Additionally, Collective Measures is gearing up for mid-funnel queries that contain comparison questions for products and services, to maximize ranking within regular search.

“That is where clients have an opportunity to capture potential impression or click loss coming from AI Overview,” said Swaney.

Google is aggressively combining its AI tools

Although a huge chunk of Google’s revenue comes from Search ads, Google hasn’t yet revealed what AI Overview’s ad units will look like. The tech giant has said it plans to unveil this at its Marketing Live event this week.

There have been hints.

Google has been testing product carousels that suggest additional products consumers may like in its AI-generated responses, said Evan Finkelstein, senior manager of SEO and performance content at the insurance company New York Life. 

Google also seems to have plans to combine generative AI search with its more conventional AI tool Performance Max, which uses AI to determine where ads should be placed to get the best results.

Google, for instance, is nudging advertisers to integrate a tool called Broad Match. It targets based on keywords in text-based campaigns with Performance Max campaigns, according to a pitch deck that Google sent to advertisers in February shared with ADWEEK. Google is telling advertisers this will help ensure relevant AI search results.

The tech giant labels the combination of Performance Max and Broad Match its “Ads Power Pair.”

Some marketers are still unsure if harnessing Performance Max impacts how brands appear in AI Overview results.

“We have tested Performance Max [but] are not able to see its impact in SGE,” said Michael Robbins, senior manager of paid search at Exverus Media.

But Google continues to aggressively combine Performance Max with AI Overview.

New tools that use both include Automatically Created Assets, which generates creatives based on keywords; and New Customer Acquisition, which uses advertisers’ first-party data and lets marketers bid at a higher amount to target new and existing customers.

Some ad buyers, however, say these tools will help advertisers transition into a world of AI-powered search.

“This advanced value-based bidding feature lets [advertisers] have more control by steering the bidder toward their preferred customer type,” said Michelle Merklin, vp of paid search innovation and growth at Tinuiti. “Such hybrid tools are going to help advertisers maintain the control and the performance they need as more changes are happening to the search results page.”