Google’s Upcoming Ad Change Could Spell Disaster For Millions Of Unprepared Small Businesses

When Google launched AI-generated search results in May, the announcement came with certain chaos: Google’s AI models instructed people to make pizza from glue, eat one rock per day and drink plenty of urine to pass a kidney stone.

But for the legions of businesses that rely on Google for traffic, the change was jarring for another reason. Some companies, like the travel booking site Kayak, said the new product, called AI Overviews, can discourage people from visiting their websites because they get all the answers they need right on Google’s homepage.

A major update to Google Local Services Ads requires businesses to link their accounts to a Google Business Profile by November 21, or risk having their ads paused.