Google is testing a text-based link format for ads within AI Mode. So the ads look like normal AI Mode responses, with normal looking text links with anchor text, but they are labeled as "Sponsored" above the AI-generated response.
In April we saw Google showing text anchor links in AI Mode responses but now we are seeing them as ads, sponsored results in AI Mode.
This was spotted by Sachin Patel who posted about this on X and Search Engine Watch - here is the deskop version of the ad unit:
Here is what I see for a similar query, just normal ads, separated out below the AI response:
Here is the mobile version:
Yes, these AI Mode ads look way to organic, no? But I doubt they will have as high of a click-through rate than the normal format. As a reminder, people tend not to click on links in AI responses, which is why you need richer looking ads to encourage people to click on the ads in AI responses.
Forum discussion at X.
