Google Has Started to Change Shopping Ads in AI Overviews

Google Has Started to Change Shopping Ads in AI Overviews Just in Time for the First AI Shopping Season 

In early October, some of our clients’ Google Shopping campaigns suddenly captured exponentially higher impression volume than usual. At the same time, click volume did not keep pace; CTR fell well below normal, which suggested a surge of zero-click interactions. 

What was more interesting is that the spike only showed up in Shopping campaigns. Performance Max campaigns did not experience the same change. 

Shopping Results in AI Overviews 

Our investigation discovered that products from our client’s shopping feed were flowing into Google’s AI Overviews. Shoppers were seeing our client’s products with the price and image (along with some descriptive copy), as part of the AI-generated response to their search. Product “listings” are now appearing at the bottom of the AI Overviews section. This “new” placement explained both the jump in impressions and the drop to CTR. 

This does not appear to be a global rollout, though. We only saw this for certain clients in specific verticals, while other clients in our portfolio had no change at all. Most likely, Google is rolling this out in phases. This is even more interesting when considering Google’s narrative over the past couple of years has been “all-in” on automated, AI-powered solutions – which includes Performance Max (which did NOT have the surge to impressions that shopping campaigns had). This seemingly is countering everything Google has been communicating, which suggests this is a controlled test ahead of a larger rollout. 

The Catch: Higher Spend Without the Return 

For the accounts affected, media spend was not increasing much from higher click volume, but rather from a significantly higher average CPC (nearly 2x higher than what we normally see). 

Usually, automated bid strategies would pull back to achieve desired ROAS goals. This didn't happen (at least not quickly enough) – which prompted us to intervene via bid strategy adjustments, max CPC limits, and SQR refinement. Left to their own devices, the bid strategies were far too slow to recognize that this new placement behaved differently and had performance that was far from our desired goals. In turn, they continued to bid as if the extra impressions were worth the same as before this change was implemented. Left alone, these campaigns would have continued to pay more to earn marginally higher revenue and/or leads. 

The Fix: Getting Performance Back on Track 

After adjusting ROAS targets, fine-tuning CPC limits, and monitoring SQRs, performance was quick to rebound back to desired levels – with the added benefit of greater exposure still flowing through AI Overviews. Despite capping CPCs, our clients are still showing up in this “new” section via Shopping campaigns.  

This is another instance where, although smart bidding is powerful, human-intervention is still critical to make sure media spend continues to deliver results. When Google changes how their products behave, catching the change and responding appropriately is critical to guide algorithms back in place. 

Implications Heading into Q4 

We suspect Google is testing Shopping results in AI Overviews ahead of the holiday season. Q4 is when shopping intent starts to peak, and Google is poised to gain the most from maximizing advertisers’ product discovery within their own AI ecosystem. 

We expect this to expand to more verticals, more queries, and across more advertisers as Google refines this functionality and as shoppers continue to become more comfortable asking AI for product recommendations. 

How to Get Ready 

If you run Shopping (and Performance Max) campaigns, we recommend the following: 

• Make your feed agentic-ready. AI Overviews and shopping agents rely on your product data to decide what to show, which is heavily based on product attributes. Complete, accurate feeds with detailed titles, descriptions, pricing and availability give your products the best chances of serving. 

• Closely monitor your KPIs. Rising impressions with falling CTR is only one of many early warning signs. Don't celebrate the volume until you know what it's costing you by looking further down your funnel. 

• Don't assume bid strategies will self-correct. Track cost pers and ROAS closely from now through Q4 and be ready to intervene quickly. 

• Compare campaign types. We saw this in Shopping campaigns, but not Performance Max. Understanding how each campaign type performs will empower you to catch major changes quickly. 

The Bottom Line 

AI Overviews are now part of the shopping journey. The brands that win this holiday season won't be the ones with the most automation; they'll be the ones with experience partners that watch your media closely and can both flag AND act on shifts early. If you are having trouble with shopping campaigns, Performance Max, or want to be in a position to win this holiday shopping season, please reach out. We are here to help.