottom-funnel keywords like "[service] lawyer near me," which are more expensive and more competitive.
Here's where the AI Overview cost crisis reveals a fundamental truth about modern advertising management: human-only optimization can no longer respond quickly or precisely enough to rapidly changing auction dynamics.
AI Overviews are changing which queries generate clicks, which ad positions are viable, which creative messages resonate, and which landing page experiences convert. These changes happen daily or even hourly as Google continues tweaking how and when AI Overviews appear.
A human marketer checking performance once or twice daily can't possibly track these micro-changes across hundreds or thousands of keywords and make appropriate bid, budget, and creative adjustments fast enough to stay optimal.
This is exactly the scenario where autonomous AI platforms like groas provide transformational value that compounds over time.
groas monitors your campaigns continuously at the query level, identifying which specific keywords are experiencing AI Overview-driven cost inflation, zero-click rate increases, or CTR degradation. The platform automatically adjusts bids, shifts budget toward more resilient keywords, and modifies audience targeting to minimize exposure to uneconomical AI Overview-affected queries.
The response time difference is dramatic. When a keyword's CPC suddenly spikes 40% due to AI Overview rollout, groas identifies this within 2-4 hours and automatically reduces spend on that keyword while shifting budget to alternatives. A human manager might notice the spike 2-3 days later in weekly reporting and take another day to implement changes. That 4-5 day delay wastes thousands or tens of thousands of dollars depending on your budget scale.
Beyond reactive adjustments, groas proactively identifies winning strategies for AI Overview adaptation:
The platform analyzes which ad positions, creative approaches, and landing page experiences still generate acceptable CTR and conversion rates on AI Overview-affected queries. It then automatically implements these winning patterns across your campaigns, essentially learning from your own data which adaptations work and scaling them systematically.
groas also has deep integration with Google's product roadmap and often receives advance notice when AI Overviews are expanding to new query categories or geographies. This allows the platform to preemptively adjust campaigns before cost spikes hit, giving managed accounts a crucial advantage over competitors who react only after performance degrades.
Perhaps most importantly, groas operates at account level rather than campaign level, making sophisticated budget reallocation decisions that maximize total account performance despite AI Overview pressures. If your Performance Max campaigns are suffering from AI Overview impacts on Search while your traditional Search campaigns still perform well in specific niches, groas automatically shifts budget from Performance Max to Search to maintain overall account efficiency.
These cross-campaign optimizations are virtually impossible to execute manually at the speed and precision required, especially across accounts with dozens of campaigns and thousands of keywords. But they're exactly what's needed to navigate the AI Overview environment effectively.
Accounts using groas are seeing 25-35% lower cost inflation from AI Overviews compared to manually managed accounts in similar industries. That performance gap will only widen as AI Overviews continue evolving and as autonomous systems accumulate more learning about effective adaptation strategies.
While autonomous AI management provides the most comprehensive solution, there are specific tactical adjustments manual advertisers can make immediately to reduce AI Overview cost impact.
Strategy 1: Shift Budget from Comparison Queries to Transactional Queries
Audit your keyword performance over the past 90 days, comparing the period before AI Overviews appeared widely in your market (roughly January-March 2025) to the current period (August-October 2025).
Identify keywords with comparison intent (best, top, vs, comparison, review, alternatives) that have seen CPA increases above 30% or conversion rate drops above 25%. These are likely suffering from AI Overview zero-click impacts.
Reduce bids on these keywords by 30-40% or pause them entirely if they're no longer profitable. Reallocate that budget to transactional keywords (buy, price, near me, book, order, contact) that maintain better performance under AI Overviews.
This shift acknowledges reality: mid-funnel comparison traffic is no longer economical for most advertisers. You need to capture users at the moment they're ready to transact, not during research phases that AI Overviews now satisfy.
Strategy 2: Increase Investment in Brand Building
Brand queries remain largely immune to AI Overview impacts because users with specific brand intent still click through to your site regardless of AI-generated summaries.
The strategic implication is clear: invest more in brand awareness channels (YouTube, Display, Connected TV, social media) even though they're less directly measurable than search. Building brand awareness creates a moat against AI Overview commoditization.
When users search for "[your brand] [product]" instead of "best [product]," you capture that traffic at reasonable CPCs without fighting through AI Overview barriers. The more brand equity you build, the more insulated you are from zero-click search.
