Google is testing text link ads inside AI Mode that look nearly identical to organic citations

Google is now serving text link ads inside AI Mode that look almost identical to the organic citations around them. Barry Schwartz covered the format on September 15 after Sachin Patel spotted it: plain anchor text links inside what reads like a normal AI response, with only a small Sponsored label above the answer marking them as ads. Schwartz's first reaction was that they look way too organic.

It's not a one-off either. On September 4 Google's Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin confirmed a small experiment serving text ads from regular Search campaigns inside AI Mode, limited to exact and phrase match keywords with what Google calls explicit and direct user intent. No broad match, and no word on how long it runs or how to tell if a given account is in it.

The catch for anyone treating AI Mode citations as the new organic payoff: the citation slot and the ad slot are converging on the same visual format. Schwartz doubts these ads will click well because people generally don't click links inside AI responses, but that's the same behavioral wall an organic citation hits, now with a media budget lining up behind it.

Anyone here caught one of these Sponsored text links live in the wild? Curious whether it sat above the answer or blended into the citation row for you.