How to activate ads in Google AI Mode: 4 new formats in 2026

Contents

On 20 May 2026 Google held its Google Marketing Live. Usually it is an event with a handful of scattered updates, a few optimisations, a new format or two to test. This year was different, and the consequences will make themselves felt.

AI Mode has surpassed 1 billion monthly users, with queries doubling every quarter since its launch. (1) So Google decides to go on the offensive, to build from this base its search engine, with all the experience accumulated over thirty years of activity (Google was founded in 1998, and that is pure madness).

And what about ads? The problem is that most people managing Google Ads campaigns today are still optimising for a system Google is dismantling piece by piece. Impressions hold up, clicks drop, cost per acquisition rises. The account looks fine on paper but it is not. What Google announced in May 2026 is not a product update. It is the answer to the question everyone was asking: how do you run ads when search becomes a conversation?

One last note: all of this has been running as a test for about a year in the US and a few other countries in limited pilots. So this is largely preparation for what we will see in Europe too, but it is not a question of "if" but "when", which means doing the homework early is always a good idea. With that said, let us get into it.

When the keyword is no longer enough

For years the system was straightforward enough:

• Choose the keywords;

• Write a headline and description;

• Set a bidding strategy;

• The system shows the ad to anyone searching those words;

• Done.

AI Mode does not work that way. Queries in AI Mode are on average two to three times longer than a traditional search. (2)

• Before, you started with: "women's running shoes";

• Now: "I'm looking for running shoes for a marathon, I have a slightly supinated pronation, preferably something colourful because it helps me get motivated in the morning". (source: a conversation with a stranger)

No advertiser writes keyword variants for these cases, and those who try do it too late.

The most common mistake right now is waiting. Waiting for Google to clarify how the new formats work, waiting for inventory to grow, waiting for someone else to test first. In the meantime, those who move first occupy positions that then become difficult to recover. (3)

Moving on to the campaign types currently available in Google Ads, another mistake is thinking that Performance Max and AI Max are the same thing, or that one replaces the other:

• Performance Max optimises conversions across all Google channels, from Search to YouTube, from Display to Gmail, automatically managing creatives and placements;

• AI Max is an additional layer for standard Search campaigns, expanding keyword reach, generating copy variants in real time and matching ads to landing pages using machine learning. (4)

They are different tools, built on different logic. Using only one excludes certain formats.

What they have in common is one precise requirement: to be eligible for the new ad formats in AI Mode, you need active campaigns in Performance Max or AI Max. (5) Those who do not use them will not appear in certain placements. This is not a future optimisation issue. It is an exclusion already in effect.

The system no longer reads only the keywords. It reads context, intent, the conversation. And it builds the ad in real time.

The 4 formats changing ads

At Google Marketing Live 2026, Google announced four new ad formats designed specifically for conversational search. (5)

1) Conversational Discovery Ads. The ad responds to the user's specific question. If someone writes "I want my home to smell like a spa without having to use something every week", Gemini reads the intent (trying to understand every grammatically imperfect word is a losing battle, but as in a chat between friends, grammar takes a back seat), generates a tailored copy and shows an ad from the most relevant brand. No preset copy, everything built around the query at that moment.

2) Highlighted Answers. When AI Mode builds a list of suggestions (for example, the best apps to learn a language before a trip), brands with relevant and quality offerings can appear as a highlighted answer within that list. The ad integrates into the recommendation flow, it does not interrupt and therefore does not feel out of place in the conversation.

3) AI-powered Shopping Ads. Designed for high-consideration products, where the user wants to understand why that specific product is right for them. Gemini reads the merchant feed, selects the most relevant products and generates text explaining the why, in real time. For a shop selling coffee machines, the ad does not say "buy our machine". It says why that machine is the answer to that specific question.

4) Business Agent for Leads. Inside the ad sits a conversational agent built on the brand's website. Instead of a static form, the user clicks "Chat" and receives immediate answers based on the site's content. A qualified lead before they even reach the landing page. (5)

All four formats are clearly labelled as "Sponsored". All four integrate what Google calls the AI Explainer: Gemini evaluates the product or service independently and shows that context alongside the advertiser's creative. The idea is transparency and relevance in the same place. (5, 6)

One number worth keeping in mind: brands mentioned within AI Overviews record 91% more paid clicks compared to brands that do not appear in AI responses. (9) Showing up matters. It is not just organic traffic: it is a credibility effect that carries over to paid campaigns too.