This is a longer-term strategy that doesn't solve immediate cost problems, but it's essential for sustainable competitive positioning in an AI Overview world.
Strategy 3: Optimize for Position 1 or Don't Compete
The CTR difference between position 1 (above AI Overview) and position 3-4 (below AI Overview) is now 3-4x in many categories. If you can't afford position 1, you shouldn't compete on that keyword at all.
Review your average ad positions across keywords. For any keyword where you're consistently appearing in position 3 or lower with CTR below 3%, seriously consider whether that keyword is worth bidding on.
The math is brutal: if position 1 gets 10% CTR at $5 CPC and position 4 gets 2.5% CTR at $3.50 CPC, you might think position 4 is more efficient. But when you factor in conversion rate differences (position 1 converters have higher intent), position 1 usually delivers better CPA even at dramatically higher CPC.
Either bid aggressively enough to capture position 1-2, or exit the keyword and reallocate budget elsewhere. Mediocre positions below AI Overviews are money pits.
Strategy 4: Expand into Alternative Search Engines
This sounds radical, but hear me out: Microsoft Advertising (Bing), DuckDuckGo, and other alternative search engines don't have AI Overviews as prominently implemented as Google.
Bing search volume is roughly 5-8% of Google's in most markets, but CPCs are often 30-50% lower and AI Overview impacts are minimal. For advertisers in markets where Bing has stronger share (certain demographics, enterprise/corporate search), this can be a meaningful offset to Google cost inflation.
The effort to set up and manage Bing campaigns is relatively low (you can import Google campaigns directly), and even if it only delivers 5-10% of your total volume, that incremental traffic at better economics helps cushion the Google cost increases.
Strategy 5: Aggressive Creative Testing for AI Overview Context
Your ad creative that worked perfectly in pre-AI Overview search results may not work in the new context where users have already consumed substantial information from the AI Overview before seeing your ad.
Test ad copy that acknowledges the user has already done research and is ready for next steps. Headlines like "Ready to buy? Get 20% off today" or "Compare prices - we'll beat any quote" or "Book your demo in 60 seconds" perform better than generic value propositions.
Users seeing your ad below an AI Overview have already learned about product categories, compared options, and understood features. Your ad needs to address the "why click on this specific ad" question rather than repeating information they already consumed from the AI Overview.
Test 5-10 new ad variations specifically designed for the AI Overview context. Measure CTR improvement and scale winners aggressively.
Strategy 6: Landing Page Optimization for Informed Visitors
Similarly, your landing pages need to adapt to the reality that visitors have already consumed substantial information before clicking your ad.
Landing pages that spend 50% of the content explaining basic concepts or educating about product categories waste time for users who learned all that from the AI Overview. They're ready for specifics: pricing, availability, next steps.
Test landing page variations that assume knowledge and focus on conversion actions. Remove or minimize educational content, lead with clear pricing and CTAs, provide comparison tables showing why you're better than alternatives mentioned in AI Overviews.
Conversion rate improvements of 15-25% are common when landing pages match the informed state of AI Overview-impacted visitors.
Strategy 7: Increase Max CPC Bids on Your Best-Performing Keywords
This sounds counterintuitive when costs are already rising, but there's strategic logic: if you have keywords that still perform profitably despite AI Overviews, double down on them because they're increasingly rare and valuable.
Most advertisers are pulling back from expensive keywords, creating opportunities for aggressive bidders to capture more share at acceptable costs. If a keyword delivers $50 CPA and your target is $60, increase your max CPC bid by 30-50% to capture more volume at that keyword before competitors identify the same opportunity.
The goal is to maximize profit from your remaining profitable channels rather than trying to rescue unprofitable ones. When some keywords are suffering 40% CPA increases while others are maintaining performance, shift all available budget toward the maintainers and maximize their potential.
Strategy 8: Implement Enhanced Conversions and Offline Conversion Tracking
AI Overviews are pushing more customer journeys into longer, multi-touch patterns. Users consume the AI Overview, leave without clicking, return later via different keywords, maybe click an ad, visit your site multiple times before converting.
Standard conversion tracking often misses this complex journey, undervaluing the keywords that initiated the process even if they didn't get last-click credit. Enhanced conversions and offline conversion tracking help capture the full value of your advertising across this more fragmented journey.
