On October 28, 2026, Google started to scale ads in AI Mode in Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Singapore. In Q4 2026 Google plans more locales, including Brazil, Mexico and the United Kingdom. In the US, Google launched multiturn ads, which are ads in follow-up questions in AI Mode (Google).
You do not need to switch anything on, and you cannot opt out of AI Mode apart from Search. My concern is measurement: AI Mode results are mixed into your standard reports, so you cannot see what they bring on their own.
Which campaigns show ads in AI Mode
Existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns are automatically eligible to serve ads in AI Overviews and AI Mode. Text ads and Shopping ads can appear there, in sections labeled Sponsored. You are not charged extra (Google Ads Help). That is new inventory without new campaigns.
Ads in AI Mode serve in English, and in Pakistan only text ads serve (Google Ads Help).
How matching works in AI Mode
Google has two kinds of matching here (Google Ads Help):
- Direct query matching: the ad matches the query.
- Contextual matching: the ad matches the query and the AI response.
AI Max for Search, broad match, Shopping and Performance Max are eligible for both. Exact and phrase match are eligible only when the query shows direct commercial intent, for example “pool vacuum cleaners”, and not for broader exploratory questions. So an account with only exact and phrase match gets less of this traffic, and an account on broad match, AI Max, Shopping or Performance Max gets more. To get more, you hand Google more control over matching.
What you cannot control
Google Ads Help lists what stays out of your hands:
- You cannot target ads only to AI Mode or opt out of AI Mode separately from Search. Negative keywords and brand exclusions still work.
- Results of AI Mode and AI Overviews are included in aggregate in your standard campaign reports and in the search terms report.
- Google writes AI explanations around ads, and advertisers cannot write, edit, approve or opt out of them.
Longer queries, and why Google pushes broad match
AI Mode queries are on average three times longer than traditional searches, and click-through rates of sponsored and organic product listings in AI Mode are already similar. Both numbers are from US data (Google).
A long query says more about what the person wants: “a quiet robot vacuum for a small flat with a dog” tells you more than “robot vacuum”. I think that is why Google steers advertisers toward the matching that reads context, which is broad match and AI Max.
How to prepare
Google’s best practices for AI Mode (Google Ads Help):
- Use AI Max for Search with search term matching, broad match, Shopping or Performance Max.
- Use conversion- or value-based Smart Bidding with accurate first-party conversion data: the Google tag or offline conversion imports.
- Turn on text customization and final URL expansion, and keep the website content clear and current.
- Keep Merchant Center feeds complete and fresh: descriptive titles, several images, correct prices and sale prices, ratings, shipping and return policies.
Google’s first tip pushes you toward broad match and AI Max, and I would not follow it everywhere. For an online store with a good product feed, AI Mode is likely a gain, since Shopping and Performance Max are already eligible. For lead generation built on exact match, run AI Max or broad match as a separate test with the same conversion goal and compare the leads in the CRM. And since reports do not show AI Mode on its own, judge the change by revenue in your CRM or store, and compare countries where AI Mode ads run with countries where they do not yet.