Adthena detects ads in Google AI Overviews across 25,000 searches

Adthena announced on November 24, 2025, that it became the first platform to detect ads appearing inside Google AI Overview search results, marking what the company describes as a major milestone in paid search monetization.

The AI search intelligence platform monitored 25,000 search engine results pages and detected just 13 instances of ads being served within AI Overviews, according to data released by the London-based company. That frequency of 0.052% represents the earliest evidence of Google beginning to monetize AI-generated answers that now appear across billions of searches globally.

Phillip Thune, CEO of Adthena, claims the detection capability addresses fundamental questions facing search marketers. "For the first time, we can see ads entering AI-generated results," Thune stated in the announcement. "Our mission is to answer the questions that paid search marketers have - as ads enter AIOs, a new set of questions emerge and we'll be able to provide answers on frequency, which brands appear (and don't), and the impact these ads have on overall campaigns."

The detected ad placements closely mirror traditional Google text ads in structure while incorporating new visual elements. Each unit featured blue headlines averaging 55 characters, descriptions around 85 characters, and thumbnail images similar to Shopping listings. The formats included "Sponsored" labels and appeared directly beneath AI Overview summaries rather than above them.

Ads appeared across categories including education, consumer electronics, retail, telecom, and health. All detections occurred on U.S. desktop results only during the monitoring period.

Google executives hinted earlier in 2025 that advertisements would eventually appear in AI Overviews but provided limited details about implementation timelines or formats. The company began testing ads within AI Overviews for mobile U.S. users in October 2024, though visibility remained extremely limited during initial rollout phases.

The November detection marks the first documented observation of these ads in production search results outside Google's controlled testing environments. Adthena's platform continuously indexes search results multiple times per day, providing what the company characterizes as the most accurate tracking of AI Overview frequency available to advertisers.

The timing gains significance as Adthena's own research found that paid search click-through rates could decline by 8-12 percentage points as AI-generated answers occupy more space on search engine results pages. That represents roughly a 20-40% relative drop in paid CTR, according to analysis the company published examining 21 million search indexes across two four-week periods spanning April through September 2025.

Research from Seer Interactive published November 4, 2025, documented even steeper declines, showing organic CTR for informational queries fell 61% since mid-2024, while paid CTRs on those same queries plunged 68%. The study analyzed 3,119 informational queries across 42 organizations.

Adthena examined search behavior across five key industries in its comprehensive analysis: Retail, Travel, Finance, Healthcare, and Automotive. Finance showed the fastest increase in AI Overviews visibility, rising 9.9% between the two measurement periods. Healthcare followed at 8.3%, while Travel rose 5.8%. Retail and Automotive grew more modestly at approximately 2%.

The data revealed that AI Overviews increasingly appear on shorter, high-volume keywords rather than remaining confined to long informational queries. Finance AI Overviews visibility climbed from 11% on single-word searches to 79% on longer queries, while Retail peaked at 84% on nine-to-ten word searches.

Healthcare maintained high AI Overview presence even on short medical queries of one to three words, demonstrating what Adthena characterized as category saturation in generative results. Automotive and Travel showed slower growth patterns but followed similar upward trajectories as query length increased.

Brand-level analysis across leading domains in each vertical revealed clear patterns in which companies gained AI Overview visibility. In Finance, aggregators and major banks led growth, with three analyzed clients showing increases ranging from 10.7% to 13.7%. Healthcare brands demonstrated gains between 10.3% and 13.9%, while Travel companies showed early movement with increases up to 13.0%.

The brands gaining visibility in AI Overviews typically provide information-rich content focused on education or comparison, according to Adthena's analysis. These pages now feed Google's generative results, shifting visibility away from pure paid placements toward organic content that algorithms select for synthesis.

Adthena's research documented how AI Overviews visibility changed differently across query lengths in each industry. Finance showed balanced growth across all query lengths of 10-15%, reflecting what the company interprets as Google's deeper understanding of commercial intent. Healthcare saw declines in longer queries of -21% despite being the most saturated category overall, suggesting Google may limit AI exposure on complex medical topics.

