WTF has Google Been Doing This Week? 3 Nov 2026
Search is becoming a conversation. And your ads are coming along for the ride.
Google has started expanding ads in AI Mode into Australia, which means your existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns can now appear within Google’s conversational AI experience.
No new campaign. No separate budget. No specific setup required.
Google is essentially extending the reach of existing campaigns into a new search environment.
And this is a pretty significant shift in how people might discover products and services.
So, what’s actually changing?
Traditional Google Search lets people enter a query and presents them with a list of results.
AI Mode is a different experience. People can ask longer, more detailed questions, explore options, compare products and ask follow-up questions within the same conversation.
Google says queries in AI Mode are, on average, three times longer than traditional searches. Ads can appear within these AI-generated responses when Google identifies commercial relevance. That means Google might show an ad not just because someone searches for a product, but because the conversation has moved towards a relevant purchase or next step.
For advertisers, existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns are automatically eligible to appear. The usual campaign guardrails, including negative keywords and brand exclusions, still apply.
More inventory doesn’t necessarily mean more demand.
Google is opening up another environment for advertisers to reach potential customers. That’s an opportunity, particularly if AI Mode creates new moments of commercial intent that traditional Search wasn’t capturing.
Google includes AI Mode performance in existing campaign reporting.It isn’t a separate campaign or budget, and advertisers can’t independently opt out of the placement. So how does the advertiser know whether AI Mode is finding genuinely new customers, or simply shifting existing Search demand into a different experience?
More impressions and conversions might look positive in the platform. But here’s what needs to be understood: are they delivering incremental value or simply changing where Google captures and attributes the conversion.
That’s the distinction we think advertisers need to keep an eye on.
Here’s what we’re checking in our clients’ accounts
- Search terms: Are we seeing new, longer or more conversational queries entering the mix?
- Negative keywords: Are existing exclusions still doing the job as query patterns evolve?
- Brand protection: Are brand exclusions and campaign guardrails set up appropriately?
- Landing pages: Do our pages answer the more detailed questions people may be asking before they convert?
- Conversion quality: Are additional conversions translating into incremental leads, sales and revenue?
- Incrementality: Are we finding new demand, or simply capturing demand that would have converted through traditional Search anyway?
There’s no need to build a new campaign or rush into a major account restructure. But we do need to pay attention to how this new environment changes the mix of traffic and the value we’re getting from it.
Google Search is becoming more conversational. The opportunity is to show up in those conversations when it makes commercial sense.
The platforms are changing how advertising works. We are focussed on what those changes mean for business performance.