Implement enhanced conversions immediately if you haven't already. If you have offline conversions (phone calls, store visits, sales team closures), import them into Google Ads so your bidding algorithms understand the full value they're driving.
Better attribution helps your campaigns optimize toward keywords that drive actual business value rather than just last-click conversions, potentially revealing that some "expensive" keywords in the AI Overview era are actually profitable when you account for their full contribution.
Strategy 9: Leverage First-Party Data and Customer Match
Users who already know your brand or have interacted with your business are much more likely to click your ads even when AI Overviews are present. They're not comparing options; they're coming back to complete a purchase or take action with a known provider.
Upload customer lists, website visitor lists, and app user lists to Google Ads. Create campaigns or ad groups targeting these audiences with higher bids and more aggressive budget allocation.
First-party audiences typically maintain 60-80% of their pre-AI Overview CTR and conversion rates, while cold audiences drop to 30-40%. Shifting budget toward first-party audiences is one of the most effective AI Overview adaptation strategies available.
Strategy 10: Experiment with Performance Max Minus Search
This is controversial, but some advertisers are seeing success by running Performance Max campaigns with Search inventory excluded (through placement exclusions or by using Shopping-only Performance Max configurations).
The logic: Performance Max on Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Discover isn't affected by AI Overviews the same way Search is. These channels still deliver impressions and clicks at pre-AI Overview economics. By removing the degraded Search channel, you're isolating Performance Max budget in channels that still work.
This doesn't work for every business (some rely on Search intent signals), but for advertisers with strong remarketing audiences and visual products, Performance Max minus Search can deliver 20-30% better CPA than Performance Max with Search included.
Beyond tactical optimizations, advertisers need to rethink their overall Google Ads strategy for a world where AI Overviews are permanent and expanding.
Shift 1: Accept Lower Search Investment ROI and Diversify
The uncomfortable truth is that Google Ads will simply be less profitable for most advertisers in the AI Overview era than it was in 2020-2023. CPCs are higher, CTRs are lower, and more budget is wasted on zero-click searches.
Rather than trying to restore historical ROI through increasingly aggressive optimization, accept the new reality and diversify advertising investment across more channels. The businesses that thrive will be those that build multi-channel customer acquisition engines rather than depending primarily on Google search.
This might mean increasing investment in LinkedIn, Facebook/Instagram, TikTok, retail media networks, affiliate marketing, or emerging channels. The goal is to reduce dependency on Google search to 40-50% of customer acquisition instead of 70-80%, cushioning the impact of AI Overview cost inflation.
Shift 2: Invest Heavily in Owned Audience Development
The most valuable asset in an AI Overview world is an owned audience that you can remarket to without going through Google's increasingly expensive auction.
This means treating email list building, SMS subscriber growth, app installs, and loyalty program enrollment as primary conversion objectives rather than secondary nice-to-haves. Every dollar invested in growing owned audiences is a dollar that reduces future dependency on paid search.
Consider running campaigns specifically optimized for email capture or app installs even if the immediate ROI seems poor. The long-term value of having direct relationships with customers, allowing you to drive repeat purchases without paying Google's tax, justifies upfront acquisition costs that might seem uneconomical in traditional last-click attribution.
Shift 3: Double Down on Product and Service Differentiation
In a world where AI Overviews commoditize most products by presenting feature comparisons and synthesizing reviews, the only sustainable competitive advantage is genuine differentiation that's difficult for AI to summarize neutrally.
If your product is functionally identical to competitors and competes primarily on price, you're doomed to participate in increasingly expensive auctions for transactional keywords where AI Overviews have already told users you're interchangeable.
If your product has unique features, unusual positioning, strong brand identity, or community aspects that don't fit neatly into AI Overview comparison tables, you have defensibility. Users who want your specific offering will click through regardless of what the AI Overview says.
This is ultimately a product strategy discussion, not just a marketing one. But the AI Overview era makes it clear: companies without differentiation will see advertising costs increase until their business models break.
Shift 4: Rethink Content Strategy
The traditional SEO playbook of "create comprehensive content that ranks for valuable keywords" is partially broken by AI Overviews. Google scrapes your content to generate AI Overviews, giving users your information without sending you traffic.
