Here we go. With the rising popularity of AI and its influence on many aspects of our lives, Google has introduced a new “AI Overviews” feature that provides AI-generated answers directly in the search results. However, this new feature has brought new challenges for affiliates and media buyers. These AI answers, which give quick responses to user queries, have caused an increase in CPCs on Google Search Ads across all niches. As a result, campaigns that were previously stable might not be effective anymore or could even lose money.
Users are now receiving short answers right on the search results page, reducing their need to click through to pre-landing pages or landing pages, even if they are the ideal target audience for an offer. This isn’t just a minor update; it’s a complete overhaul of how search advertising works, and affiliates who don’t adapt risk losing their traffic.
In this article, we’ll explain in clear, detailed terms why Google is doing this, how it's affecting search ads, and what affiliates can do to stay competitive. We’ll be drawing on practical insights from our expert team at YeezyPay, a service that provides trusted Google Ads agency accounts to affiliates.
The main issue is that this new feature supports the ongoing trend of “zero clicks,” which is now affecting affiliates' earnings. In the past, if someone searched for “weight loss tips,” they would see an ad for an “effective” dietary supplement. They would click the ad, go to a pre-landing page or landing page with helpful advice and engaging discussions, and then move on to the offer page where they would purchase the product. This was the typical funnel in paid advertising. Now, Google itself is acting as that “pre-landing page.” It provides a short summary of the answer right above the search results. If users can get the answer without clicking, why would they click on a paid ad?
What does this mean in practice? It leads to a drop in the CTRs since the campaigns keep spending their budgets and generating impressions, but get a few clicks.
The situation is actually worse for campaigns built on informational search queries, like “how to” or “what is” questions, which often lead users to content-heavy pre-landing pages. Niches like nutra, crypto, gambling, and even whitehat e-commerce products promoted through articles or reviews are hit hardest. If a campaign relies on informational queries, its foundation is now at risk, as users no longer need to visit external sites to get answers.
The trick is that the system now analyzes both the user’s query and the content of the AI response to serve highly relevant advertisements. Let’s use the image below as an example:
Google’s algorithms recognize that the user searching “why varicose veins appear” may soon look for related products, such as creams or treatments. As a result, Google inserts a relevant product advertisement directly into the AI response text, capitalizing on the user’s immediate needs. This creates new opportunities for advertisers but also presents some challenges.
For affiliates and advertisers, this means increased competition for these premium advertisement placements within AI responses, and such competition can drive CPCs to exceptionally high levels. Competing for these spots with a newly created (self-registered) ad account is extremely difficult, as the bid costs for warming up a new account that has a low-trust level are very high. Most of the time, the warming-up costs can even eat up your ROI. Also, additional expenses, such as payment processing fees, further complicate the matter.
Experienced affiliates and mesia buying teams are already exploring workarounds, and one effective option is using trusted Google Ads agency accounts like those provided by YeezyPay. These accounts come with established trust from Google, allowing affiliates to enter auctions on more favorable terms. They have many perks, including the one where they allow affiliates to top up the ad accounts' balances using cryptocurrency, and many other solutions that help affiliates to avoid budget-draining issues at the start.
Given how paranoid Google is about the quality and relevance of advertising, they will most likely not let everyone into these slots, but only the most trusted advertisers. Attempting to compete for AI response placements with newly created, low-trust accounts is a risky strategy that will lead to wasted budgets. You might also get a lot of ad account bans before seeing meaningful profits.
When pushing grayhat campaigns into AI response placements, the risks of using low-trust farmed accounts become bigger. As with previous Google updates, succeeding in this new environment requires more than just a good offer that converts; it demands a solid and stable infrastructure to support your ad campaigns. This is why an increasing number of affiliate teams and advertisers are turning to trusted agency accounts offered by YeezyPay. These accounts allow you to delegate the routine management of Google Ads accounts to the service’s support team, freeing you to focus on the main thing, which is finding profitable campaigns and scaling them quickly. Adapting to this change, like many before it, will be challenging, but it presents exciting opportunities for those who get through it successfully.
Users are now receiving short answers right on the search results page, reducing their need to click through to pre-landing pages or landing pages, even if they are the ideal target audience for an offer. This isn’t just a minor update; it’s a complete overhaul of how search advertising works, and affiliates who don’t adapt risk losing their traffic.
In this article, we’ll explain in clear, detailed terms why Google is doing this, how it's affecting search ads, and what affiliates can do to stay competitive. We’ll be drawing on practical insights from our expert team at YeezyPay, a service that provides trusted Google Ads agency accounts to affiliates.
Where did the clicks go? Google itself is answering instead of ads and organic results.
The main issue is that this new feature supports the ongoing trend of “zero clicks,” which is now affecting affiliates' earnings. In the past, if someone searched for “weight loss tips,” they would see an ad for an “effective” dietary supplement. They would click the ad, go to a pre-landing page or landing page with helpful advice and engaging discussions, and then move on to the offer page where they would purchase the product. This was the typical funnel in paid advertising. Now, Google itself is acting as that “pre-landing page.” It provides a short summary of the answer right above the search results. If users can get the answer without clicking, why would they click on a paid ad?
