Google's AI Mode shows text ads on nearly 30% of commercial queries, according to a study by SE Ranking. The exact figure is 29.45%, drawn from 50,032 commercial keywords across 20 niches, with data collected on 30 June 2026 and product carousels excluded. Search Engine Land covered the findings on 15 July. One thing to fix in your head before the numbers: this is SE Ranking's data on US commercial searches. It is not Google's data, and it is not Thai data.
What SE Ranking measured
SE Ranking looked at 50,032 commercial keywords across 20 niches and identified 14,733 queries that triggered text ads in AI Mode. That is where 29.45% comes from. Among those ad-triggering queries, 71.1% showed two ads and 28.9% showed one.
The scope is worth repeating because it decides how much weight the number can carry: US commercial searches, a single collection date of 30 June 2026, product carousels excluded from the count.
Ads follow the money
SE Ranking found ad presence at 53.56% for keywords with CPCs of $10 and above, against 24.33% for keywords under $2. Expensive intent gets ads. Cheap intent often gets nothing.
The gap between niches is wider than the gap between price bands. Pets had the highest ad rate in the study at 72.38%. Healthcare had the lowest at 2.64%. That is not a rounding difference, it is two different products wearing the same name. On this data, a US pet supplies advertiser is looking at a real ad surface, and a US healthcare advertiser is looking at something that barely exists.
The finding that should change a budget line
Two numbers from the study deserve more attention than the headline percentage:
- Only 11.53% of advertiser domains appeared as cited sources in the AI response their own ad ran against.
- Just 2.32% of advertised URLs ranked organically for the matching query.
Paying to appear alongside an AI answer does not get you cited inside it, and it has almost no relationship to whether you rank for the same query. The ad slot and the citation are separate doors with separate locks. Buying one does not open the other.
That is the case for planning paid budget and AI-visibility work as two things instead of one, with their own targets and their own reporting. A campaign that buys placement in AI Mode is buying placement in AI Mode. If the goal is to be the source the answer quotes, that is a different job with different inputs, and on SE Ranking's numbers the ad spend is not quietly doing it for you.
What this means for Thai marketers
SE Ranking's dataset is US commercial searches. It says nothing about Thailand, and the percentages should not be carried across. A 29.45% ad rate in the US does not predict a 29.45% ad rate on Thai queries, and the niche-level figures travel even worse than the headline one.
What does carry over is structural, and it is not a percentage. Ads in AI Mode and citations in AI Mode are decided by different mechanisms. That is a fact about how the surface works, not about US search volume, and it is the part worth planning around.
The practical move is to check your own queries rather than inherit someone else's benchmark. Treat the US study as a hypothesis to test, not a baseline to budget from. If AI Mode carries ads on your commercial terms, that is a placement question and it belongs with the rest of your Google Ads planning, judged on the same cost and conversion evidence as any other placement. If you also want to be the source AI answers cite, that sits with generative engine optimisation, and the study is a decent argument for funding it on its own line rather than hoping it comes free with the media buy.
Questions worth asking
Does buying ads in AI Mode help me get cited in the answer?
On SE Ranking's data, no. Only 11.53% of advertiser domains showed up as cited sources in the AI response their own ad ran against.
Do these percentages apply to Thailand?
No. The study covers US commercial searches only, collected on 30 June 2026. Nothing in it measures Thai queries.
How many ads does AI Mode show at once?
Among the ad-triggering queries in the study, 71.1% showed two ads and 28.9% showed one.
Which niches showed ads most and least?
Pets was highest at 72.38% and healthcare lowest at 2.64%, across the 20 niches SE Ranking sampled in the US.
Do advertised pages rank organically for the same query?
Rarely, on this data. Just 2.32% of advertised URLs ranked organically for the matching query.
The short version
AI Mode is a paid inventory surface now, at least on US commercial queries, and SE Ranking has put a number on it. The more useful finding is the one underneath: the money you spend to appear there is not buying you citations or rankings. Plan those budgets apart, measure them apart, and test the ad rate on your own terms before assuming a US percentage describes your market. If you want a straight read on which of your commercial queries actually carry ads, that is worth measuring before the next budget cycle rather than after it.
