The AI Overview Era Has Begun

• Ad Grants
• Tips
• 18. 06. 2025

The Biggest Shift Since The Birth Of The Internet?

We don’t say this lightly, Google’s new AI Overviews could be the most significant transformation to hit online search since the launch of the internet itself. While that may sound dramatic, the implications are truly substantial whether we’re talking about users, businesses, and yes, nonprofits relying on Google Ad Grants to reach their audiences.

At AboveX Digital, we’ve been helping nonprofits leverage Google Ad Grants for over a decade, and we’ve seen plenty of platform updates and algorithm changes. But this? This is a seismic shift. It’s not just a new feature, it’s a reimagining of how information is delivered and how people interact with search results.

What Is AI Overview (Expert Mode) & Why It Matters

Launched in 2024, AI Overviews marks a fundamental rethinking of how users interact with Google Search. The response from users? Overwhelmingly positive. Usage of Google has surged by as much as 10% in key markets like the U.S. and India as people turn to the new experience for faster, more intuitive answers.

At the heart of this change is AI Mode powered by Gemini 2.0, which brings an end-to-end AI-driven search experience to life. It doesn’t just respond to queries, it breaks them down into subtopics, issues multiple simultaneous searches on your behalf, and returns hyper-relevant, synthesized results. This advanced reasoning engine goes beyond surface-level answers, offering helpful follow-ups, suggested next steps, and trusted links to dive deeper into a topic.

In May, Google took things even further by integrating a custom version of Gemini 2.5, their most advanced AI model yet, into both AI Overviews and AI Mode in the U.S. While still being fine-tuned via Labs, this rollout signals where search is heading: more context-aware, more dynamic, and deeply personalized.

Soon, users will even be able to connect Google apps like Gmail to bring in personal context, transforming AI search into something that feels almost like a personal assistant. For nonprofit marketers relying on Google Ad Grants, this is no small tweak, it’s a new landscape. And staying visible in this AI-first environment requires rethinking how you structure, target, and optimize your campaigns.

So Where Do The Ads Go Now?

One of the biggest questions following the launch of AI Overviews has been: where will ads appear in this new search experience? Are they pushed below the fold? Hidden entirely? Or are they integrated within the AI content itself?

As it turns out, ads can now show in three distinct placements:

• Above the AI Overview
• Within the AI Overview
• Below the AI Overview

Below is an example of a Google Search results page where you can see an ad highlighted in the red rectangle, and the AI Overview section outlined in the yellow rectangle.

This marks a significant shift from the traditional “10 blue links” layout. AI Overviews now dominate the top of the page, creating a new visual hierarchy where both paid and organic content is pushed downward, and in some cases, out of immediate view entirely.

What This Means For Google Ad Grants Accounts

So what does this mean in practice?

• If your ad lands above the AI Overview, you’re still in a premium visibility zone.
• If it appears within the AI Overview, that’s a strategic sweet spot, your ad is woven directly into the AI-generated content, making it part of the discovery experience.
• But if it gets pushed below the AI Overview, especially on mobile devices, your visibility drops dramatically. Many users won’t scroll far enough to see it.

Here’s a crucial nuance for advertisers: only broad match keywords are eligible to trigger ads within the AI Overview. If both broad and exact match keywords are eligible for the top or bottom positions, exact match will take priority in the auction. But to actually get into the AI Overview itself, broad match is required.

For nonprofit organizations using Google Ad Grants, this evolution means their strategy must evolve too. Embracing broad match type, ensuring landing pages are informative and aligned with user intent, and thinking beyond traditional keyword silos will be key to maintaining visibility in an increasingly AI-driven ecosystem.

What Nonprofits Should Do Now

Question-based queries

One of the smartest shifts you can make? Focus on question-based searches.

AI Overviews are designed to respond to user questions with contextual, helpful information, so campaigns that align with these types of queries stand a much better chance of performing well. To support this, we recommend that nonprofits start investing more into content creation, specifically, content that addresses the types of questions people are actively asking.

At AboveX Digital, this is exactly what we help nonprofits do. We help with this process by conducting a thorough keyword research, identifying the most promising and relevant queries. We then provide you with the list of keywords around which you can build your content.

Once you’ve created the article, incorporating the keywords into headlines, subheadings, and body paragraphs, you simply send it back to us. From there, we take care of the rest – writing an ad copy, setting up your campaign, and launching it within your Ad Grants account.

