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Gaurav Bhaya is a vice-president and general manager at Google Ads. Over his 20-year career at Google he has led transformational changes in many ads products including Google Ads, Performance Max, Google Analytics, and Google Marketing Platform.
Human curiosity is limitless.
People are asking Google much more complex questions and using images and their voice. This shift in how people search – and the nuanced, considered responses they now expect – is fundamentally changing the relationship between people and brands.
My Google team builds the next-generation of ad products and helps marketers navigate this ever-changing advertising landscape.
In this new era for Search, marketers can move beyond the traditional advertising toolkit, built on hand-picked keywords and static ads. This is your opportunity to be part of this new dynamic conversation that people are having as they explore the world around them.
From simple to complex questions
Think about how you use Search. Years ago, a trip to a new city might have started with typing “things to do in Cologne”. Today, we see people asking much more nuanced questions, like, “suggest some restaurants in Cologne with vegetarian options, they should be open late and be good for groups with great service and an authentic local vibe”. They’re not just searching for information. They’re planning, comparing, and problem-solving in a single query.
And while you’re in Cologne, you might take a picture of a beautiful building and ask Google: “Tell me about this”. Within seconds, you get your answer, which could start you on a whole new line of questioning about whether and when you could visit the building. Google would provide helpful links and well-rounded information to respond to each query.
Searching with your camera is becoming the new norm: Google Lens now sees 25 billion searches a month,1 and one in every five Google Lens searches has a commercial intent.2
Google has evolved in this dynamic search landscape by launching AI Overviews and AI Mode, which now appear in Google Search results in many countries.3
AI Overviews provide an AI-generated snapshot with key information and links to dig deeper. AI Overviews has more than 2 billion users in more than 200 countries and territories every month.4
Meanwhile, AI Mode provides in-depth responses to complex, multi-part questions, using Google’s most advanced reasoning, thinking and multimodal capabilities.
Reading between the lines: How AI helps you understand customer intent
This new, richer search landscape provides far more context than a simple keyword ever could. For marketers, there is opportunity to move beyond just understanding what a person is looking for to discerning the “why” behind their query.
This is where AI becomes essential.
AI helps us understand the subtle intent behind a search. For example, a query like “how to bring small dogs on flights” isn’t explicitly a shopping query. But AI can anticipate a potential commercial need. The most helpful next step might be an ad for an airline-approved dog carrier, delivered at just the right moment. This creates incremental opportunities for businesses to connect with customers in a genuinely helpful way.
AI-powered campaigns: Creating new and better opportunities
Marketers need a new approach, powered by AI, to meet customers in the moments that matter, from discovery to decisions.
AI-powered campaigns are designed to operate in this new reality, where intent is more important than keywords and relevance is tailored in real time.
For marketers who are using Search campaigns, AI Max for Search is the way forward.
AI Max for Search is a one-click power-up for your Search campaigns that helps you find new customers by understanding what they mean, not just what they type.
It’s now available across the world in beta, and it goes beyond the keywords you’ve manually selected to find untapped, relevant searches. Then, it adapts your ad copy and landing page to be the perfect match for that exact moment.
Turn on AI Max and it will be one of the best ways for your ads to show up in AI Overviews and in AI Mode. (We’re currently testing ads in AI Mode in the U.S.)
How Volvo drives customer acquisition with AI Max for Search
Imagine that someone searches “electric SUV for large family” on Google. A brand like Volvo might not have manually bid on that specific phrase. But with AI Max, it understands the user’s intent. It has learned from Volvo’s website and creative assets that Volvo vehicles are a great fit for this search.
As a result, AI Max can serve a perfectly tailored ad with a headline generated in real time, like “A 7-Seat Electric SUV,” right when the customer is looking.
Then the Volvo marketing team receives clear reporting for every search that was found through AI Max. Plus, they can see the headlines and landing pages that matched – showing them exactly what the customer saw.
This is how brands can win in the moments that matter.
And the results speak for themselves:
Advertisers that adopt AI Max for Search campaigns are seeing 27% more conversions at a similar CPA or ROAS compared to campaigns that mostly use exact and phrase match keywords.5
What this means for marketers
This moment is an immense opportunity for marketers.
With AI-powered campaigns, you can reach people who are searching in new ways, who are sometimes writing out questions that are 50+ words, or solely using a photo with no words at all. And you can deliver creatives that respond to each users’ needs, plus figure out which clicks will drive the most value. This is now at your fingertips.
Here are your next steps:
- If you’re already using Google’s AI-powered Performance Max in your marketing, that’s great. You’re all set for maximum performance across all Google channels. But for those marketers still using Search campaigns, it’s time to activate AI Max for Search. It automatically expands your reach to discover new, high-value queries, boosting incremental performance and revenue. Simply flick the switch in your Google Ads account.
- Prioritize strong image, video, and product content on your website, to match the ways customers ask questions and get answers. And keep in mind, you can always use Google AI tools to build and scale additional high-performing, on-brand creative assets. Then AI Max for Search can dynamically generate and optimize ad copy from your pre-existing assets to match customers’ search intent.
- Drive better results with smarter bidding. Google’s AI-powered technology works with your pre-existing Smart Bidding strategies to help you achieve your performance goals more efficiently.
In this new era of Search, we’re making it possible to respond to a world that asks anything. And with Google’s AI-powered ads, your brand can be part of the answers people are seeking.