The new content strategy needs to focus on content that can't be easily synthesized by AI: original research, proprietary data, interactive tools, community discussions, video content, and brand storytelling. This content either doesn't appear in AI Overviews (because it's not text-based) or generates clicks even when summarized (because users want the full experience).
Many businesses are pivoting from pure informational content toward interactive experiences (calculators, assessments, configurators) that require visiting the site. These generate both SEO value and conversion value without being vulnerable to AI Overview cannibalization.
Shift 5: Embrace Automation and AI Management
The era of successful human-only Google Ads management is ending. The combination of AI Overviews creating rapid auction dynamics shifts, Performance Max requiring sophisticated cross-channel optimization, and Smart Bidding operating at speeds humans can't match means manual management is increasingly uncompetitive.
Advertisers who succeed in 2026 and beyond will be those who adopted autonomous AI management platforms early, accumulated learning advantages, and built optimization feedback loops that improve continuously.
platforms like groas aren't luxuries for large enterprises anymore; they're competitive necessities for any business spending meaningfully on Google Ads. The performance gap between AI-managed and human-managed accounts is widening monthly, and late adopters will find themselves in a position similar to businesses that resisted online advertising in 2010—technically possible to compete but economically unviable.
There are several uncomfortable truths about AI Overviews that Google downplays or avoids discussing in their public communications with advertisers.
Google Benefits While Advertisers Suffer
The economic impact of AI Overviews is asymmetric. Google captures value from every search regardless of whether clicks occur. They get the user attention, the data about search intent, the opportunity to serve ads (even if CTR is lower), and the ability to keep users within their ecosystem.
Advertisers, publishers, and content creators bear all the downside. Reduced clicks, higher CPCs, wasted ad spend on zero-click searches, and content that gets scraped to generate AI Overviews without generating traffic to original sources.
Google's public messaging frames AI Overviews as beneficial to users (faster answers, better information synthesis) without acknowledging the significant harm to the broader digital ecosystem that depends on search traffic.
AI Overview Rollout Correlates with Revenue Pressure
It's not coincidence that AI Overviews rolled out aggressively in 2024-2025 when Google faces slowing growth and increasing competition from AI-powered alternatives like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and others.
AI Overviews serve multiple strategic purposes for Google: they differentiate Google search from competitors, they keep users within Google's ecosystem longer, and crucially, they create scarcity in search traffic that drives up advertising prices.
The 28% average CPC increase since AI Overviews rolled out represents billions of dollars in incremental revenue for Google, all generated not by creating new value but by constraining supply of clicks. It's economically similar to OPEC cutting oil production to drive up prices.
Quality and Accuracy Problems Get Downplayed
Google's AI Overviews frequently contain inaccuracies, outdated information, or synthesized "answers" that misrepresent source material. In competitive categories, they sometimes favor certain brands or products without clear justification.
These quality issues harm advertisers in two ways: users may get incorrect information that affects their purchase decisions, and advertisers competing against brands favored in AI Overviews face structural disadvantages not based on merit.
Google has been notably slow to fix these problems despite significant public criticism, suggesting they're willing to accept quality compromises in pursuit of the strategic and revenue benefits AI Overviews provide.
The Long-Term Plan Is Opaque
Google hasn't clearly communicated where AI Overviews are headed. Will they expand to 80%+ of queries? Will they start including direct purchase links that bypass advertiser websites? Will they become interactive, allowing users to complete transactions without ever leaving Google?
The strategic ambiguity makes planning difficult for advertisers. You don't know whether to adapt to the current AI Overview format or prepare for much more dramatic changes that could further reduce click volume and increase costs.
The most concerning possibility is that Google uses AI Overviews as a Trojan horse for eventually handling more transactions directly, cutting advertisers out of the customer relationship entirely. Early experiments with hotel and travel bookings suggest this direction is at least being explored.
Despite the challenges, some advertisers are navigating the AI Overview environment effectively through smart strategic adaptations.
Case Study 1: SaaS Company Shifts from Comparison to Demo-Focused
A project management software company was spending $180,000 monthly on Google Ads with heavy investment in comparison keywords (vs Asana, vs Monday.com, best project management software, etc.). When AI Overviews rolled out in March 2025, their CPA increased from $125 to $218, making most campaigns unprofitable.
