🔍 Read the full analysis: AI Search Meets Advertising In Google’s Global Rollout on ThorstenMeyerAI.com
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TL;DR
Google said on Oct. 28 it would expand ads in AI Mode to 10 additional countries and begin showing them in US follow-up questions. The move comes as Google Search advertising revenue growth slowed to 12% in the third quarter, while research cited in the source found AI Overviews reduced website clicks but did not measurably change ad clicks in one experiment.
Google is expanding ads in its chat-style AI Mode search feature to 10 more countries and adding ads to follow-up questions in the United States, the company said Oct. 28. The rollout extends advertising into more AI-generated search experiences as Alphabet reported that Google Search & other revenue grew 12% in the third quarter, slower than in the previous quarter.
The new AI Mode markets are Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Singapore. Google also said it plans to bring the ads to Brazil, Mexico and the United Kingdom in the fourth quarter of 2026. The US change, described by Google as “multiturn ads,” means ads can appear in responses to later questions in an AI Mode conversation, not just the initial query.
Google’s announcement applies to two different search formats. AI Overviews are summaries shown within conventional search results; AI Mode is a separate, conversational interface that supports longer prompts and follow-up questions. Google says ads in AI answers will be labeled “Sponsored”. Its advertising help information says existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns participate automatically, with no separate targeting setting or opt-out for this placement. Performance is reported in aggregate, and Google may generate short ad explainers that advertisers cannot edit.
In its third-quarter results, Alphabet reported $63.4 billion in Google Search & other revenue for July through September, about half of Alphabet’s total revenue, according to the source. Growth was 12%, compared with 17% in the second quarter. Chief business officer Philipp Schindler cited exchange rates as the largest factor behind the slowdown and also said that AI Mode queries were growing in a format with lower monetization. Google has said AI Mode queries are, on average, three times longer than traditional searches; that is the company’s characterization, not an independent measurement in the material provided.
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 puts advertising closer to the point where Google’s AI presents an answer or recommendation, rather than limiting it to conventional result pages. For advertisers, the new placements offer access to users asking detailed questions and continuing a search as a conversation. But the described automatic participation and aggregate reporting leave advertisers with fewer placement-specific controls than a dedicated campaign setting would provide.
For publishers, the issue is whether AI responses direct users to websites or satisfy queries without a click. A randomized experiment involving 1,065 US users, described in a 2026 working paper by Agarwal and Sen, found that AI Overviews reduced clicks to websites by 39.8% when the summaries appeared. In that experiment, clicks on ads showed no measurable change. The result concerns that study’s participants and setup; it does not establish what will happen across all searches or in the newly expanded AI Mode markets.
For users, the practical distinction is between an AI-generated answer and a paid placement shown alongside it. Google says ads are labeled “Sponsored” and do not affect the AI’s answer. The labeling is a company commitment; the source material says it found no independent audit of the claim that advertising does not influence answers.
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Google’s Path to AI Ads
The October announcement builds on a phased rollout. Google began showing ads in AI Overviews to US mobile users in October 2024, according to its public posts, and brought them to desktop in May 2025. That month, it also began testing ads in AI Mode. At Google Marketing Live in May 2026, the company introduced tests of additional formats, including Conversational Discovery ads, which use Gemini to tailor ad text to a question, and “Highlighted Answers,” where an ad can appear within a list of AI recommendations.
The financial backdrop makes the expansion notable, but the revenue figures do not show that the new ads will reverse the slowdown. Alphabet’s Search & other revenue growth moved from 19% in the first quarter of 2026 to 17% in the second and 12% in the third, based on the company figures cited in the source. Schindler named several factors affecting the quarter, including exchange rates, changes affecting some Asian retail advertisers and normalized media and entertainment spending after a strong World Cup quarter. He also pointed to lower monetization in AI Mode as a factor.
Google’s comparison of ad performance in AI Mode has a specific scope: its internal US data for Aug. 20 to Sept. 3, 2026 found click-through rates were “already similar” for sponsored and unpaid product-list items within AI Mode. That comparison is about those items and that period; it is not a measure of website traffic or evidence that ads and organic listings perform similarly across all AI searches.
“The strong growth in AI Mode queries had an impact because of the lower monetization we were seeing in AI mode.”
— Philipp Schindler, Google chief business officer, on the third-quarter earnings call
Open Questions on Reach and Impact
The source material does not give a timetable for the expansion beyond the stated fourth-quarter plan for Brazil, Mexico and the UK, or specify when ads will reach other markets. Google’s help page listed 12 countries for ads in AI answers as of Oct. 29, according to the source; Germany and other EU countries were not listed. The announcement does not establish whether or when those markets may be added.
It is also unclear how the new placements will affect publisher traffic, advertiser costs or Google’s revenue per AI Mode query. Google’s internal click-through comparison does not answer those questions, and the cited working-paper experiment examined AI Overviews, not the newly expanded AI Mode ads. The available material also provides no independent audit of Google’s statement that advertising does not influence AI-generated answers.
Markets and Metrics to Watch
Google’s next stated geographic step is a planned fourth-quarter 2026 rollout in Brazil, Mexico and the United Kingdom. Advertisers, publishers and users will be able to assess the change as the placements become available, but the source does not provide a schedule for market-by-market launches or report results from the new follow-up-question ads.
Future disclosures to watch include whether Google reports AI Mode advertising revenue or placement-level performance, how its labeling appears across different answer formats, and whether independent research finds changes in website traffic or ad clicks. Alphabet’s upcoming quarterly results may also clarify whether AI Mode’s contribution to Search growth or monetization has changed. Until such evidence is available, the revenue impact and effects on publishers remain unsettled.
Key Questions
Where is Google expanding AI Mode ads?
Google named 10 new countries: Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Singapore. It said Brazil, Mexico and the UK are planned for the fourth quarter of 2026.
What are multiturn ads?
They are ads that can appear in responses to follow-up questions in US AI Mode, so an ad may appear later in a conversational search and not only after the first prompt.
How does Google say users can identify an ad?
Google says ads in AI answers will carry the label “Sponsored.” The source material reports no independent audit of Google’s separate claim that ads do not influence the AI’s answer.
Did the cited research find that AI search reduces website clicks?
A 2026 working-paper experiment with 1,065 US users found AI Overviews reduced website clicks by 39.8% when they appeared, while ad clicks showed no measurable change in that experiment. It studied AI Overviews, not the new AI Mode rollout.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