Retail gains of 6-11% concentrated in longer product-level searches, reinforcing AI Overviews' strength in shopping-intent queries. Travel rose steadily at 4-8%, particularly in mid-length planning searches. Automotive demonstrated modest growth of 3-6% across short and mid-length queries but showed a -25% drop in long searches, revealing volatility in how AI handles specific comparisons.

Thune claims the platform provides the first solution for tracking ad placements within AI Overviews and measuring their impact on campaign performance. "While Google's rollout is still limited and clearly in the test phase, this development signals the start of a new auction dynamic," Thune stated. "Adthena's platform is uniquely positioned to help brands adapt - monitoring ad frequency, competitive visibility, and ROI as AI-driven search evolves."

The company emphasized that advertisers already leverage its AI Overview visibility data to measure click-through rate shifts and budget impact as AI results reshape user behavior. Enterprise clients monitor how AI Overviews affect the terms competitors bid on and where opportunities exist to capture search real estate.

Google executives addressed advertising integration during the company's third-quarter 2025 earnings call. Philipp Schindler, SVP and Chief Business Officer, stated that investments in AI Overviews and AI Mode "continue to drive growth in overall queries, including commercial queries, creating more opportunities for monetization."

Schindler explained during the October 29, 2025, analyst call that Google was testing ads in AI Mode and would "continue to test and learn before we expand this any further." For AI Overviews, he noted that "even at our current baseline of ads, whether above, below, and within the AI response, overall, we see the monetization at approximately the same rate."

The company reported during second-quarter earnings that AI Overviews now drive more than 10% additional queries globally for the types of searches that display them. CEO Sundar Pichai described AI as driving "an expansionary moment for Search" during that July 23, 2025, call.

Liz Reid, Google's VP and head of Search, addressed revenue concerns during an October 10, 2025, Wall Street Journal interview. Reid asserted that revenue with AI Overviews "has been relatively stable," explaining that reduced clicks on some queries get offset by increased overall search volume.

The extremely low frequency of ads detected by Adthena - just 0.052% across 25,000 searches - indicates Google remains in early experimental phases despite having tested the capability for over a year. The cautious rollout contrasts with the rapid expansion of AI Overviews themselves, which now appear across more than 200 countries and serve over one billion users monthly.

Adthena operates as the market-leading AI-driven search intelligence platform founded in 2012. The company's patented Whole Market View technology provides what it characterizes as comprehensive understanding of paid search landscapes that other tools cannot match. Custom-built AI models backed by over 12 years of search intelligence data collect information daily across Market Exposure, Campaign Efficiency, and Brand Protection.

The platform recently achieved Google Trusted Trademark Partner status after a year-long collaboration establishing automated brand protection benchmarks for trademark infringement in Google Ads. The company serves global brands across retail, finance, pharmaceuticals, travel, and technology sectors.

Technology products from Adthena including Local View, Ask Arlo, and Brand Activator have won multiple Search Awards, including Best AI Search Software Solution, Best PPC Management Software Suite, Best Search Software Tool, Best Use of AI for Data, and Best Software Innovation.

The detection capability arrives as search marketing professionals navigate fundamental shifts in how users interact with search results. Research published in May 2025 found that most users only read the top third of Google AI Overviews, with median scroll depth reaching just 30% of AI-generated summaries.

Analysis indicates that approximately 96% of AI Overview links originate from top 10 organic search results, showing strong correlation between traditional ranking factors and AI content selection. When brands get cited in AI Overviews, organic CTR reaches 0.70% compared to 0.52% for non-cited queries in third-quarter 2025, representing a 35% advantage.

The paid CTR gap proves even more substantial, with cited brands achieving 7.89% compared to 4.14% for non-cited brands - a 91% increase. However, year-over-year organic CTR declined 49.4% for cited queries compared to 65.2% for non-cited queries, demonstrating that citation provides relative advantage within an overall declining environment.

Google expanded AI Overviews to nine European countries on March 26, 2025, just one week after the European Commission released preliminary findings that Alphabet may be violating the Digital Markets Act through preferential treatment of its own services in search results.

