🔍 Read the full analysis: Google Extends AI Search Advertising To A Wider Audience on ThorstenMeyerAI.com
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TL;DR
Google said it is expanding ads in its AI Mode search experience to 10 additional countries and adding ads to follow-up questions in the US. The move comes as Google Search advertising revenue growth slowed to 12% in the third quarter; how the new placements will affect publishers and users remains uncertain.
Google is expanding ads in AI Mode to 10 more countries and adding them to follow-up answers in the United States, extending commercial placements deeper into its conversational search experience. The October 28 announcement comes as Alphabet reported that Search and other advertising revenue grew 12% in the third quarter, slower than in each of the previous three quarters.
The new AI Mode markets are Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Singapore. Google said it plans to add Brazil, Mexico and the United Kingdom in the fourth quarter of 2026. In the US, ads can now appear in answers to follow-up questions, not just earlier parts of an AI Mode conversation.
AI Mode is Google’s chat-style search experience, where users can ask longer questions and continue with additional queries. Ads in AI Overviews—the summaries shown on some standard search results pages—are a separate placement. Google has introduced advertising in these AI-generated search formats in stages, including US mobile placements in 2024 and desktop placements in 2025, according to the source material.
Google’s advertising help information says existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns can participate automatically. Advertisers do not have a separate targeting control or an opt-out for these AI placements, according to that guidance. Performance reporting is provided in aggregate, and Google’s system may generate short explanatory text alongside ads that advertisers cannot edit.
Google says the ads will be marked “Sponsored” and that advertising does not affect the AI-generated answer. Those are Google’s statements; the supplied source reports no independent audit of whether the answer is unaffected. Google also said AI Mode queries are, on average, three times longer than conventional searches and that click-through rates for sponsored and organic product listings in AI Mode were similar. The company’s comparison used internal US data from August 20 to September 3, 2026, and concerns product listings within AI Mode—not clicks to publishers’ websites.
Infographic 01 · From test to global
The answer now carries the ad, in more places.
How Google moved ads into its AI answers in two years, where they show today, and the revenue pressure behind the move.
Where ads appear inside AI answers
Per Google’s help page and the 28 Oct post. The list “may not be exhaustive”.
Follow-up questions (“multiturn ads”): US only. Germany and the rest of the EU: not listed. Ads above or below AI Overviews can show wherever AI Overviews exist (200+ countries and territories).
Why now: Google Search & other revenue growth
Year over year, as reported by Alphabet. Bars scaled to 19%.
Q2 to Q3 2026: about +0.1%. Same months a year earlier: about +4.4% (my arithmetic). Google names exchange rates as the largest driver of the slowdown, and the “lower monetization” of AI Mode as one factor.
- 3 Oct 2024Ads inside AI Overviews go liveUS, mobile, after months of testing
- 21 May 2025Desktop in the US; first tests in AI ModeEnglish-speaking countries announced for later in 2025
- 20 May 2026New formats in testingConversational Discovery ads and Highlighted Answers, both with a Gemini-written “AI explainer”
- 28 Oct 2026AI Mode ads in 10 more countriesPlus “multiturn ads” in follow-up questions in the US; labeled “Sponsored”
- Q4 2026Planned: Brazil, Mexico, United Kingdom“Additional locales, including” these three
Sources: Google, 28 Oct 2026; Google Ads Help, accessed 29 Oct 2026; Google, 3 Oct 2024; Google, 21 May 2025; Google, 20 May 2026; Alphabet Q3 2026 release and the Q4 2025, Q1 2026 and Q2 2026 releases. “3× longer” is Google’s AI Mode report (US, May 2026). Quarter-on-quarter changes and bar scaling: Thorsten Meyer.
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Ads Follow Users Into AI Search
The expansion gives advertisers access to more points in a search conversation, including the questions users ask after an initial response. Google’s stated rationale about longer queries suggests that the format may provide more signals about a user’s needs. But the announcement does not establish how well the new placements perform across markets or how much revenue they will generate.
For publishers, the central concern is that an AI response may satisfy a search without sending a visitor to an outside website. A working paper by Agarwal and Sen, cited in the source material, reports that in a randomized experiment involving 1,065 US users, AI Overviews reduced website clicks by 39.8% when they appeared. The same study found no measurable change in ad clicks. These findings are from a working paper, not a peer-reviewed publication, and should not be treated as a settled estimate of the effect across all searches or countries.