Where to start

Before touching budget or campaign structure, there are three concrete things to do.

First: check whether your current campaigns make you eligible for the new formats. Do you have Performance Max active? Do you have AI Max enabled in your Search campaigns? If the answer is no, the new AI Mode placements will not see you. This is not an optimisation question: it is the minimum requirement to exist in that space. (3)

Second: stop writing copy designed only for traditional search. With AI-powered Shopping Ads and Conversational Discovery Ads, Gemini reads your feed and your landing page and generates the creative in real time. If your texts are generic, built on short keywords or designed to describe the product without considering the context and how it is used, the system has less material to work with. As we have already written on this blog about product feeds and AI Search, optimising only for paid campaigns does not produce the same results as optimising to be found by an AI. (7) Same logic, same problem.

Third: think about the questions your users ask in conversation, not just the keywords they type. Queries in AI Mode are much longer and more contextual. The content of your site must be able to answer these questions to be cited, and to be used by Gemini as a basis for building a relevant ad. (2) This is not a technical optimisation but understanding what someone who might buy from you is actually looking for.

One number that helps illustrate the urgency: 93% of AI Mode sessions generate no clicks to external sites. (10) Organic traffic from conversational search, in the form we are used to, does not exist. Ads still appear. Those waiting for things to return to normal are waiting for Godot.

Keeping up is not simple, but not keeping up is worse

Every three months the rules change. And they do not change a little, they change in the structure of the system, in the way advertising is built and shown, in the way users search and decide. Anyone working in this sector knows it well, and it is a grind that never ends.

The good news is that those who stay up to date gain ground on those who wait. Not because they are doing anything extraordinary, but simply because they were there when it mattered. The moment when AI Mode is still a relatively uncrowded space for ads is now, not six months from now.

With that said, Google Marketing Live on 20 May 2026 is the same starting point we opened with. Google has presented an advertising engine that speaks the language of conversations. Those who learn that language now are building an advantage that compounds over time.

Duobu would love to be doing something else entirely, like supporting jam sessions or planning holidays, but between constant updates and the orange madman picking fights left and right mainly to avoid answering for his failures and his absurdly inflated promises. Sorry, I get distracted sometimes, but I always try to save it for the end.

If you want to understand where to start, whether that is campaign structure or site content, there is a link below for a chat. No funnel, no pitch. Just two people talking about AI Mode, ideally without too much swearing but with something actually getting built.

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Let us know what you think – we’re always up for a chat, and if there’s a chance we could work together, we’d be delighted

Sourses

1. Digital Applied (2026) - Google AI Mode: 75M Users, Ads in 25% of AI Results https://www.digitalapplied.com/blog/google-ai-mode-75m-users-ads-in-ai-results-2026

2. Search Engine Land (2026) - AI Mode is Google's next ads engine https://searchengineland.com/ai-mode-google-next-ads-engine-471967

3. ALM Corp (2026) - Google Marketing Live 2026: Complete Guide For Advertisers https://almcorp.com/blog/google-marketing-live-2026-guide/

4. Google Blog (2026) - AI Max Turns 1 with new ways to steer performance https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/ai-max-new-features/

5. Google Blog (2026) - A new generation of ads for the AI era of Search https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/google-marketing-live-search-ads/

6. Google Business (2026) - Ads in AI Mode https://business.google.com/us/accelerate/announcements/ads-in-ai-mode/

7. Duobu (2026) - Guide on how to actually sell your products on ChatGPT in 2026 https://duobu.eu/en/sell-on-chatgpt-ecommerce-2026

8. Duobu (2026) - Google in the AI Mode era: the update that changes ads after 25 years https://duobu.eu/en/google-ai-mode-update

9. Seer Interactive (2025) - AIO Impact on Google CTR: September 2025 Update https://www.seerinteractive.com/insights/aio-impact-on-google-ctr-september-2025-update

10. Semrush (2025) - Google AI Mode's Early Adoption and SEO Impact https://www.semrush.com/blog/google-ai-mode-seo-impact/

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