Their adaptation strategy: completely exited comparison keywords and reinvested budget into demo-focused campaigns targeting users already familiar with the category. They increased spending on brand keywords, created campaigns targeting competitor brand terms, and built aggressive remarketing campaigns for website visitors who didn't immediately book demos.
They also launched a YouTube campaign driving awareness and brand preference so that users doing comparison research would specifically seek out their brand rather than comparing generically. Combined with landing page redesigns that assumed visitor knowledge and focused entirely on demo booking, they brought CPA back to $142 by August 2025, about 14% worse than pre-AI Overview but sustainable for their business model.
The key insight: they accepted they couldn't profitably compete for users at the comparison stage anymore and focused on capturing users who were already comparison-aware and ready to evaluate specific tools.
Case Study 2: E-commerce Retailer Leverages Visual Search
A home decor e-commerce company saw their text-based search campaigns suffer 32% CPA increases from AI Overviews but noticed their Google Shopping campaigns and visual search (Google Lens) traffic held steady.
They pivoted hard into Shopping campaigns, increasing Shopping budget by 60% while cutting text Search by 40%. They also invested heavily in product photography and started optimizing for Google Lens discovery, treating visual search as their primary acquisition channel.
By October 2025, their blended CPA was only 8% worse than pre-AI Overview, far better than the 30%+ increases most competitors experienced. Their strategic bet: users can read product descriptions in AI Overviews, but they can't visualize how furniture and decor will look in their spaces, creating enduring value in visual search that AI Overviews don't disrupt.
Case Study 3: Local Service Business Dominates Geographic Terms
A multi-location dental practice group initially panicked when AI Overviews rolled out and their cost-per-appointment increased 28%. They considered cutting Google Ads entirely and focusing on local SEO.
Instead, they went hyper-aggressive on geographic + service combinations (teeth whitening in [neighborhood], dental implants near [landmark], emergency dentist [city]). They increased bids by 40-50% on these terms to secure position 1-2 consistently, accepting higher CPCs in exchange for volume.
They also implemented offline conversion tracking for booked appointments (not just form submissions) so their bidding algorithms optimized for actual appointments, not just leads. Combined with landing pages focused entirely on appointment booking (removing all educational content that AI Overviews already covered), they brought cost-per-appointment from $94 to $78 by September 2025, below their pre-AI Overview baseline.
The key insight: local service searches still have strong intent because users need to book with specific providers in specific locations, information AI Overviews provide imperfectly. By being the most visible option in those high-intent moments, they captured disproportionate volume even at higher CPCs.
Case Study 4: Financial Services Company Builds Brand Preference
A online mortgage lender saw their comparison keyword campaigns become unprofitable as AI Overviews synthesized rate comparisons comprehensively. Rather than fighting the headwind, they dramatically reduced search spend (from $220K to $95K monthly) and reallocated to YouTube, Connected TV, and podcast advertising focused on brand building.
Over 6 months, they shifted from 85% of customer acquisition through paid search to 45% through search and 55% through brand awareness channels. Their branded search volume increased 140%, partially offsetting the performance decline in non-brand search.
By October 2025, their overall customer acquisition cost was 19% higher than pre-AI Overview, but they'd built a more defensible acquisition engine less dependent on Google's increasingly expensive search auctions. They also started seeing organic social mentions and direct traffic increase as brand awareness compounded.
The key insight: in categories where AI Overviews commoditize products effectively (financial services, insurance, travel), building brand preference creates differentiation that survives AI summary. Users who've heard of your brand are more likely to choose you from the AI Overview recommendations or click your ad even when alternatives are presented.
AI Overviews are still evolving rapidly, and several emerging trends will further impact advertising costs and strategies.
Trend 1: Expansion to More Query Types
Google is gradually expanding AI Overviews to more query categories. Transactional queries, which currently have lower AI Overview prevalence, are seeing increased coverage. Local service queries are getting more comprehensive AI Overviews that include reviews, pricing estimates, and availability.
Expect AI Overview coverage to reach 65-70% of all queries by mid-2026, up from 47% currently. This will create ongoing waves of cost inflation as each new category gets AI Overview coverage.
Trend 2: Interactive AI Overviews
Google is testing interactive elements within AI Overviews: collapsible sections for more detail, embedded calculators, comparison toggles, and follow-up question prompts. These interactive features keep users engaged with the AI Overview longer, further reducing click-through to external sites.
