Google says lower AI Mode monetization weighed on Search revenue growth
What this answers
- Did AI Mode slow Google Search revenue growth?
- Per Search Engine Journal's report of Alphabet's Q3 call, Google's Philipp Schindler named lower monetization in AI Mode as one of three reasons Search revenue growth slowed, alongside currency and the retail and media categories.
- Do Google AI Mode queries earn less ad revenue than regular searches?
- Schindler said strong AI Mode query growth weighed on Search revenue because AI Mode monetizes less, but he did not say what it monetizes less than or give a dollar figure.
Google named lower monetization in AI Mode as one of three reasons its Search revenue growth slowed in the third quarter, per Search Engine Journal’s report of the Oct 28 Alphabet earnings call. Asked by a J.P. Morgan analyst why Search ad revenue grew more slowly than query volume, chief business officer Philipp Schindler cited currency and the retail and media categories first, then said strong AI Mode query growth weighed on revenue because AI Mode earns less per query.
Per SEJ, he did not say what AI Mode monetizes less than, or how much revenue it cost. Schindler also said most AI Mode queries are incremental and that many are upper-funnel, which he said creates more monetization opportunities over time. The wire’s earlier item covers the 12% Search growth figure and the AI Mode ads expansion.
Why it matters: Google is saying out loud that its answer surface currently earns less per query than the search it is displacing, which makes the pace of ad placement inside AI Mode a revenue question for Google as much as a user-experience one.
The record: GoogleGoogle AI Mode
Glossary: AI Mode
Posted to the wire October 28, 2026. Edited by Joe Balewski.