Google is testing ads that look like normal links in AI answers
Sponsored links written as plain text inside AI Mode answers blend in with the rest of the answer.
Google is testing sponsored links that look like ordinary text links inside AI Mode answers. AI Mode is Google's chat style search result, where Google writes an answer instead of just listing blue links. The test was reported by Barry Schwartz, who credited @SachuPatel53124 for spotting it.
The format matters. Instead of a boxed ad unit sitting above or below the answer, the paid link is woven into the words of the answer itself as a text anchor, which is a link wrapped around normal words in a sentence. Schwartz says these appear to get fewer clicks than other ad units in AI Mode.
Why SEOs are paying attention
Glenn Gabe said Google had signalled a long time ago that it would test sponsored parts of an AI answer, and that this looks like that moment arriving. His concern is the one a shopper would have. If a paid link looks the same as an unpaid one, people may not be able to tell which is which.
Lily Ray called it big news and said it looks a bit messy. She also questioned whether people will want ads sitting inside their answers at all.
What it means for your site
This is a test. Google runs many tests that never ship, and nothing in the sources says how widely it is running or when or whether it will roll out fully. Nobody outside Google knows that yet.
If it does ship, the practical effect is simple. Part of the answer space in AI Mode becomes something advertisers can buy. That is space your pages might otherwise have been cited in for free. It does not change how your pages get picked for the unpaid part of an answer, and there is no setting to opt in or out.
The one thing worth doing is nothing urgent. Keep doing what gets you cited in AI answers in the first place, which is publishing pages that actually answer the question a customer typed. If you also run Google Ads, watch for this format appearing in your account over the coming months, because a text style placement with a lower click rate would change what a click is worth to you.
For everyone else, file it under things to watch. One report, two well known SEOs reacting, no announcement from Google.
when they are just text, it could be easy for users to not understand what's paid versus organic. This is big IMO
Not sure how much users are gonna like ads directly in their answers like this…