Google AdSense users can now choose to have Auto Ads show as “ad intents” through the platform (in addition to overlap and in-page formats).
What are ad intents. An ad intent is an “intent-driven format that places links and anchors into existing text and pages on your site related to your content,” according to Google.
Google doesn’t rely on third-party cookies for this new functionality.
What it looks like. Those links take the users interacting with it to a Google Search Result page containing both organic results and paid ads.
Here are examples Google shared:
Ad intent anchor:
Ad intent link:
Why we care. This new format could mean more revenue for publishers who opt into Auto Ads, but it could also mean traffic that would have gone to a publisher’s placement ad now goes to a Google SERP. That extra click journey could lose customers on the way.
Implementation. This is an optional functionality that Google has introduced. In response to a post on X accusing Google of stealing traffic share from sites on the SERP, Ginny Marvin, Google Ads Liaison, wrote:
- “This new format is opt-in and entirely optional for publishers. Publishers can opt into ad intent links, which converts existing text on their page into links.
- “There’s also an option to use ad intent anchors, which place anchors at the bottom of your page.”
