In this week’s PPC Pulse: updates include an inventory expansion for Apple Ads, and Google confirms that Exact match keywords are not eligible to serve for Ads in AI Overviews.
Apple announced additional ad placements coming to App Store search results in early 2026.
Google confirmed that exact match keywords cannot serve in AI Overviews, even when identical broad match keywords exist in an account.
Both updates reinforce an ongoing shift. Search inventory is growing across new surfaces, but the level of control advertisers once relied on is changing.
Read on for more details and why they matter for advertisers.
Apple Search Ads Will Add New Search Placements In 2026
Apple officially announced that it will introduce additional ads within App Store Search Results starting in 2026. Today, advertisers can appear only in the top position. Beginning next year, ads will also show further down the results page across more queries, expanding total available inventory.
In its email announcement, Apple shared several supporting data points in its announcement:
- Nearly 65% of App Store downloads occur directly after a search.
- The App Store sees 800 million weekly visitors.
- More than 85% of visitors download at least one app during their visit.
- Current Search Results ads see 60% or higher conversion rates at the top of results.
Per the announcement, advertisers will not need to adjust campaigns to qualify for the new placements. Apple noted that ads will be automatically eligible and cannot be targeted or bid separately by position. The format and billing model will remain the same.
Expanding On An Already Big Year For Apple
Apple has consistently rolled out upgrades and expansions throughout 2025, including:
- Custom Product Page expansion (March 2025): Apple expanded testing capabilities by allowing more CPP variants tied to specific keywords, improving message alignment.
- Reporting enhancements (June 2025): Apple introduced clearer diagnostics around impression share, keyword performance, and CPP impact. These updates made it easier to identify friction points in search campaigns.
- Creative refinements for Today Tab and Search Tab (August 2025): Apple improved visual consistency and added support for higher-funnel experimentation, hinting at broader expansion across App Store surfaces.
These updates all point toward a more robust Apple Ads marketing platform, making the 2026 inventory expansion feel like a natural progression.
Why This Matters For Advertisers
More placements signal higher reach, but also more variability. Top-position performance is unlikely to change, but additional placements may bring new traffic patterns as more users scroll past the first result.
Advertisers should expect incremental installs paired with slightly wider performance swings.
This also means that metadata, product page quality, and CPP strategy will influence performance more than before, since every placement will rely on the same creative foundation.
Read More: An In-Depth Guide To Apple Search Ads
Google Confirms Exact Match Keywords Not Eligible For AI Overviews
A few questions came in to Google Ads Liaison, Ginny Marvin, this week on X (Twitter) regarding the eligibility of exact match keywords for ads in AI Overviews.
Marvin confirmed via a thread on X (Twitter) that exact match ads are not eligible to serve ads inside Google’s AI Overviews. This clarification explains a pattern many advertisers have seen over the last year. Even if an account contains the same query in both exact and broad match, only broad match can enter AI Overview auctions.
The update circulated quickly after Arpan Banerjee shared it on LinkedIn, giving the topic more visibility among PPC practitioners.
This means advertisers may see broad match triggering queries that they assumed would be handled by exact match. It also means AI Overview impressions are routed through a different layer of Google’s system with its own eligibility rules. Since Google does not provide separate AI Overview reporting, changes in performance may not be clearly attributed to this shift.
Why This Matters For Advertisers
This update makes it clear that match types do not operate the same way inside AI-driven surfaces.
The long-standing assumption that exact match provides clean, isolated coverage does not apply within AI Overviews. Broad match becomes the only entry point, which could influence spend allocation, campaign structure, query mapping, and performance diagnostics.
Advertisers should expect shifts in query distribution on terms where they rely heavily on exact match control.
Read More: AI-Enhanced Keyword Selection In PPC
This Week’s Theme: Search Control Looks Different Than It Used To
Both updates highlight a similar pattern. Platforms are expanding search inventory, but advertisers have less control over how placements are allocated.
Apple is opening new ad positions without letting advertisers bid separately for them. Google is routing some search coverage through AI Overviews, where exact match does not participate. In both cases, the legacy structure of “keyword plus bid plus placement” is giving way to a more interpretive system.
This does not mean advertisers lose influence. It means influence shifts to metadata quality, creative alignment, first-party data, and smart segmentation. Both updates remind advertisers to stay flexible because new surfaces will continue to emerge.
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