Google Ads Coming to AI Mode - How Do You Get Your Ads There?

Have you spotted that Google’s new AI Mode recently made its first appearance on your Google interface? It is a “new Search mode (that) expands what AI Overviews can do with more advanced reasoning, thinking and multimodal capabilities so you can get help with even your toughest questions” (Source:Google). Google’s AI Mode, that uses their Gemini model, allows you to choose whether to search from the original Google search results page, or ask its new AI chatbot in the AI Mode. 

As digital marketers, this poses the question of “how does this impact my marketing strategies?” and it’s a fair question to ask. Let’s dive into this and look at how to future proof your strategies, specifically focusing on Google Ads.

Will people use AI Mode over their competitors such as ChatGPT and Claude?

This is the important question, because you need to make sure that you’re putting your efforts where it matters. According to DemandSage reports, in June 2025, ChatGPT had secured 800 million weekly active users, so the habits of users who use AI are pretty secure in ChatGPT.

However, it’s hard to believe that Google will let this last long and will likely make their AI Mode more prominent, attracting users to switch over to AI Mode. We all know that Google holds a majority of the search landscape and especially the paid search advertising space. So, are they going to cross over to make AI Mode a new platform to advertise on?

The new era of advertising is here…are you in?

Google Ads is coming to AI Mode. It was confirmed at Google Marketing Live in May 2026 and the shift is already reshaping how paid search works.

This is a significant shift and for UK advertisers it's not live yet, but it's coming. Google hasn't confirmed a public date for the UK, so now is the window to get ready before it lands.

So, those golf trousers you're selling? Soon, your customers may find you via their specific questions inside AI Mode, not just a keyword search.

Optimising your ads to the best they can be is no longer something you do a month or two into a campaign. It needs to be at the top of your to-do list from day one.

What's actually new

Google announced four Gemini-powered formats at GML 2026, on top of the AI Max and feed hygiene groundwork we covered when this first surfaced. All four are still in US testing or beta at the time of writing, with international rollout expected some months behind. Here's what each one does.

Conversational discovery ads
These build the ad creative in real time, based on the specific question someone asks inside AI Mode. Ask about low-maintenance ways to make your home smell like a spa and Gemini writes an ad around that exact query rather than serving a static banner. Every ad carries a "sponsored" label and sits alongside an independent, Gemini-written explainer, so it's clear what's paid and what's the AI's own take.

Highlighted answers
When AI Mode gives a recommendation list (the best language apps for a trip, say), eligible ads can now appear inside that list itself. If your product genuinely fits what someone's asking, it earns a place in the answer, not just a slot beside it.

AI-powered shopping ads
For considered purchases, Gemini reads your Merchant Center feed and writes a custom explainer for why a specific product fits a specific search. This is rolling out across the US over the coming months, still ahead of a confirmed UK date.

Business agent for leads
Instead of a static lead form, people interact directly with a brand's AI chat agent inside the ad. It's currently in open beta for US advertisers and early data suggests people who self-qualify through a chat flow arrive more sales-ready than those who fill in a form.

Direct offers: a separate pilot worth watching
Direct offers isn't part of the AI Mode ad formats above, it's a promotions pilot Google launched back in January 2026 with retailers including Chewy, Gap and L'Oréal. It's since gained AI-generated bundling and travel brands are joining with a trip-planning variant. Worth keeping an eye on if you run retail or travel promotions, even though it sits outside the core AI Mode ad rollout.

The three things still worth doing now

The groundwork we flagged when this was still a rumour hasn't changed. If anything, it matters more now the formats are confirmed.

1. Turn to broad match, backed by negative keywords

Broad match keywords can work well, but only with proper negative keyword research behind them. Keyword research still matters for understanding the landscape, but it's arguably not the most important job in building a campaign any more, negative keywords are doing a lot of that heavy lifting now.

Using Google's Keyword Planner, find negative keywords before you switch a campaign to broad match. Add negative broad match terms to rule out queries you're confident won't convert. If you sell Adidas football trainers for women, add the broad match keyword "football trainers" alongside negatives like Nike, Puma, men, children, size 12 and so on. You don't stock those, so there's no reason to pay for that traffic.

Already running keywords in Performance Max or Search and thinking about switching to broad match? Check your search term report first. Find your highest-costing terms and add anything irrelevant as a negative, broad, phrase or exact, before you make the switch. Once your negatives are in place, you're in a far better position to add broad match on top. Landing page conversion still matters just as much as it always did, negative keywords just stop Google spending your budget on the wrong traffic while it learns.

2. Get AI Max set up properly

This is the one that's changed most since we first wrote about it. AI Max for Search reached general availability in April 2026 and is now standard, not a beta test. From September 2026, Google will start automatically upgrading Dynamic Search Ads, automatically created assets and campaign-level broad match into AI Max behaviour, whether you've opted in or not, with a fuller sunset of manual DSA controls following in early 2027.

AI Max works alongside your keywords rather than replacing them. It reads what you're advertising and matches your ads to relevant searches, including ones you haven't explicitly bid on and it's the layer that connects your Search campaigns to AI Mode placements. AI Max for Shopping is also in closed global beta now, applying the same matching approach to product feeds. If you sell online, it's worth requesting access through your Google account team ahead of peak trading.

Given the September auto-upgrade, the smart move is to opt in and get familiar with the controls now, rather than have the switch happen to you.

3. Keep your feed clean and keyword rich

Your shopping feed still gives Google's AI the context it needs to understand what you're selling. That means keyword-rich product titles and every relevant attribute filled in, particularly now that AI-powered shopping ads are generating a written explainer directly from that feed data. Thin or vague product data will produce thin, vague ads. Give Google the detail and it'll know who to show your products to.

Once your campaign has the security of negative keywords, you’re in a better position to add broad match keywords. Now, of course, you can’t neglect the other important things to get converting ads such as making your landing page ticking all of the conversion rate optimisation points, but at least you have less of a chance of Google taking your money and throwing it away!

 

Got the essentials? It'll be ok. 

None of the four new AI Mode formats are confirmed for the UK yet. All of them are currently in US testing or open beta and based on how AI Mode itself rolled out, UK and wider international access is likely to follow within the next six to twelve months rather than land all at once.

That gives you a real head start. Broad match backed by negatives, a properly configured AI Max setup and a clean, keyword-rich feed are exactly the foundations these new formats will build on when they do arrive here. Get them right now and you won't be scrambling when Google flips the switch.

We're already testing AI Max with our clients and watching the AI Mode rollout closely, so you don't have to track every announcement yourself.

Get in touch with our pay-per-click marketing team today and we'll make sure you're ready for the AI shift when it reaches the UK.

 

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