PPC Strategy for 2026: How AI Search and AI Overviews Are Changing Paid Search
The search landscape is undergoing its most dramatic transformation since Google first introduced paid ads over two decades ago. In 2026, AI Overviews, conversational search interfaces, and zero-click outcomes are fundamentally changing how users discover information and make purchasing decisions, and this, in turn, changes how you manage your pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. This article will cover how your PPC strategy for 2026 should evolve.
Understanding the Shift
Google’s AI Overviews represent the evolution of the Search Generative Experience (SGE), changing user behavior by answering queries directly on the search results page. These AI-generated summaries now appear in approximately 13.14% of all U.S. search queries as of March 2025, according to Semrush data analyzing over 10 million keywords.
The impact is measurable and significant. According to Seer Interactive’s analysis of 25.1 million organic impressions and 1.1 million paid impressions across 3,119 queries, organic click-through rates for queries with AI Overviews dropped from 1.76% to 0.61% between June 2024 and September 2025, a 61% decline. Paid CTRs fell even more dramatically, dropping 68% from 19.7% to 6.34% during the same period.
Even queries without AI Overviews experienced a 41% decline in organic CTR year-over-year, suggesting users are increasingly turning to ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other platforms before reaching Google.
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How AI Overviews Work
AI Overviews generate conversational, multi-source summaries that appear at the top of search results, often above both organic and paid listings. It differs from featured snippets in that AI Overviews synthesize information from multiple sources in real-time using Google’s Gemini models.
When expanded, these overviews occupy approximately 1,345 pixels of screen space (403 pixels when collapsed), pushing the first organic result down to 1,686 pixels, well below standard screen sizes. On mobile devices, AI Overviews can consume up to 75.7% of available screen real estate.
The numbers tell a stark story. Between June 2024 and September 2025, organic click-through rates for queries with AI Overviews dropped 61%, while paid CTRs fell 68% according to Seer Interactive. This isn’t a temporary dip. The gap between queries with and without AI Overviews has widened from negligible differences to a 7 percentage point chasm in paid performance.
What’s more concerning is that avoiding AI Overview queries doesn’t solve the problem. Queries without AI Overviews still lost 41% of their click-through rate year-over-year. Users are changing where they search, increasingly starting on ChatGPT or Perplexity rather than Google.
The one advantage is that brands cited within AI Overviews perform significantly better than those that don’t appear at all.
How AI Overviews Are Shifting Search Intent and Query Patterns
Users are changing how they search. Short, keyword-focused queries are giving way to longer, conversational questions that AI Overviews are designed to answer.
This introduces what strategists call “query fan-out”: a single natural-language question can spawn multiple related internal queries as the AI system attempts to answer the user’s question.
The New Role of AI in Google Ads Delivery
Google’s shift to AI Mode, launched to all U.S. users in May 2025, uses multimodal signals (text, image, user behavior) to personalize placements across Search, YouTube, Discover, and other surfaces.
AI is moving from a support tool that helps users make decisions to a co-pilot that makes decisions for users. Automation increasingly handles bidding, budget allocation, and audience targeting decisions. Google’s Performance Max campaigns, Smart Bidding strategies, and the new AI Max features all illustrate this shift.
Google’s 2025 year-end recap highlighted several developments:
- Ads in AI Overviews expanded to desktop and new global markets throughout 2025
- AI Mode opened new mid-funnel inventory for deeper conversational queries with ad placements now being tested
- AI Max for Search launched with new beta features scheduled for Q1 2026
- Smart Bidding Exploration showed an average 18% increase in unique converting query categories and 19% conversion lift
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2026 Projections: What’s Coming Next
Gemini Ads: In early December 2025, AdWeek reported that Google told advertising clients that ad placements in Gemini were targeted for a 2026 rollout. However, Google disputed this report, stating there are no ads in the Gemini app and no current plans to add them. Google said that ads currently appear in AI Overviews and are being tested in AI Mode, but the Gemini chatbot itself is ad-free.
What we can confirm for 2026:
- Continued expansion of AI Mode advertising as Google refines how ads appear within conversational search experiences
- New ad formats optimized for conversational interactions and intent-based queries
- Increased AI Overview penetration, particularly for longer, informational queries
- PPC strategy for 2026 requires greater integration of Google’s AI Max features
Industry strategists note that the AI search ecosystem is evolving. Perplexity introduced sponsored follow-up questions in 2025.
Why Traditional Metrics Are Losing Value
When AI Overviews capture user attention and generate zero-click answers, CTR and position metrics no longer correlate with campaign impact the way they once did.
