Google AI Mode Brings In Less Ad Revenue
What It Means for Your Website

Key takeaways

• Numbers: According to The Decoder, Google’s revenue from Search and other ad formats grew 12 percent in the third quarter of 2026; analysts had expected 15 percent.
• Reason: In October 2026, Google executive Philipp Schindler named lower monetization in AI Mode, Google’s AI search, as one of three reasons; currency effects accounted for the largest share.
• Ads: Since October 28, 2026, Google has been showing ads in AI Mode in ten countries outside the US, according to its own blog. Germany and the rest of the EU are not among them.
• Length: According to Google, AI Mode queries are on average three times as long as traditional searches.

Contents

1. What Google’s quarterly numbers show
2. What Google itself says about AI Mode
3. Where AI Mode already has ads
4. What this means for your clicks
5. What you can do now
6. Frequently asked questions

Google’s AI search earns Google less ad money than traditional search. The company admitted as much itself on October 28, 2026, when it presented its quarterly results. This is about AI Mode, a part of Google Search where you ask questions and get a written answer instead of a list of results. Google is still expanding ads there, but so far not in Germany or anywhere else in the EU.

For your website, this means: when ads in AI Mode will appear in Europe is open. Whether your clicks are already shifting, however, is something you can check today.

What Google’s quarterly numbers show

Google Search grew more slowly than expected in the third quarter of 2026. According to The Decoder on October 29, 2026, revenue from Search and other ad formats rose 12 percent to 63.4 billion dollars. Analysts had expected 15 percent for the third quarter of 2026, according to The Decoder.

On October 29, 2026, shares of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, fell about 12.5 percent according to heise, wiping out roughly half a trillion dollars in market value by heise’s estimate.

The share price did not fall because of AI search alone. heise mainly cites high spending on AI data centers, losses of about 7 billion dollars from investments, higher interest costs and new shares.

What Google itself says about AI Mode

Google earns less per search in AI Mode than in traditional search. Philipp Schindler, Google’s Chief Business Officer, said so on the earnings call, according to the transcript at The Motley Fool: “the strong growth in AI Mode queries had an impact because of the lower monetization we were seeing in AI Mode.” In plain terms: the many queries in AI Mode slowed growth because Google makes less ad revenue per query there.

According to the same transcript, this was one of three reasons. Schindler said currency effects, meaning exchange rate swings, accounted for the largest share. On top of that came one-off effects with retailers from Asia and with media, after a strong previous quarter with the soccer World Cup. Google does not quantify the AI Mode share. Nor does Google explain why AI Mode earns less.

People are not searching less. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said on the call, according to The Motley Fool transcript, that the number of search queries is growing at its fastest pace in five years. More searches, but some of them earn Google less.

AI Mode has been available in German since October 8, 2025, according to Google.

Where AI Mode already has ads

Since October 28, 2026, ads in AI Mode have been running in ten countries besides the US. Shashi Thakur, who according to the Google blog is responsible for search ads there, writes in the Google blog: Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Singapore. Brazil, Mexico and the UK are set to follow by the end of 2026, according to the same post.

Germany does not have ads in AI Mode yet. On October 30, 2026, the country list in Google Ads Help names no EU country and English as the only language. Google has not given a date for Germany.

In the US, ads now also appear on follow-up questions, according to the Google blog, meaning when users dig deeper in their conversation with the AI. According to the same post, they are labeled “Sponsored.”

What this means for your clicks

I assume that a finished answer sends fewer clicks to websites than a list of results. That is my assessment; Google itself gives no figure on this. For your website, this affects the organic results, meaning the unpaid listings.

For businesses, I find another number more telling: according to Pichai on the earnings call (Motley Fool transcript) and the Google blog, AI Mode queries are on average three times as long as traditional searches. A made-up example: instead of “repair hydraulic cylinder,” a buyer writes two sentences about their machine and their problem. My assessment: an AI is then more likely to cite the page that answers exactly that kind of question in its first sentence. This work is called GEO (Generative Engine Optimization): writing pages so that ChatGPT, Gemini or Google’s AI answers cite them as a source. More on this on the GEO page and in the glossary.

With ads, I see two sides. According to the transcript, Schindler said that paid and unpaid product listings in AI Mode are already clicked at similar rates; product listings are tiles with an image and a price. My reading: if ads come to Germany and the EU, a new ad placement will emerge whose prices nobody knows today.

What you can do now

1. Compare clicks and impressions in Search Console. Search Console is a free Google tool; it shows how often your pages appear in search (impressions) and how often someone clicks. If it is not yet set up for your website, it only collects data from the moment you set it up. Open “Performance” on the left and then “Search results,” click the date at the top and choose “Compare” with the last three months and the same period the previous year. If impressions rise while clicks fall, take a closer look at the pages affected.
2. Rewrite your most important pages around real questions. Take the three questions customers ask you most often on the phone and answer each one on your website in the first sentence of a section. I explain how in the article on search intent and in the glossary entry on optimizing for AI Overviews.
3. Calculate your cost per inquiry once a month. Divide your Google Ads spend by the number of calls and form submissions that came through the ads. If Google Ads is not yet counting your inquiries, that is the first step. Only raise your budget when this number justifies it; I describe the trade-off in the article Google Ads or SEO.

To be honest, nobody knows today when ads in AI Mode will arrive in Germany. That is why I would not put off the look at Search Console.

Next step

Google earns less from AI search than from the old kind, and ads in AI Mode have so far only rolled out outside the EU. If you want to know how clicks to your website are developing, book a free consultation. It takes 30 minutes and is free, with no contract. You will get an initial assessment of your website.

Frequently asked questions

Are there ads in Google AI Mode in Germany?

No. As of October 30, 2026, there are no ads in AI Mode in Germany. Google Ads Help names no EU country and English as the only language. Google has not given a date for Germany.

How do I recognize ads in AI Mode?

In the countries where they exist, ads are labeled “Sponsored,” according to the Google blog. In Germany you currently won’t see any in AI Mode.

Will my website lose visitors because of AI Mode?

That can only be answered for your own website. The comparison in Search Console shows it: if impressions rise while clicks fall, that is a sign.

Why does Google earn less in AI Mode?

Google gives no reason, only the fact. In October 2026, Philipp Schindler named lower monetization in AI Mode as one of three reasons for slower Search growth; according to him, currency effects accounted for the largest share.

Sources

1. The Decoder, Matthias Bastian: Googles KI-Suche bremst die klassische Suche (German), October 29, 2026, the-decoder.de, accessed October 30, 2026
2. heise online, Daniel AJ Sokolov: Alphabets Börsenwert stürzt um halbe Billion Dollar (German), October 29, 2026, heise.de, accessed October 30, 2026
3. The Motley Fool: Alphabet (GOOGL) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript, October 29, 2026, fool.com, accessed October 30, 2026
4. Google, Shashi Thakur: Ads in AI Mode in new countries, October 28, 2026, blog.google, accessed October 30, 2026
5. Google Ads Help: About ads in AI-powered experiences in Google Search, undated, support.google.com, accessed October 30, 2026
6. Google, Hema Budaraju: Der KI-Modus startet in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz (German), October 8, 2025, blog.google, accessed October 30, 2026