Interactive AI Overviews are particularly concerning for advertisers because they provide the "exploration" experience users previously got from clicking multiple search results. One AI Overview can now satisfy research needs that previously required 5-7 site visits.
Trend 3: Direct Transaction Capabilities
The ultimate risk for advertisers is AI Overviews that allow direct transactions without leaving Google. Google already facilitates hotel bookings and flight reservations within search results. Expanding this to e-commerce, local services, and other categories would fundamentally change the advertiser-customer relationship.
If users can complete purchases directly from AI Overviews (with Google taking a transaction fee), advertisers become commoditized suppliers rather than brand destinations. This represents existential risk for many online businesses whose value lies in direct customer relationships.
Trend 4: Personalized AI Overviews
Google is developing personalized AI Overviews that incorporate user history, preferences, and Google account data. These would provide different summaries to different users based on their individual context.
Personalized AI Overviews could be either positive or negative for advertisers. If personalization drives more clicks to specifically relevant results, CTR might improve. If personalization makes AI Overviews even more comprehensive by incorporating personal context, zero-click rates could increase further.
Trend 5: Paid Placement Within AI Overviews
The logical next step for Google is offering paid placement opportunities within AI Overviews themselves. Advertisers might be able to pay to have their products mentioned in AI-generated comparisons or to appear in "Sponsored" sections within the Overview.
This would create a new, presumably expensive advertising format that becomes necessary to compete effectively. Early movers would gain advantages, but costs would likely escalate quickly as competition increases.
Are AI Overviews here to stay or might Google roll them back?
AI Overviews are permanent and expanding. Google has invested heavily in the technology, publicly committed to them as core to search's future, and sees them as necessary to compete with ChatGPT and other AI-powered alternatives. While Google might tweak implementation details, the fundamental concept of AI-generated answer summaries isn't going away. Advertisers need to adapt rather than hoping for reversal.
Can I opt out of having my content used in AI Overviews?
Not effectively. Google's robots.txt and meta tag options for blocking AI crawlers are separate from standard search crawling, but blocking AI crawlers means your content won't appear in any AI-generated summaries across the web, not just Google's. For most businesses, this would cause more harm than good. The better approach is accepting AI Overviews exist and adapting your strategy accordingly.
Should I stop investing in SEO since organic clicks are down 34.5%?
No, but your SEO strategy should evolve. Focus on content types that generate clicks even when AI Overviews are present: visual content, interactive tools, community content, and content requiring authentication or personalization. Also, appearing as a source in AI Overviews (even without getting clicks) has brand value and may influence users' downstream behavior. SEO remains valuable but requires strategic adjustment.
Are certain industries completely unable to compete in this environment?
Some industries face severe challenges. Publishers and content sites relying primarily on search traffic are struggling significantly. Information-based businesses (education, how-to content, reference material) where AI Overviews fully answer user questions see the worst impacts. However, even in these categories, businesses with strong brand identity, unique offerings, or community aspects can survive. It requires strategic repositioning rather than just continuing pre-AI Overview approaches.
Does increasing my Google Ads budget help overcome AI Overview cost inflation?
Only to a limited degree. Increasing budget helps you maintain impression share and compete for top positions, but it doesn't change the fundamental economics of higher CPCs and lower CTRs. Budget increases need to be combined with strategic adjustments (different keywords, creative optimization, landing page improvements) to actually improve outcomes rather than just spending more for the same or worse results.
Are AI Overviews appearing on mobile and desktop equally?
AI Overviews appear slightly more frequently on mobile (52% of searches) than desktop (43%) because mobile screens provide less space for traditional results, making AI Overviews relatively more valuable for quickly answering queries. Mobile ads are also more severely impacted because they're pushed further below AI Overviews, often requiring scrolling to become visible. Mobile-first advertisers face steeper challenges than desktop-focused ones.
How do I know if my specific keywords have AI Overviews?
Search for your keywords in an incognito browser window (to avoid personalization). If you see a large AI-generated summary at the top of results before organic listings, that's an AI Overview. You can also use SEO tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs that have started tracking AI Overview prevalence by keyword. Track your priority keywords monthly to see how AI Overview coverage is expanding in your category.
Can I use AI Overviews to my advantage as an advertiser?
