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TL;DR
Google said on Oct. 28 that ads in its chat-style AI Mode are expanding to 10 more countries, with ads also appearing in U.S. follow-up questions. The move comes as Google Search advertising growth slowed to 12% in the third quarter, while a cited experiment found AI Overviews reduced website clicks but showed no measurable change in ad clicks.
Google is expanding ads in its AI Mode search experience to 10 more countries and adding them to U.S. follow-up questions, extending advertising into more parts of AI-generated search. The announcement on Oct. 28 came as Alphabet reported 12% year-over-year growth in Google Search and other revenue for the third quarter, down from 17% in the previous quarter.
The expansion covers Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Singapore. Google plans to add Brazil, Mexico and the United Kingdom in the fourth quarter of 2026. In the United States, ads can now appear not just alongside an initial AI Mode response but also in answers to follow-up questions. Google describes these as “multiturn ads.”
Google’s advertising help materials say existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns can participate automatically. Advertisers cannot opt out through a separate control or target these placements independently, according to the source material. Reporting is aggregated, and Google-generated short explainers accompanying ads cannot be edited by advertisers. Google says ads in AI answers will carry a “Sponsored” label.
The company says AI Mode queries are, on average, three times longer than traditional searches, and that click-through rates for sponsored and unpaid product-list items in AI Mode were similar. That comparison uses Google’s internal U.S. data from Aug. 20 to Sept. 3, 2026; it compares two kinds of product listings within AI Mode, not clicks to websites overall.
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 Search Into AI Mode
The change places advertising inside a search experience built around a synthesized answer and an ongoing conversation. For users, that can mean a commercial result appears while they ask successive questions, rather than only beside a list of links. Google says the label will distinguish ads, but has also said that ads do not influence the AI’s answer. That is a company statement; the source material reports no independent audit of the claim.
For publishers that rely on search visits, the central concern is whether AI answers keep users on Google while ads remain visible. A 2026 working paper by Agarwal and Sen, based on a randomized experiment with 1,065 U.S. users, found that AI Overviews reduced clicks to websites by 39.8% when they appeared, while ad clicks showed no measurable change. The finding is limited to that experiment and its conditions; it does not establish the effect of the newly expanded AI Mode ads on all searches or publishers.
The business stakes are visible in Alphabet’s results. Google Search and other revenue reached $63.4 billion in July–September, up 12% year over year, compared with 17% growth in the prior quarter. Google executives cited several factors, including exchange rates and lower monetization of AI Mode searches. The expansion could give Google more opportunities to place ads in AI conversations, but the announcement does not establish how much extra revenue those placements will generate.
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From AI Overviews to Follow-Ups
Google’s AI search products have different formats. AI Overviews are summaries shown within standard search results; AI Mode is a separate, chat-style search experience that supports longer prompts and follow-up questions. Google began showing ads in U.S. mobile AI Overviews in October 2024, then brought them to desktop and began testing AI Mode ads in May 2025, according to its published timeline.
At Google Marketing Live in May 2026, the company began testing additional formats, including Conversational Discovery ads, where Gemini creates ad text tailored to a question, and Highlighted Answers, where an ad can appear among AI recommendations. The October announcement extends the rollout geographically and adds placements in later turns of an AI Mode conversation.
Alphabet reported that Search and other revenue grew 17% in the fourth quarter of 2025, 19% in the first quarter of 2026 and 17% in the second quarter, before slowing to 12% in the third. On the earnings call, Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler said exchange rates were the largest driver of the slowdown and also pointed to weaker monetization in AI Mode. The figures frame the advertising expansion, but do not show that it is a direct response to the quarterly result.
““Ads will be clearly labeled as ‘Sponsored.’””
— Shashi Thakur, Google’s search advertising chief, in the Oct. 28 announcement
What Ad Impact Is Still Unknown
The announcement does not quantify how many ads users will see, what share of AI Mode conversations will contain them, or how the placements will affect Google’s revenue. Google’s reported similarity in click-through rates applies to sponsored and unpaid product-list items in a limited internal U.S. measurement window; it is not evidence that ads in AI answers receive the same response as ads in conventional search.
It is also unclear how the rollout will affect individual publishers’ traffic or whether the experimental finding about AI Overviews will apply to AI Mode. The source material does not identify an independent review of Google’s claim that ads do not influence the AI-generated answer. As of Oct. 29, Google’s listed rollout countries did not include Germany or other European Union countries, and the listed AI-answer ads were described as English-only.
Rollout and Measurement Ahead
Google’s announced next geographic step is expansion to Brazil, Mexico and the U.K. in the fourth quarter of 2026. Advertisers using eligible Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns may see the placements included without a separate opt-in, while Google’s current reporting approach is aggregated. The company has not provided a date for a broader European rollout in the material cited here.
The key developments to watch are how frequently ads appear in successive AI Mode answers, whether Google provides more detailed reporting, and whether independent studies measure changes in user clicks to ads and publisher sites. For now, the confirmed change is the broader availability of ads in AI Mode and U.S. follow-up questions; its effects on user behavior, publisher traffic and advertising revenue remain unsettled.
Key Questions
Where is Google expanding ads in AI Mode?
Google announced ads in AI Mode for 10 additional countries: Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Singapore. Brazil, Mexico and the U.K. are planned for the fourth quarter of 2026.
Can ads appear in follow-up questions?
Yes. Google said ads are launching in answers to follow-up questions in U.S. AI Mode, a format it calls multiturn ads. The announcement does not state that the same follow-up placement is available in every new country.
How will users identify an ad?
Google says ads in AI answers will carry a “Sponsored” label. Google also says ads do not influence the AI’s own answer, but the source material does not report an independent audit of that claim.
Can advertisers opt out of these placements?
According to Google’s advertising help materials cited in the source, eligible Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns participate automatically, without a separate opt-out or targeting control for these placements. Reporting is described as aggregate.
Does the research prove AI search ads reduce publisher traffic?
No. The cited working paper found that AI Overviews reduced website clicks by 39.8% when they appeared in a randomized U.S. user experiment, while ad clicks showed no measurable change. That result does not by itself establish the effect of AI Mode ads or the impact on every publisher.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
