Google unveils AI Mode ad formats

Google used its Marketing Live announcements on May 20 to show how advertising will appear inside its AI-led search products. The company introduced new Search ad formats built with Gemini, expanded agentic commerce tools and said public testing is underway for AI-driven formats in both standard Search and AI Mode. Google also added an AI search diagnostics product for brands and tied more of its ad stack to a Gemini-based assistant, according to company posts and conference coverage. ### Which new ad products did Google put in front of marketers? Google on May 20 named several new Search formats: Conversational Discovery ads, Highlighted Answers and AI-powered Shopping ads. In a company post, Google said the formats are designed to place brands inside more conversational search flows, with product guidance and explanations generated in real time. Marketing Brew reported that Google paired those formats with broader “agentic commerce” tools, including checkout links and a Gemini adviser embedded across ad and commerce products. (blog.google) The same report said Google also announced additional campaign setup features and new measurement capabilities around Meridian, its marketing mix model. ### Where will these ads actually show up? (blog.google) Google said the new formats are coming to Search experiences shaped by AI, while outside reports said the company is also testing them in traditional results pages and in AI Mode. Search Engine Journal and Nieman Lab both described the rollout as part of Google’s effort to move ads deeper into conversational search surfaces rather than keep them limited to the classic list-of-links page. (marketingbrew.com) The public-testing point matters because AI Mode is still developing as a consumer product. Google’s official Marketing Live collection described a wider push to use AI across ads, analytics and commerce, but outside coverage supplied the detail that some of the new ad units are being tested before broader release. ### What is Ask Advisor, and where does Gemini fit? Google said Ask Advisor is a new unified agent built with Gemini that spans Google Ads, Google Analytics, Merchant Center and Google Marketing Platform. (searchenginejournal.com) The company described it as an “always-on strategic partner” that connects data and workflows across those products. Google’s Ads Help materials separately describe Ads Advisor, in beta, as an agentic conversational tool built with Gemini inside Google Ads. (blog.google) That product can answer questions, troubleshoot campaign and policy issues, and suggest text and image creatives, according to the help page. ### What changed on the measurement and visibility side? Marketing Brew reported that Google folded Meridian into Google Analytics 360 and introduced additional measurement tools alongside the ad announcements. (blog.google) That publication also said Google added features aimed at helping advertisers understand performance in AI-shaped search environments. (support.google.com) Ad-industry coverage cited in the briefing described a new brand-visibility tool for AI search diagnostics. Google’s own posts did not spell out every diagnostic feature in the search snippets reviewed, but the company’s Marketing Live materials framed the broader pitch as “turn data into decisions” as AI changes how search and shopping journeys work. ### What does this change for marketers watching inbound traffic? (marketingbrew.com) Google’s announcements point to a search path with more AI mediation before a click. Marketing Brew said the company is adding checkout links, adviser-style product guidance and AI-native placements, which means some commercial intent may be captured inside Google’s own interfaces before a user reaches an advertiser’s site. (blog.google) For B2B teams, that raises a tracking problem more than a creative one. The practical response is to keep campaign parameters intact, preserve UTMs and separate visits that come from AI-shaped search surfaces when those signals are available. That last point is an inference from the product changes and the reported addition of AI-search visibility tools, not a claim Google itself made in the materials reviewed. (marketingbrew.com) Google’s next public reference point is its Marketing Live 2026 collection page and related Ads help documentation, where the company said marketers can access session materials and product details as testing continues. (blog.google) (marketingbrew.com)