Ads in Google and ChatGPT AI answers: what to check

Ads are now showing inside Google's AI answers and in ChatGPT, and a new holiday report finds most of that space going to apparel and consumer electronics. If you sell clothes, gadgets, or anything a shopper might ask an AI to compare, check whether these placements are already in your budget. For most local service businesses, the job is a short check and maybe a little negative-keyword cleanup.

What changed

The figures come from Adthena, which sells ad tracking, and they're reported by Search Engine Journal. Adthena counted about 175,100 paid placements inside Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode in the U.S. between June and September. Apparel had about 111,000 of them, consumer electronics about 55,000, travel roughly 6,500, beauty about 2,100, and toys and games around 685. AI Overviews are the summary boxes that sometimes sit above regular results. AI Mode is Google's chat-style search.

For ChatGPT, the same report counts 204,489 ad placements across five holiday categories from June through September. Apparel led with 90,517, followed by consumer electronics at 56,569. The number of advertisers in those categories rose from 1,082 in June to 6,333 in August.

Google's help page on ads in AI experiences says Search, Shopping, and Performance Max campaigns are automatically eligible. Performance Max is Google's automated campaign type that runs across several channels. You can't target AI Overviews or AI Mode on their own, or opt out of them separately from Search. Negative keywords and brand exclusions are the filters you have.

Two limits matter. The report counts placements, not clicks, spend, or conversions (a conversion is a sale, lead, or booking you count). It also doesn't say which queries were tracked, or whether the markets stayed the same across all four months. Treat the trends as directional.

Since the report's window closed, Google announced multi-turn ads in the U.S. on October 28. These can show on follow-up questions in AI Mode. OpenAI said on October 21 that ChatGPT Ads now run in 89 countries.

What it means for you

If you sell apparel or electronics online, this is most of your exposure. The AI placements are mixed into your normal Search reporting, so they won't show up under their own heading.

If you run a local service business, such as a plumber or dentist, the report's categories barely touch you. The cost of doing nothing is small but real: you may be paying for placements you can't see or sort. Your reports won't tell you where that money went, so you'd be guessing.

What to do

1. Open your search terms report in Google Ads (Keywords > Search terms) and sort by cost for the last 30 days.
2. Look for queries that are clearly off target, especially ones phrased as "what's best" or "compare" questions that don't match what you sell.
3. Add those as negative keywords at Campaigns > Keywords > Negative keywords. Review any brand exclusions you already have the same way.
4. If you advertise on ChatGPT, note what your reporting shows. If it doesn't show clicks and spend by prompt, ask your provider before you assume it does.
5. Make no changes to campaigns that are working. Filtering waste is enough for now.