Google says ads in AI Mode make less money than ads in regular search

Google's chief business officer, Philipp Schindler, said something unusual on the company's Q3 earnings call. Ads in AI Mode make less money per query than ads in regular Google search. His own words came at the 37-minute mark of the call. He said it is worth noting one thing. AI Mode queries were growing fast. That growth had an impact on revenue. Google was seeing lower monetization in AI Mode.

Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable published the quote with a related one from the same call. Schindler said Google is "scaling ads within both AI Overviews and AI Mode to more users and more queries". That means multi-turn ads in AI Mode for users in the U.S., and ads in AI Overviews in more countries.

What Google said before

The admission matters because Google had told advertisers something softer. Schwartz notes the prior line. Ads inside AI Overviews earn about the same as ads without AI Overviews. Schindler drew a line between the two surfaces this time. AI Overviews is a block at the top of a normal results page. AI Mode is a separate chat-style product. He named the lower monetization only for AI Mode queries.

Schindler added that he feels good about the trajectory. He said early experiments "have shown promising results". He did not give a per-query figure for either surface. He also did not say how far AI Mode monetization sits below regular search.

The other reasons for a slower quarter

The same call named three drivers for slower growth from Q2 to Q3. Schindler listed currency changes as the single largest factor. Then two vertical dynamics. Retail advertisers in Asia-Pacific were hit by the end of the European Union's low-value import exemption. Media and entertainment spend came off a strong Q2. Q2 had carried the extra FIFA World Cup matches held in June. The AI Mode monetization line was one driver among those three.

Glenn Gabe quoted part of the call on X, in a thread Schwartz links. "Each AI Mode query currently makes less than a traditional search", Gabe wrote. He added that Schindler coupled this with the claim that monetization will improve over time. Gabe also noted a second point from Schindler. Many AI Mode queries are early research before someone decides to buy anything.

For anyone doing SEO or GEO work, read this for the direction. The exact figure is less important. Google now has a stated reason to push more ads into AI Mode. That changes the shape of the AI answer page before the ten links underneath. A site that ranks well under an AI Overview still ranks under more sponsored results than it did last quarter.

Source

Search Engine Roundtable: Google: Ads In AI Mode Earning Less Than Traditional Search Ads, by Barry Schwartz, citing Google's Q3 2026 earnings call and a follow-up thread by Glenn Gabe.