The shift requires moving to portfolio-level and influence-based metrics:
- Assisted conversions become essential for understanding the full impact of your presence in AI-dominant SERPs.
- Impression share within AI-dominant SERPs matters more than absolute position.
- Brand search lift indicates whether your presence in informational queries is building awareness that manifests as later direct searches for your brand.
- Multichannel revenue attribution connects the dots between AI Overview exposure, subsequent brand searches, and eventual conversions.
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Rebalancing Budgets for 2026
The principle for 2026 budget allocation: prioritize high-intent, bottom-funnel paid search where AI Overviews are less likely to fully satisfy transactional intent.
Queries with clear commercial intent containing terms like buy, price, near me, or specific SKU-level searches still drive clicks because AI Overviews can’t complete the transaction.
A potential budgeting framework:
40-50% to high-intent paid search: Focus on transactional queries, branded terms, and bottom-funnel keywords where users are ready to purchase.
30-40% to creative-led paid social: With search traffic uncertainty, diversifying into platforms where AI Overviews aren’t a factor can provide some stability.
10-15% to display and retargeting: Maintain presence across the customer journey, particularly for re-engaging users who may have encountered your brand through AI Overviews but didn’t click through.
5-15% to AI platform preparation: Set aside an experimental budget for testing AI Mode placements and optimizing for AI Overview citations.
Evolving Targeting
Broader match types, hidden “Other search terms,” and AI-driven matching are eroding granular keyword control. Google’s systems increasingly interpret intent rather than match exact keywords, pushing advertisers to rely more heavily on audience and contextual signals.
As third-party cookies disappear and Google’s systems rely more on advertiser-provided signals, your CRM data and modeled lifetime value become primary inputs for bidding and personalization.
Customer Match lists allow you to target existing customers or high-value prospects even when their search queries don’t exactly match your keywords.
- Conversion value rules help Google’s AI understand which conversions matter most.
- Enhanced conversions and offline conversion imports connect the full customer journey.
- Audience signals in Performance Max guide where Google’s automation directs your budget.
Creative and Landing Page Strategy
With bidding and placements increasingly automated, your PPC strategy for 2026 needs to focus on creative quality, diversity, and structured information as these become your primary levers for appearing favorably in AI-informed ad slots.
- Multi-format asset creation feeds Google’s AI systems the inputs they need. Provide multiple headline variations, description options, images, and short-form video assets.
- Content that aligns with informational queries positions your brand as an authoritative source. When your website does a good job answering the questions that trigger AI Overviews, you increase the likelihood of being cited within those overviews.
- Structured data implementation (schema markup, product feeds, and FAQ structured data) helps Google’s AI systems understand and extract information from your content.
- Landing page quality matters. Google’s AI Max features generate ad copy by analyzing your landing pages.
E-E-A-T signals (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) influence whether your content gets pulled into AI Overviews.
Your 2026 Roadmap
First: Assessment and Quick Wins That Will Improve Your PPC Strategy for 2026
- Audit AI Overview impact by query type in your account. Use Google Search Console to identify which queries trigger AI Overviews and cross-reference with Google Ads data to see performance impact.
- Adjust bids and negatives based on AI Overview presence. Reduce bids on highly informational queries with high AI Overview rates; increase bids on transactional queries showing resilience.
- Diversify creative assets. Ensure every campaign has multiple ad variations, image assets, and video elements.
- Implement comprehensive schema markup on key landing pages. Add FAQ schema, Product schema, and Article schema.
- Refine first-party data pipelines. Ensure Customer Match lists are current and enhanced conversions are properly configured.
Then: Strategic Repositioning
- Reallocate budgets toward high-intent search and discovery. Gradually shift spend away from purely informational queries toward bottom-funnel keywords and paid social for top-funnel awareness.
- Implement portfolio-level measurement. Set up data-driven attribution, configure conversion value rules, and establish blended ROAS tracking.
- Test AI Mode and emerging AI surfaces with deliberate budgets.
- Develop content for AI Overview optimization. Create comprehensive guides, comparison pages, and FAQ content that positions your brand as the authoritative source AI systems cite.
- Integrate SEO and PPC teams around AI strategy. The line between paid and organic is blurring in AI-powered search.
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Looking Ahead
In 2026, PPC strategy will treat AI Overviews and AI search surfaces as core environments to design for, not something to work around.
The transition isn’t easy. Google Search CPCs have increased by 45% year-over-year in many accounts as of mid-2025, while LinkedIn CPCs increased 147% and Meta CPCs increased 64%.
But this transformation also creates opportunity. Brands that move quickly can establish presence in AI-powered environments before they become saturated. Those who invest in authoritative content now will own valuable positioning as AI Overviews expand.
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