The way people search has changed, and Google answered with 4 new ad formats.
At Google Marketing Live this year, Google announced a new generation of ad formats built exclusively for AI Mode:
→ Conversational ads: woven into AI Mode’s response in natural language, based on your assets and brand guidelines. Not a banner. An answer.
→ Direct Offers: personalized discounts and bundles surfaced mid-conversation, at peak buying intent. Gemini builds the offer dynamically from your promotional rules.
→ AI-powered Shopping ads: Gemini-written copy that explains why that product answers the query — not just shows it.
→ Business Agent for Leads: the user asks the ad a question. The ad answers using your site content and pre-fills the contact form.
These formats exist because Search has fundamentally changed. Google made it official at GML: AI Mode now has 1B+ monthly users, searches are 3x longer than traditional queries, and usage has been doubling every quarter. The search box itself got its biggest redesign in 25 years: built for full sentences, not keyword fragments.
Google’s own words: “You can’t think in simple keywords anymore.”
One thing worth knowing: access to all of these requires AI Max or PMax, because they’re built for a different kind of search entirely. Longer queries, higher intent, conversational context. If you’re already running either, these placements are available to you now. If not, that’s the gap worth closing first.
Which of these new formats are you most excited to test?