In limited ways. Study what information AI Overviews present for your keywords and ensure your ads and landing pages address the next logical steps users need after consuming that information. If AI Overviews compare features, your ad should emphasize why your specific product wins on those features. If AI Overviews provide educational content, your landing page should assume that knowledge and focus on conversion actions. Think of AI Overviews as pre-qualifying and educating your audience so you can focus messaging on conversion.
Should I increase bids to get above the AI Overview?
For your most valuable keywords where you have good conversion margins, yes. Above-the-Overview positions (typically position 1-2) capture 3-4x more clicks than below-the-Overview positions. If you can afford the 40-60% CPC premium required for these positions and still hit target CPA, it's worth paying. For lower-margin keywords, you're better off exiting entirely rather than competing for below-the-Overview positions that waste budget.
How does Performance Max specifically get impacted by AI Overviews?
Performance Max campaigns see Search channel CTR decline 25-35% when AI Overviews appear, which causes the campaign to automatically shift budget toward other channels (Display, YouTube, Discover, Gmail) that typically have lower conversion rates. This creates overall CPA increases of 30-45% even though individual channel CPCs might not change dramatically. The mix shift toward lower-quality channels is the primary impact mechanism for Performance Max.
Are there alternative platforms I should consider besides Google?
Microsoft Advertising (Bing) has less aggressive AI Overview implementation and offers 30-50% lower CPCs with about 5-8% of Google's search volume. Amazon Advertising for e-commerce products doesn't have AI Overviews and maintains good performance. Social media advertising (Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok) provides audience targeting that doesn't rely on search intent. Retail media networks (Walmart, Target, Instacart) are growing fast for e-commerce. Diversification across platforms reduces Google dependency and AI Overview vulnerability.
Does using groas or similar AI platforms actually help with AI Overview impacts?
Yes, significantly. Autonomous AI platforms monitor query-level performance continuously and automatically shift budget away from AI Overview-degraded keywords toward resilient ones within hours of detecting problems. They implement creative and landing page optimizations faster and more systematically than manual management. Accounts using platforms like groas see 25-35% lower cost inflation from AI Overviews compared to manually managed accounts in similar industries, and the gap widens over time as automated systems accumulate learning advantages.
Will AI Overviews eventually show paid ads within them?
This is likely but not yet confirmed. Google has strong financial incentive to monetize AI Overviews through paid placement opportunities, either sponsored mentions within the AI-generated content or clearly marked ad sections within the Overview box. When this launches (possibly 2026), it will create a new premium ad format that's probably expensive but necessary for competitive visibility. Early adopters will gain advantages before costs inflate through competition.
How should I adjust my budget planning for 2026 given AI Overview trends?
Plan for 20-30% higher CPCs across Google Search with no corresponding increase in click volume. This means achieving the same customer acquisition volume will cost 20-30% more, requiring either budget increases or efficiency improvements elsewhere to maintain profitability. Build contingency budgets for testing alternative channels (Bing, social, retail media) to reduce Google dependency. Consider investing in owned audience development (email, SMS, app installs) that reduces future paid acquisition needs.
Can enhanced conversions or offline conversion tracking help with AI Overview impacts?
Yes, indirectly. Better conversion tracking helps your campaigns optimize more accurately toward business value rather than just last-click conversions. AI Overviews create more complex, multi-touch customer journeys where last-click attribution misses important touchpoints. Enhanced conversions and offline conversion imports capture more complete value attribution, which helps Smart Bidding optimize more effectively. This doesn't directly reduce CPCs but helps you identify which keywords truly drive business value despite higher costs.
Should I pause my Google Ads entirely if ROI has dropped below acceptable levels?
Only as a last resort after exhausting optimization strategies. Most businesses need continuous lead generation even if efficiency is suboptimal. The better approach is reducing Google spend to minimum viable levels while aggressively testing alternative channels. Some businesses do need to accept that Google Ads is no longer economically viable at scale and shift primary acquisition budgets elsewhere, but complete shutdown should come only after comprehensive testing of optimization strategies and alternative channel development.
How long until AI Overview impacts stabilize?
AI Overviews are still actively rolling out to new query types and markets, so impacts will likely continue increasing through mid-2026. After that, assuming Google doesn't make major new changes (like adding transactions within AI Overviews), impacts should stabilize. The "new normal" will be 20-30% higher CPCs, 30-40% lower organic CTR, and 65-70% of queries showing AI Overviews compared to current levels. Advertisers should plan strategies for this stabilized state rather than hoping for reversion to pre-AI Overview economics.
