Healthcare Ads in Google AI Mode and AI Overviews

Healthcare ads in Google AI Mode and AI Overviews are limited today: Google's help page says it doesn't currently show ads inside AI Overviews for healthcare, though healthcare ads can still appear above or below an AI Overview, and Google's AI Mode ad pages don't address healthcare (Google; Google). Both placements are reached through broad match, AI Max, Performance Max and similar campaigns that learn from your conversion data, so Curve Compliance sends booked-appointment conversions to Google Ads server-side and strips PHI before data reaches an ad platform.

Book a call. Running Google Ads for a clinic or telehealth brand? Curve Compliance replaces browser ad pixels with one script and sends conversions server-side to Google Ads, Meta, Microsoft Advertising, TikTok, LinkedIn and ChatGPT Ads. Curve's team does the setup, typically live in about a week. Book a call with Curve.

Above, below and inside: three placements

Google treats ads around an AI Overview and ads within it differently. This table follows Google's help page “About ads and AI Overviews” and its AI Mode pages, read on October 26, 2026.

Placement	Healthcare ads today	Which campaigns	Reporting	Source
Above or below an AI Overview	Eligible: “Ads are eligible to show above or below the AI Overview in all 200+ markets where AI Overviews are available.”	Existing text, shopping, local or app ads in Search, Shopping, Performance Max and App campaigns	Your normal reports	Google Ads Help
Inside an AI Overview	Not for healthcare: “Currently, we don't show ads in AI Overviews for sensitive verticals like adult, alcohol, gambling, finance, healthcare, politics, and more.”	Text and Shopping ads from existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns	“ads in AI Overviews are reported as Top Ads”; no segmented reporting	Google Ads Help
Inside AI Mode	Not addressed. Google says “We're testing new formats that close the gap from discovery to decisions, powered by Gemini.”	“Powered by AI Max and Performance Max”; Google's 2025 post also names Shopping and Search campaigns with broad match	Not described on Google's page	Ads in AI Mode; Google blog

For showing up in AI Overviews without paying, see how healthcare marketers win the AI Overview answer and the zero-click strategy for AI Overviews. This page is about the paid side.

What Google says about healthcare today

The key word on Google's page is “Currently.” Healthcare sits in the same excluded group as adult, alcohol, gambling, finance and politics (Google). Ads in AI Overviews are offered in English in a list of countries that includes the US, so a US clinic could become eligible the day the healthcare line changes. Google's AI Mode ad page calls the formats “New for 2026” and doesn't mention healthcare at all (Google). Until Google says otherwise on its own pages, treat healthcare ads inside AI Mode answers as unconfirmed.

Google's healthcare policies apply wherever your ads run, including next to an AI Overview:

• Prescriptions and telemedicine. “Google restricts the promotion of services related to the online prescribing, dispensing, and sale of prescription drugs. Businesses subject to this policy include but aren't limited to online pharmacies and telemedicine providers” (Google). See LegitScript certification for healthcare ads.
• Addiction treatment. Advertisers can promote recovery-oriented drug and alcohol addiction services in certain locations “if certified by Google” (Google).
• Health is a sensitive interest category. Google says “Content related to Health is a sensitive interest category,” and for those categories “You can't use advertiser-curated audiences,” which include Customer Match and your data segments (Google). See personalized advertising and sensitive health.

How campaigns become eligible

You can't buy these placements directly. Google says “No, you can't directly target ad placements in the AI Overviews,” and “Both the user query as well as the content of the AI Overview are considered when serving these ads.” Because “AI Overviews trigger on complex answer seeking queries and advertisers are less likely to be targeting such keywords,” Google says it “requires AI-powered targeting solutions like broad match on Search or the keywordless targeting technology available through AI Max for Search campaigns, Performance Max campaigns, Shopping campaigns, or Dynamic Search Ads, to match relevant ads” (Google).

Google's May 21, 2025 post said the same for AI Mode: advertisers “already using Performance Max, Shopping and Search campaigns with broad match, including AI Max for Search campaigns, will be eligible to have their ads appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode” (Google). Google also recommends that you “prioritize Google's AI powered solutions like smart bidding” (Google). For campaign structure, see a compliant Performance Max setup for healthcare.

AI Max final URL expansion and your landing pages

AI Max for Search includes “final URL expansion to increase the relevancy of your landing page to a user's intent” (Google). Google's help page on the setting says “Final URL expansion is turned on by default when you opt in to AI Max,” and that with text customization also on, “Google may replace your Final URL with a more relevant landing page based on the user's search query, and generate a dynamic headline, description, and additional assets to match your landing page content” (Google).

For a clinic, that means an ad click can land on a page you didn't pick, such as a condition or treatment page, with ad text written from that page. Two things follow. Google says it “will only send traffic to URLs that are query relevant and themed to your ad group,” but any such page on your domain can become a landing page, so each one needs the same care about what its tags send (Google). And generated ad text still has to meet Google's healthcare policies.