What does this mean in practice? It leads to a drop in the CTRs since the campaigns keep spending their budgets and generating impressions, but get a few clicks.
The situation is actually worse for campaigns built on informational search queries, like “how to” or “what is” questions, which often lead users to content-heavy pre-landing pages. Niches like nutra, crypto, gambling, and even whitehat e-commerce products promoted through articles or reviews are hit hardest. If a campaign relies on informational queries, its foundation is now at risk, as users no longer need to visit external sites to get answers.
Advertising is not dead; it's just that approaches are changing once again.
This shift might seem alarming to some people, but it is important to remember that Google is a business that relies heavily on advertising revenue. So it's not going to abandon this core income source. To address the impact of AI responses, Google has introduced solutions to keep advertisers. Instead of losing clicks to AI responses, Google is now embedding search and product advertisements directly within, above, or below these AI-generated responses, ensuring advertisements remain visible to users who visit the search results page.The trick is that the system now analyzes both the user’s query and the content of the AI response to serve highly relevant advertisements. Let’s use the image below as an example:
Google’s algorithms recognize that the user searching “why varicose veins appear” may soon look for related products, such as creams or treatments. As a result, Google inserts a relevant product advertisement directly into the AI response text, capitalizing on the user’s immediate needs. This creates new opportunities for advertisers but also presents some challenges.
For affiliates and advertisers, this means increased competition for these premium advertisement placements within AI responses, and such competition can drive CPCs to exceptionally high levels. Competing for these spots with a newly created (self-registered) ad account is extremely difficult, as the bid costs for warming up a new account that has a low-trust level are very high. Most of the time, the warming-up costs can even eat up your ROI. Also, additional expenses, such as payment processing fees, further complicate the matter.
Experienced affiliates and mesia buying teams are already exploring workarounds, and one effective option is using trusted Google Ads agency accounts like those provided by YeezyPay. These accounts come with established trust from Google, allowing affiliates to enter auctions on more favorable terms. They have many perks, including the one where they allow affiliates to top up the ad accounts' balances using cryptocurrency, and many other solutions that help affiliates to avoid budget-draining issues at the start.
Some tips for surviving in the new reality
Theory is enough for now, so let's move on to practice. The market has been turbulent since Google introduced its Search Generative Experience in 2023. Last year, 60% of search queries didn’t lead to a landing page or website. However, affiliates have always found ways to adapt, regardless of the situation. Here’s what you can do now to make sure your ads stay relevant and effective in the face of Google’s AI search results in the future:- Focus on commercial queries: AI responses are most likely to trigger for informational queries like “how to do” or “what is.” However, for commercial queries like “buy,” “order,” or “price,” Google tends to prioritize advertisements, as these are where its main advertisers operate. Campaigns built around a direct intent to purchase — such as “buy running shoes” or “order meal delivery”— are still relatively safe from zero-click losses. Affiliates should prioritize these queries to maintain traffic and conversions.
- Use long-tail keywords and broad match: Google’s AI excels at answering complex, detailed questions, which benefits affiliates targeting niche queries. For example, a query like “buy anti-wrinkle cream for women over 45 reviews” may seem overly specific, but it can attract cheaper clicks and highly targeted users. Google encourages moving away from manually selecting thousands of keywords and instead using Broad Match, Dynamic Search Ads (DSA), and Performance Max. These tools are designed to capture long-tail, non-standard queries that are difficult to compile manually, aligning with how users interact with AI responses.
- Prepare for new ad formats and improve ad quality: Google is likely to introduce new ad formats tailored for AI response blocks, which affiliates will need to test. Testing these formats with a newly farmed account is risky, as any mistake can lead to a ban. Using agency accounts from YeezyPay provides a safer environment, as these accounts benefit from Google’s trust and dedicated support from YeezyPay’s team, which specializes in grayhat verticals. This support can resolve issues like unexplained account freezes much faster than dealing directly with Google’s support.
Conclusion
The new ad placements under, above, and directly inside AI Overview responses are going to become a premium and highly competitive ad segment, even for experienced affiliates. Successfully securing these placements will allow you to attract the most targeted traffic at a reasonable cost. Google reports that users find advertisements in AI response blocks more useful because they appear precisely when a need arises, increasing their relevance.Given how paranoid Google is about the quality and relevance of advertising, they will most likely not let everyone into these slots, but only the most trusted advertisers. Attempting to compete for AI response placements with newly created, low-trust accounts is a risky strategy that will lead to wasted budgets. You might also get a lot of ad account bans before seeing meaningful profits.
When pushing grayhat campaigns into AI response placements, the risks of using low-trust farmed accounts become bigger. As with previous Google updates, succeeding in this new environment requires more than just a good offer that converts; it demands a solid and stable infrastructure to support your ad campaigns. This is why an increasing number of affiliate teams and advertisers are turning to trusted agency accounts offered by YeezyPay. These accounts allow you to delegate the routine management of Google Ads accounts to the service’s support team, freeing you to focus on the main thing, which is finding profitable campaigns and scaling them quickly. Adapting to this change, like many before it, will be challenging, but it presents exciting opportunities for those who get through it successfully.