This kind of content does double duty:

1. It becomes additional material that can be promoted through Ad Grants campaigns, driving relevant traffic to your site while maximizing your relevancy and quality scores.
2. It also positions your organization as a trusted, authoritative source, which makes it more likely for your pages to be surfaced, summarized, or even cited in AI Overviews.

The long-term goal? Ultimately, the goal is to help Google recognize your organization as a credible source of high-quality information, to make it pull content from your website when delivering AI-generated answers.

Conversion Tracking Matters More Than Ever

As Google Search evolves, you need to show Google what success looks like for your nonprofit. That’s where conversion tracking becomes essential.

To help the AI understand what truly matters to your organization, whether that’s donations, volunteer sign-ups, event registrations, or newsletter subscriptions, you need to make sure those actions are clearly tracked and measurable. Ensure accurate and consistent tracking across platforms by properly configuring both Google Ads and Google Analytics, and assigning conversion values where possible, to help Google understand which actions are most valuable to your mission.

At AboveX Digital, we work closely with nonprofits to ensure that all meaningful on-site actions are accurately tracked and reported. Without this critical data infrastructure in place, Google’s AI simply doesn’t have the signals it needs to optimize effectively, meaning your ads risk being excluded from the most impactful placements within the search experience.

Lean Into Automation – Performance Max & Dynamic Search Ads

Embrace automated campaign types like Performance Max and Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs). These formats are designed to adapt in real time, using machine learning to match your ads with the most relevant queries, often beyond what you could anticipate through manual targeting.

 

Performance Max is Google’s most sophisticated, AI-driven campaign type. Although only Search and Maps placements are available in Google Ad Grants, its power should not be underestimated just because the scope seems limited.

What sets Performance Max apart is how it targets, not just by keywords, but by intent and behavior. Instead of relying solely on the user typing a specific phrase, Google’s AI considers who the user is, what they’re likely searching for, and when they’re most receptive to seeing your message.

For nonprofits, this opens up a more intuitive and less restrictive way to reach high-intent users while increasing the chance of fully utilizing your monthly $10,000 grant budget.

Dynamic Search Ads automatically generate headlines and match content directly from your website to relevant search terms. For nonprofits with limited resources, these campaign types are gold as they do the heavy lifting, continuously optimizing performance while uncovering new opportunities to connect with supporters. When set up properly, they can significantly boost the impact of your Ad Grants account with minimal ongoing effort.

Don’t Overlook Your Landing Pages

Having well-structured, fast-loading landing pages isn’t just a technical best practice, it’s foundational to staying visible. Google’s AI models need to be able to quickly scan and understand your content in order to feature it in AI Overviews or prioritize it in ad placements. That means pages should be cleanly laid out, mobile-optimized, and easy to navigate, with clear headings and logically grouped sections. But it doesn’t stop there.

We also recommend that nonprofits monitor how their site is being indexed through Google Search Console. It’s a powerful (and free) tool that reveals how Google sees your site, and whether your most important content is being crawled and understood. If Google can’t access or interpret your content easily, it’s unlikely to feature it prominently, no matter how good your message is.

And when it comes to the actual content? This is your opportunity to stand out. AI can generate generic answers in seconds, but it can’t replicate your nonprofit’s lived experience, know-how, or your own opinions. That’s your advantage. Use your landing pages to showcase unique expertise, share personal stories, and answer questions with depth and authenticity. This kind of valuable content not only earns trust from your audience but also increases your chances of being cited, or even featured directly within AI-generated answers.

A Critical Time for Strategy

While the AI Overview rollout may feel daunting, it’s not all bad news. There are new opportunities on the horizon for nonprofits that adapt early. As long as you don’t rest on your laurels, there’s still plenty of room to succeed, even in an AI-dominated search environment.

At AboveX Digital, we’re staying ahead of these changes in real time. We’re already optimizing our clients’ campaigns to respond to this shift, and helping them rethink their search strategy from the ground up.

Final Thoughts

We believe that this shift is one of the most significant changes since the launch of Google itself. Search is no longer just about keywords, it’s about context, nuance, and AI-driven answers. Nonprofits who embrace this change will find new ways to grow. Those who don’t may quickly get lost in the noise.

If you’d like support navigating this transition, we’re here to help. Whether it’s auditing your current Ad Grants account or building a future-proof strategy, AboveX Digital is ready to guide your nonprofit into the new AI era of search.

Want a free audit or strategy consultation? Get in touch with us today!

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