Google tests pharmaceutical ads in AI Mode and AI Overviews

Google has begun testing ads for certain pharmaceutical products, including prescription drugs, within AI Mode and AI Overviews, a Google spokesperson confirmed to Adweek. The test, limited to the U.S. and underway this month, lets advertisers with Google’s pharmaceutical certification run standard text and Shopping ads labeled “Sponsored”; Google had kept healthcare ads, along with finance and gambling, out of its AI surfaces until a narrower test open to select healthcare advertisers began in June. Search Engine Roundtable’s Barry Schwartz said he could not independently locate any live pharma ads in AI Mode or AI Overviews and that Google told him there had been no recent policy change.