Where Do Google Ads Appear? Every Placement Explained (2026)

Google ads appear in more places than most advertisers expect: above and below Google Search results, on the Shopping tab, in Google Images and Google Maps, on search partner sites, across the Google Display Network of websites and apps, on YouTube, in Gmail and Discover, and, in a growing list of countries, inside AI Overviews and AI Mode. Which of those places your ad can reach depends almost entirely on the campaign type you choose, and you can check afterwards where each ad actually ran.

That second point matters more than the first. Two advertisers with the same budget can end up in completely different places because one built a Search campaign and the other built Performance Max. This guide walks through each placement, the campaign type that controls it, how to see where your ads served, and how to block placements you do not want.

Where do Google ads appear on Google Search?

Search is the placement most people mean when they ask where Google ads appear. Text ads from a Search campaign can show above or below the organic results on a Google results page, marked with a "Sponsored" label. Google decides which ads show and in what order through the ad auction, which weighs your bid, the expected quality of the ad and landing page, the assets you have added and the context of the search. A high bid alone does not buy the top slot.

The Google Search Network is wider than the main results page. According to Google Ads Help, ads can also appear beside, above or below results on the Shopping tab, in Google Images and in Google Maps and the Maps app. So a Search campaign for a Bangkok furniture store can, without any extra setup, put an ad in front of someone searching on the Maps app.

Search partners

Search partners are non-Google websites and Google-owned properties that show Google search ads alongside their own search results or listings. Google lists placements such as search result lists on partner sites, site directory pages, product detail pages, and YouTube search results and Watch pages. Search partners are switched on by default in a new Search campaign and can be turned off in the campaign's Networks setting. You will not get a full list of partner sites, but you can segment your reports by network to compare Google Search against search partners and decide whether to keep them.

AI Overviews and AI Mode

This is the newest placement and the one most likely to change during 2026. Google Ads Help states that existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns are automatically eligible to serve ads inside AI Overviews and AI Mode. No new campaign or budget is needed. The formats are text ads and Shopping ads, with local inventory and vehicle ads in testing.

Three details are worth knowing before you plan around it:

• Matching. Broad match, AI Max for Search, Shopping and Performance Max can match both the user's query and the context of the AI response. Exact and phrase match keywords only cover queries with clear commercial intent.
• No separate control. You cannot target AI Overviews or AI Mode on their own, and you cannot opt out of them separately from Search. Negative keywords and brand exclusions still apply.
• No separate reporting. Results are folded into your normal campaign and search terms reports, so you cannot break them out as a channel.

Market coverage is the big caveat. When this article was checked in November 2026, Google's Help page listed ads inside AI experiences for English in markets including the United States, Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. Thailand and the Thai language were not on that list. Ads above and below AI Overviews, as opposed to inside them, follow AI Overviews wherever they run.

Where do Display ads appear?

The Google Display Network is the collection of websites, apps and Google properties that sell ad space through Google. Image and responsive display ads appear in banner slots on news sites, blogs and forums, inside mobile apps, and on Google-owned properties. Unlike Search, nobody has typed a query. Your ad shows because of who the person is or what the page is about: audiences, topics, keywords used as contextual signals, or placements you pick by hand.

Display is also where inventory quality varies most. A campaign left on broad automated targeting can serve heavily inside mobile games and low-value apps. That is why the placement report and exclusion lists covered below matter more for Display than for any other channel.

One 2026 change to note: Google is moving standalone Display campaigns into Demand Gen. Google Ads Help says eligible advertisers could start moving existing Display campaigns with a migration tool from June 2026, and that, at a later date Google has not fixed, new Display campaigns will only be created inside Demand Gen, with remaining campaigns migrated automatically. A migrated campaign cannot be switched back.

Where do YouTube, Gmail and Discover ads appear?

YouTube ads appear before, during or after videos (in-stream), in the home feed, search results and the "up next" list (in-feed), and between Shorts. Video campaigns and Demand Gen campaigns are the main ways to buy this inventory. Performance Max also uses it.

Gmail ads appear in the Promotions and Social tabs of the Gmail inbox, looking like an email line until opened. Discover ads appear in the Discover feed of the Google app and on the Google homepage on mobile.

Demand Gen is the campaign built to reach these visual surfaces together. According to Google Ads Help, its channel controls cover YouTube, Gmail, Discover, Google Maps and the Google Display Network. By default a Demand Gen ad group can serve on all of them; choosing "Let me choose" in the ad group's Channels panel lets you restrict it, for example to YouTube Shorts only. Not every format can run everywhere: image-only ads cannot serve as YouTube in-stream ads, for instance.

Where do Google Maps and local ads appear?

Ads on Google Maps show as promoted pins on the map and as sponsored results at the top of a Maps search, usually with a business name, address, rating and directions button. They come from Search campaigns that use location assets linked to a Google Business Profile, from Performance Max campaigns with store goals, and from Demand Gen campaigns that include the Maps channel.

The map pin depends on the Business Profile, so a business with an unverified or messy profile has weaker local ad options. Paid Maps placements and the organic local pack are separate. A strong profile helps both, but paying does not lift your organic ranking.

Where do Shopping ads appear?

Shopping ads show a product image, price and store name, pulled from the product feed in your Google Merchant Center account. They appear in Google Search results, on the Shopping tab, in Google Images and on search partner sites, and in supported markets inside AI Overviews and AI Mode. Shopping ads are bought through Standard Shopping campaigns or through Performance Max with a Merchant Center feed attached, which can carry the products onto YouTube, Gmail, Discover and Display as well.