Google gives you a control: “URL exclusions allow you to exclude URLs from serving in Final URL expansion.” In the campaign's AI Max settings, under “Final URL expansion”, select “Add URL exclusions”, then list URLs or add rules (Google). Exclude pages you don't want as ad destinations, such as patient portals, intake forms and sensitive condition pages.

Conversion data that AI bidding learns from

Broad match, AI Max and Performance Max widen which searches you show for. Smart bidding, which Google recommends alongside them, sets bids from the conversions you report. If your account counts page views or form starts, that is what bidding chases. If it counts booked appointments, it learns to find people who book.

• Report outcomes. Count booked appointments and qualified calls, credited to the original ad click, even when the patient books in a separate scheduler. See booked appointment attribution.
• Send them server-side. A server-side send lets you choose exactly which fields Google Ads receives. See whether Google Ads conversion tracking is HIPAA compliant.
• Keep PHI out. Watch for condition names in URLs, form answers and emails in query strings. Google Ads does not sign a BAA (Directory entry), so what reaches it has to be free of PHI. See which ad platforms sign a BAA.
• Upload offline outcomes when needed. Bookings confirmed in a CRM or EHR can still count. See the offline conversion import guide for clinics.

Which rules apply to your setup depends on your business, so talk to your counsel.

What to watch for

• The word “Currently.” Re-read Google's About ads and AI Overviews page each month. When healthcare leaves the excluded list, eligible campaigns can start showing inside AI Overviews.
• Your AI Max settings. Check whether final URL expansion is on and which URLs it may use.
• Your search terms. Broad match reaches longer, question-style searches. Review them and add negatives where needed.
• Other AI ad platforms. Microsoft already serves eligible ads in Copilot. See Microsoft Copilot ads for healthcare and the cross-platform table in healthcare ads in AI assistants.

How Curve Compliance helps

Curve Compliance replaces browser ad pixels with one script and sends conversions server-side from Curve's servers to Google Ads, Meta, Microsoft Advertising, TikTok, LinkedIn and ChatGPT Ads. Google Ads receives only a fixed list of fields, events can use neutral names, and contact identifiers are off by default on Meta, Google Ads and TikTok. Curve detects PHI-like patterns, such as condition names, form answers and emails in URLs, before data reaches an ad platform, and flags them so they can be stopped at the source. That matters when AI Max can send clicks to other relevant pages on your domain. Event Logs show what Curve sent and what Google accepted.

Curve keeps ad attribution when a patient leaves to book in IntakeQ, Calendly, Acuity, Jane App and other schedulers, and bookings made days later still match. Campaign Reporting puts Meta and Google Ads spend next to Curve-tracked conversions per campaign, so you can see what broad match and Performance Max bring in booked patients. See the Google Ads integration. Curve is SOC 2 Type II and signs a BAA on every plan (Directory entry). Curve's team does the setup, typically live in about a week. Start with the free website scan to see what your pages load today.

Sources, checked October 26, 2026: Google Ads Help, About ads and AI Overviews; Google, Ads in AI Mode; Google blog, AI Overviews and AI Mode ads; Google Ads Help, About AI Max for Search campaigns; Google Ads Help, About Final URL expansion in Search; Google Advertising Policies, Health in personalized advertising; Google Advertising Policies, Healthcare and medicines.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can healthcare ads show in Google AI Mode or AI Overviews?

Not inside AI Overviews today: Google says it doesn't currently show ads in AI Overviews for healthcare, though they can run above or below one (Google). Google's AI Mode ad page doesn't address healthcare (Google).

Do I need AI Max to show in AI Mode?

Not only AI Max. Google's May 21, 2025 post says advertisers using Performance Max, Shopping and Search campaigns with broad match, including AI Max for Search, “will be eligible to have their ads appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode” (Google).

Can I opt out of ads in AI Overviews?

No. Google says “No, you can't opt out of serving ads in AI Overviews” (Google). For healthcare that matters later, since healthcare ads are not shown inside AI Overviews for now.

Do ads in AI Overviews get their own report?

No. Google says it “currently doesn't offer segmented reporting when ads show within Search AI Overviews,” and reports those ads as Top Ads (Google).

Will AI Max send people to my condition pages?

It can. With final URL expansion on, Google may replace your final URL with a more relevant page on your domain (Google). Use URL exclusions for pages you don't want as ad destinations.

Can I stop AI Max from using certain landing pages?

Yes. Google says “URL exclusions allow you to exclude URLs from serving in Final URL expansion,” added from the campaign's AI Max settings (Google).

How do I give Smart Bidding booked appointments without sending PHI?

Send booked-appointment conversions server-side with a fixed list of fields and no condition names, form answers or contact details in them. Curve Compliance does this and strips PHI before data reaches an ad platform.

Does Google Ads sign a BAA?

No. The BAA Directory lists Google Ads as not signing one (Directory entry), so conversions sent to it must be free of PHI.

Talk to Curve Compliance

Book a call. Want Google's AI bidding to learn from booked patients, wherever your ads show? Curve Compliance sends Google Ads conversions server-side, strips PHI before data reaches an ad platform and signs a BAA on every plan. Book a call with Curve.