Google’s been changing its Google Ads Serving Policy and how the company is capturing/counting AI Overviews and AI Mode data in Google Search Console. Here’s our double take on what it all means.
Let’s start with the change in Google Ads Serving Policy. Prior, Google would only run one of your company’s ads on a Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Now, the policy standard (or should we say double standard): they can run multiple ads on the same SERP so long as they are in different places on the page.
At first glance, this sounds like a great opportunity for advertisers to double up their visibility. Indeed, Google Ad Impressions have seen great growth in the months following the policy change. But this Impressions growth is part of a double-edged sword, because most searchers are not going to click on both of the ads on the page. Therefore, the increase in Impressions leads to a decrease in Click-Through Rate (CTR). This means advertisers have to reevaluate CTR as one of the bedrock PPC metrics in reporting as a signal of relevance of ads with target audiences, or at least recalibrate expectations for what a “good” CTR is.
Moving on to the bind Google has created with Google Search Console (GSC) reporting… SEOers have long used improvements in the GSC Impressions, Clicks, CTR, and Average Position data as indicators of Organic Search optimization success.
The news that Google is now including data from AI Overviews (as part of the SERP) and AI Mode (as a separate search mode) could be initially seen as a way to gauge SAIO (Search AI Optimization) success via GSC. Until, that is, you find out the data from Organic Search, AI Overviews, and AI Mode is all being mixed together and not being presented separately. Not only is this a double cross in terms of Organic Search data transparency, but it also has the potential for double counting Impressions on the SERP with listings in both AI Overviews and the traditional search results. We are seeing a similar impact on CTR as with Google Ads and the blurring of the value of Average Position data as it now includes positions in AI Overviews and AI Mode as part of the overall average.
Will Google double back on the double trouble these double-barreled data actions have taken? *Picture me doubling over in laughter.*