Which campaign type controls which placement?

The quickest way to answer "where will my ads appear?" is to look at the campaign type. The table below summarises the main inventory each one can reach, based on Google Ads Help as of November 2026.

Performance Max is the outlier. It is built to find conversions across every channel, which makes it powerful but also the hardest to steer. Google Ads Help describes it as accessing YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail and Maps from a single campaign. If you need to know that a budget goes to Search only, run a Search campaign.

How to see where your Google ads actually appeared

Setting a campaign type tells you where ads can go. Reports tell you where they went. The ones to check:

1. Where ads showed report. In Google Ads, go to Campaigns, then Insights and reports, then "When and where ads showed", and open the "Where ads showed" tab. It lists websites, apps and YouTube placements at account, campaign or ad group level. Google notes it is not exhaustive (placements with very few impressions may be missing) and that it excludes Performance Max and app campaigns.
2. Network segment. Add the Network segment to a campaign table to split Google Search, search partners, Display and YouTube results. This is the fastest way to judge search partners.
3. Performance Max channel and placement reports. Performance Max has its own channel performance report and placement report. Google states the Performance Max placement report is meant for brand suitability checks, not performance analysis.
4. Demand Gen channel reporting. Demand Gen campaigns can be segmented by channel (YouTube, Discover, Gmail, Display, Maps) at campaign, ad group and ad level.

Here is an illustrative example of how this plays out. Say a clinic runs a Demand Gen campaign on all channels and the channel report shows most clicks coming from Display but almost all form fills from YouTube and Discover. The fix is not a bigger budget. It is to open the ad group's channel controls and remove Display, or exclude the weakest Display placements, and then compare the next 30 days against the previous 30.

How to exclude placements you do not want

Placement exclusions stop your ads from showing on specific websites, apps, YouTube channels or YouTube videos. You can add them at the campaign, ad group or account level from the Content section of Google Ads. Some points from Google Ads Help that save time:

• Account-level exclusions reach search partners. Since March 2024, account-level placement exclusions also apply on the search partner network, which affects Search, Shopping, Performance Max, App and Smart campaigns.
• Domains cover subdomains. Excluding a domain entered without "www." also blocks its subdomains and pages. Subdomain and subpage exclusions do not work on the search partner network.
• Use exclusion lists for scale. Placement exclusion lists, under Tools and then Exclusion lists, hold up to 65,000 exclusions each and can be shared across campaigns. A list does nothing until it is applied to a campaign.
• Removing is not excluding. Taking a placement out of your targeting does not block it. Your ads can still reach that site through keywords, topics or audiences. Only an exclusion blocks it.

For brand safety more broadly, the content suitability settings let you avoid sensitive content types across Display, YouTube and Performance Max inventory, on top of individual placement exclusions.

What this means for Thai marketers

For advertisers in Thailand, the placement map has a few practical consequences. First, AI Overviews and AI Mode ads were not listed for Thailand or the Thai language on Google's Help page in November 2026, so Thai-language Search campaigns should not be planned around that inventory yet. Keep an eye on the market list, because Google has been adding countries through 2026.

Second, Thai audiences spend a lot of time on YouTube and mobile apps, which makes YouTube and Demand Gen attractive, but it also means automated Display and app inventory can soak up spend quickly. Check the Where ads showed report weekly for the first month of any campaign that touches Display.

Third, Maps placements depend on a clean Google Business Profile with consistent Thai and English names and addresses. Fix the profile before paying for local reach.

Finally, decide the placement before the campaign. If the goal is high-intent leads from people searching in Thai, a Search campaign with search partners reviewed after a few weeks is the controlled starting point. If the goal is reach and demand creation, Demand Gen or YouTube campaigns fit better. Performance Max suits accounts with solid conversion tracking and enough volume to let it learn.

FAQ: where Google ads appear

Do Google ads only appear on Google Search?

No, Google ads also appear on the Shopping tab, Google Images, Google Maps, search partner sites, the Display Network, YouTube, Gmail and Discover, depending on the campaign type. Search campaigns stay on the Search Network; Display, Demand Gen, Video and Performance Max reach the visual channels.

Can I choose to show my ads only at the top of Google Search?

No, you cannot buy a fixed position, but you can influence it with bids, ad quality and bid strategies such as Target impression share set to the top of the page. The ad auction still decides placement for every search.

Do Google ads appear in AI Overviews in Thailand?

Not according to Google's Help page as checked in November 2026, which listed English-language markets such as the US, Singapore and Malaysia but not Thailand or Thai. Ads above and below AI Overviews can still show wherever AI Overviews are available.

How do I stop my ads showing in mobile apps or certain websites?

You add placement exclusions at the campaign, ad group or account level, or apply a placement exclusion list. Remember that removing a placement from targeting is not enough, because ads can still reach it through other targeting.

Why can I not see every site my ads appeared on?

Google states the Where ads showed report is not exhaustive and leaves out placements with very few impressions, and it does not include Performance Max. Use the Performance Max placement report and channel report for those campaigns.

Get your ads in the right places

Knowing where Google ads appear is the start; choosing the right mix for your goals and checking it every week is where the budget is won or lost. If you want help planning Search, Display and YouTube placements for the Thai market, the Google Ads management team at Relevant Audience can review your account structure and placement reports. For visual campaigns, see our display advertising service and YouTube ads service, and for product catalogues, our Google Shopping service.