Microsoft is now showing sponsored ads at the top of Bing AI Mode answers, putting paid listings above the AI-generated response instead of below it. The ads include ordinary search ads and shopping ads, and they also appear in follow-up questions as the conversation continues. The placement is the opposite of Google’s AI Mode, where ads mostly sit at the bottom of the page. It is the clearest sign yet that Microsoft intends its AI search front door, rebuilt from Copilot Search this month, to earn money from the start rather than later.
## What the ads look like
The ads sit at the very top of the answer, above the text Bing’s AI writes. One example shows a sponsored listing with sitelinks to pages on the advertiser’s site. Another shows shopping ads for products related to the question. The “Sponsored” label is there, but it is muted enough that it is easy to miss at first glance.
The ads do not stop at the first question. They also appear in follow-up queries, the same multiturn format Google introduced for its own AI Mode ads last month. That matters because the follow-up is where the conversation gets specific, and specific questions are where advertisers most want to be seen.
## The Google contrast
Google’s approach is the mirror image. Its AI Mode ads mostly appear at the bottom of the page, under the answer, and last week the format stretched to [four ads under one answer](https://geroundtable.com/google-ai-mode-four-ads-one-answer/). Bing has chosen the top instead, and the difference is visible the moment the page loads.
The two companies arrived at the same idea within days of each other. Google took its AI Mode ads to [ten countries](https://geroundtable.com/google-ai-mode-ads-10-countries/) last month and switched on multiturn ads in the United States. Microsoft’s version goes further on placement, and its shopping ads put products in front of the answer rather than beside it.
## Our Read
This is Microsoft monetising its AI search front door while the paint is still fresh. AI Mode only became Bing’s front door this month, when Copilot Search was split into AI Mode and AI Overview, and the [redesigned homepage](https://geroundtable.com/bing-ai-mode-homepage-redesign/) arrived days ago. Ads were never going to wait long, and the top-of-page placement shows Microsoft is not shy about it.
The muted “Sponsored” label is the part to watch. If users cannot tell at a glance what is paid and what is the answer, the format will draw complaints, and regulators have already been looking hard at how AI answers mix advertising with information.
Microsoft’s other moves point the same way. Its [Brand Agents](https://geroundtable.com/microsoft-brand-agents-copilot-bing/) put shops inside Copilot, Bing and MSN answers, turning the company’s free Clarity analytics base into product distribution. The company is building an ad business inside AI answers, not around them.
## Why It Matters
For advertisers, the top of an AI answer is the most valuable space in search right now, because it is the first thing a user sees and the only thing some users read. For users, the question is whether the answer they trust is still an answer, or a shop window with a quiet label.
For the search market, Bing’s move raises the stakes. Google kept its AI Mode ads underneath the answer, and Microsoft has just bet that above is better. Whichever placement users accept will set the pattern for every AI answer that follows.
## Background
Bing’s AI Mode was Copilot Search until this month, when Microsoft split the product into a conversational AI Mode and an AI Overview for classic results. The redesigned homepage followed days ago, and Microsoft’s Clarity team announced Brand Agents the same week. The ads are the third step in the same build-out, and the one that pays for it.
Source: [Search Engine Roundtable](https://www.seroundtable.com/bing-ads-top-ai-mode-results-42479.html) and [Search Engine Watch](https://searchenginewatch.com/bing-ai-mode-now-shows-sponsored-ads-with-sitelinks-at-the-top-of-answers/)
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