The introduction of AI Mode represented a distinct advancement beyond AI Overviews functionality. Launched in March 2025, the feature utilizes a custom version of Gemini 2.0 specifically designed for integration with Google Search, employing advanced reasoning capabilities to address highly complex, multi-part questions.

AI Mode reached over 75 million daily active users following global rollout across 40 languages, according to Pichai's remarks during the third-quarter earnings call. The feature shipped over 100 improvements during that quarter alone.

Robby Stein, VP of Product for Google Search, stated definitively during an October 30, 2025, interview that Google Ads are not disappearing despite AI transformation. "Don't see them going away," Stein declared when asked about the future of Google Ads.

Stein revealed that Google conducts experiments integrating ads into AI Mode and AI Overviews while prioritizing consumer product development over aggressive monetization. Queries in AI Mode run two to three times longer than traditional searches, providing enhanced intent signals for future advertising targeting.

Industry analysts predict substantial impacts on advertising spend allocation as zero-click search adoption affects web traffic. Forrester analysis published November 6, 2025, projected brands will cut open web display spend 30% in 2026 in favor of connected television and paid social as addressable audiences reachable via publishers shrink.

The Adthena announcement provides the first independent verification that Google's advertising integration within AI Overviews has progressed beyond internal testing to production deployment, even at extremely limited scale. The 13 detected instances across 25,000 searches suggest careful, controlled expansion rather than broad rollout.

Advertisers face increasing pressure to understand where their ads appear within evolving search interfaces and how AI Overview presence affects campaign performance. Traditional metrics focused on clicks and traffic require fundamental reassessment as success indicators shift toward visibility and share of voice.

Timeline

• October 2024: Google launches ads within AI Overviews for mobile U.S. users in initial testing phase
• March 2025: Google expands AI Overviews to nine European countries and introduces experimental AI Mode with Gemini 2.0
• April-May 2025: Adthena conducts first analysis period examining 21 million search indexes across five industries
• July 2025: Google reveals AI Overviews drive 10% additional queries globally during Q2 earnings announcement
• August-September 2025: Adthena conducts second analysis period showing Finance AI Overviews visibility increased 9.9%
• October 2025: Google executives discuss advertising integration plans during Q3 earnings call, revealing 75 million daily AI Mode users
• November 2025: Adthena becomes first platform to detect ads appearing in AI Overviews across 25,000 monitored searches

Summary

Who: Adthena, a London-based AI search intelligence platform founded in 2012, detected the ads through its continuous SERP monitoring system. The company serves enterprise brands across retail, finance, pharmaceuticals, travel, and technology. CEO Phillip Thune announced the findings, which affect advertisers, search marketers, and brands competing for visibility in AI-powered search results.

What: Adthena detected 13 instances of ads appearing inside Google AI Overview search results across 25,000 monitored SERPs, representing a 0.052% ad frequency. The ads featured blue headlines averaging 55 characters, descriptions around 85 characters, thumbnail images, and "Sponsored" labels. They appeared directly beneath AI Overview summaries across categories including education, consumer electronics, retail, telecom, and health - all on U.S. desktop results.

When: The announcement occurred on November 24, 2025, with detection happening during Adthena's continuous monitoring operations. Google began testing ads within AI Overviews for mobile users in October 2024, making this the first independent observation of production ads appearing over a year into testing.

Where: Detections occurred exclusively on U.S. desktop search results within Google AI Overviews. AI Overviews themselves now appear across more than 200 countries and serve over one billion users monthly, though ad integration remains limited to specific markets and device types.

Why: The development represents Google's initial monetization of AI-generated search answers that increasingly dominate search results pages. With paid search CTRs facing 8-12 percentage point declines as AI Overviews occupy more SERP space, advertisers need visibility into where and how ads appear within these new formats. Adthena's detection capability addresses fundamental questions about ad frequency, brand visibility, and campaign performance as the auction dynamic shifts from traditional text ads to placements within AI-generated content.