The distinction matters because ads and publisher traffic may respond differently to AI search. The cited experiment suggests a possible reduction in visits to websites without a corresponding measurable change in ad clicks in that test. It does not establish the impact of the newly expanded AI Mode placements, which are a different format.
For users, the practical issue is whether a paid placement is easy to distinguish from an AI-generated answer or an unpaid recommendation. Google says the “Sponsored” label will identify ads. Whether users consistently recognize that label, and how the format affects their decisions, is not established by the announcement.
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Search Ads Enter a New Phase
Google’s search advertising business remains large, but its reported growth has slowed. Alphabet said Search and other revenue reached $63.4 billion in July through September 2026, up 12% from the same period a year earlier. The growth rate was 17% in the previous quarter, 19% in the first quarter of 2026 and 17% in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the figures in the source material.
On Alphabet’s earnings call, chief business officer Philipp Schindler cited exchange rates as the single largest factor affecting growth. He also referred to conditions affecting some retail advertisers and normalized media and entertainment spending. Schindler said that strong growth in AI Mode queries had an impact because those searches were generating lower monetization. That is the company’s explanation for one factor in the results, not evidence that the new ad placements will close the revenue gap.
Google has been adding commercial formats to AI search over time. Ads appeared in AI Overviews on mobile in the US in 2024, followed by desktop placements in 2025 and tests of ads in AI Mode. At Google Marketing Live in May 2026, the company also began testing formats called Conversational Discovery ads and Highlighted Answers, according to the source material. The October announcement extends the rollout geographically and adds ads to later turns of US AI Mode conversations.
Google’s help information lists 12 countries for ads inside AI answers as of October 29, 2026, and says the feature is available in English. Germany and other European Union markets are not included in that list. The country and language availability may change as Google updates its rollout.
““to allow ads in follow-up queries in AI Mode.””
— Shashi Thakur, who leads Google’s search advertising business, in the October 28 announcement
Performance and Reach Remain Unclear
Google has not provided, in the supplied announcement details, a forecast for how much revenue the expansion will produce or how many users will see the placements in each new market. Its statement that sponsored and organic product-listing click-through rates were similar is based on a short period of internal US data and does not show whether ads draw clicks away from websites.
It is also unclear how the new ads will affect publisher traffic, advertiser costs or user behavior over time. The working-paper result on AI Overviews concerns a specific experiment and should not be applied directly to AI Mode or to the newly expanded countries. Google’s assertion that ads do not influence its AI answers has not, according to the supplied source, been independently audited.
Availability is another open point. Google has named the planned fourth-quarter markets, but the material does not give launch dates for each country. Its current listed coverage does not include Germany or other EU markets, and the announcement does not specify when, or whether, those markets may be added.
Fourth-Quarter Market Rollout
Google’s next stated expansion is to Brazil, Mexico and the United Kingdom in the fourth quarter of 2026. The company has not given specific dates for those launches in the supplied material. Advertisers and users in the newly listed markets can watch for the placements to appear as Google rolls them out.
Further evidence will be needed to show how the ads perform and how they affect search traffic. Relevant details include market-by-market availability, reporting on advertiser results, and independent research on whether AI answers change clicks to ads or outside websites. For now, Google’s announcement confirms a wider rollout and new US placements in follow-up answers, but not their longer-term effects.
Key Questions
Where is Google expanding ads in AI Mode?
Google named Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Singapore. It plans to add Brazil, Mexico and the United Kingdom in the fourth quarter of 2026.
What changes for US AI Mode users?
Ads can now appear in answers to follow-up questions, as well as earlier points in an AI Mode conversation. Google says the ads will carry a “Sponsored” label.
Can advertisers opt out of these AI search placements?
According to Google’s advertising help information cited in the source, existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns can participate automatically, with no separate opt-out for the AI placements. Reporting is provided in aggregate.
Does Google say ads affect the AI’s answer?
No. Google says advertising does not influence the AI-generated answer. The supplied source says that claim has not been independently audited, so it remains a company statement rather than an independently verified finding.
Will the rollout affect clicks to publisher websites?
The effect of these new AI Mode placements is not yet clear. A working paper cited in the source found fewer website clicks when AI Overviews appeared in a test, but that study does not directly measure the new AI Mode ads or establish effects in the newly added countries.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