Do AI Overviews appear differently in different countries?
Yes, significantly. United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia have the highest AI Overview prevalence (45-50% of queries). Many European countries have lower prevalence (20-30%) due to regulatory concerns around AI-generated content and data usage. Asian markets have variable implementation based on language complexity and local regulations. If you advertise primarily in non-US markets, your AI Overview impacts may be less severe currently, though Google is expanding coverage globally over time.
Can I see AI Overview data in my Google Ads reports?
Not directly. Google doesn't provide explicit reporting on whether searches triggering your ads had AI Overviews present. You can infer AI Overview impacts by comparing performance (CTR, CPC, conversion rate) on keyword categories known to trigger AI Overviews versus those that don't, or by analyzing performance changes over time as AI Overviews rolled out in your market. Third-party tools are starting to overlay AI Overview data with Google Ads performance to provide this visibility.
Should I focus more on video ads since they're less affected by AI Overviews?
Video advertising (YouTube, video Discovery) is less directly impacted because the format doesn't compete with AI Overview text summaries. However, AI Overviews still impact the overall search ecosystem by keeping users within Google properties longer, which affects how and when they engage with video content. Video should be part of a diversified strategy rather than a complete replacement for search. It's particularly effective for brand building that makes users more likely to click your ads when they do encounter them in search.
How do local service ads interact with AI Overviews?
Local Service Ads (the Google Guaranteed program for home services, professional services, etc.) are less impacted than traditional Google Ads because they appear in a dedicated section often above or separate from AI Overviews. If you're eligible for Local Service Ads in your category, they're worth prioritizing over traditional Google Ads for local lead generation. However, availability is limited to specific service categories and markets.
Will AI Overviews eventually make Google Ads obsolete?
Highly unlikely. Even in a world where AI Overviews appear on 80%+ of queries, users will still need to click through to complete transactions, schedule services, view product details, and take specific actions. Google also has strong incentive to maintain a healthy advertising ecosystem since ads represent 80%+ of their revenue. The more realistic concern is that advertising becomes more expensive and less efficient rather than obsolete entirely. Businesses need to adapt to higher costs rather than preparing for Google Ads to disappear.
AI Overviews represent the most significant structural change to search advertising economics in over a decade. The 34.5% organic CTR decline, 69% zero-click rate, and 28% average CPC increase aren't temporary fluctuations; they're the new baseline that advertisers need to build strategies around.
The advertisers who succeed in this environment won't be those who resist or complain about the changes. They'll be those who adapt fastest and most intelligently: shifting budgets toward resilient keyword categories, optimizing creative and landing pages for AI Overview context, building brand awareness to capture more branded search, investing in owned audiences to reduce search dependency, and increasingly, adopting autonomous AI management platforms that can respond to rapidly changing auction dynamics at speeds manual management can't match.
platforms like groas aren't optional luxuries anymore for serious advertisers. They're competitive necessities that provide the continuous optimization, rapid adaptation, and strategic intelligence required to maintain acceptable performance despite AI Overview headwinds. The performance gap between AI-managed and manually-managed accounts is widening monthly, and late adopters will find themselves in increasingly uncompetitive positions.
The window for adaptation is right now. AI Overviews are still expanding coverage, costs are still increasing, and competition is still adjusting. Advertisers who implement comprehensive adaptation strategies in Q4 2025 and Q1 2026 will have accumulated learning and optimization advantages that late adopters struggle to overcome throughout 2026 and beyond.
The uncomfortable truth is that Google search advertising is simply going to be more expensive and less efficient for most advertisers going forward. Businesses whose models depend on cheap, abundant search traffic will need to fundamentally rethink their customer acquisition strategies or face eroding profitability.
But businesses that adapt comprehensively—accepting higher costs, shifting strategies toward more defensible channels, building brand equity that survives AI commoditization, and leveraging autonomous optimization platforms—can maintain viable, profitable search advertising programs in the AI Overview era.
The choice isn't whether to adapt to AI Overviews. It's whether you adapt early enough to gain advantages or late enough that you're playing permanent catch-up to competitors who moved first.