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TL;DR
Google is expanding ads in its chat-style AI Mode to 10 countries and adding them to follow-up questions in the United States. The move comes as Google Search advertising growth slowed to 12% in the third quarter; the effect on website traffic and the separation of ads from AI answers remain key questions.
Google said on October 28 it is expanding ads in its chat-style AI Mode search to 10 more countries and adding ads to follow-up questions in the United States. The changes put advertising into more parts of AI-generated search conversations as Google’s Search and other advertising revenue growth slowed to 12% in the third quarter.
The new AI Mode markets are Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Singapore. Google said Brazil, Mexico and the United Kingdom are planned for the fourth quarter of 2026. In the U.S., ads can now appear not only alongside an initial AI Mode response but also in answers to later questions in the same conversation, a format Google calls multiturn ads.
Google’s announcement, attributed to search ads head Shashi Thakur, says ads in AI answers will carry a “Sponsored” label. The company says advertisers’ existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns can participate; according to Google Ads Help, there is no separate targeting control or opt-out for these placements. Google also says its systems generate short explanatory text next to ads, which advertisers cannot edit, and reports results in aggregate rather than separately for each AI placement.
Google distinguishes between AI Overviews—summaries shown within standard search results—and AI Mode, a separate conversational search experience. Ads in AI Overviews were introduced on mobile in the U.S. in October 2024, then extended to desktop in May 2025, when Google also began testing ads in AI Mode. At its May 2026 marketing event, the company announced tests of formats including ad text tailored to a user’s question and ads embedded within AI recommendation lists.
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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More AI Answers Become Ad Space
The expansion matters because Google is extending its advertising business into a search format built around longer, continuing conversations. The company says AI Mode queries are, on average, three times longer than traditional searches. More detailed queries may give its systems additional signals about what a user wants, while follow-up placements create more opportunities to show ads during a single search session. Those are Google’s stated figures and rationale, not an independent assessment of how the format performs.
The timing also draws attention to the economics of the shift. Alphabet reported that Search and other revenue reached $63.4 billion from July through September, up 12% from a year earlier, compared with 17% growth in the previous quarter. Google executives cited several factors, including currency movements and lower monetization of AI Mode searches. The rollout may help the company develop advertising in AI search, but the announcement does not show how much revenue the new placements will generate.
For advertisers, participation through existing campaign types could make AI placements a broader part of search advertising without a dedicated campaign setting. For users, the practical distinction is between an AI-generated response and a paid placement within or beside it. For publishers that rely on search visits, the concern is whether answers that satisfy a query directly change the number of people who click through to websites—and whether ad activity follows a different pattern.
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Search Revenue and Click Data
Alphabet’s third-quarter results put the expansion in the context of a large but slower-growing business. Search and other brought in $63.4 billion, about half of Alphabet’s total revenue, according to the company’s release. Chief business officer Philipp Schindler said currency exchange was the largest factor affecting growth. He also cited conditions affecting some retail advertisers and a normalization in media and entertainment spending after a strong comparison period.
Schindler separately said that growth in AI Mode queries affected results because those searches had lower monetization. That is Google’s explanation on its earnings call; it does not establish how quickly AI Mode advertising will close any revenue gap. Google also said click-through rates for sponsored and unpaid product-list items within AI Mode were similar in internal U.S. data from August 20 to September 3, 2026. That comparison concerns product listings inside AI Mode, not clicks from search results to external websites.
A 2026 working paper by researchers Agarwal and Sen examined a randomized experiment involving 1,065 U.S. users. The authors reported that AI Overviews were associated with a 39.8% reduction in clicks to websites when the summaries appeared, while ad clicks showed no measurable change in that experiment. The result is specific to the study’s sample and design; it should not be treated as a universal estimate of the impact of every AI search format or of the new international rollout.
““The strong growth in AI Mode queries had an impact because of the lower monetization we were seeing in AI Mode.””
— Philipp Schindler, Alphabet chief business officer, on the company’s earnings call
Traffic, Labels and Rollout Limits
Google says advertising does not influence the AI’s own answer, but the source material provides no independent audit of that claim. It is also not yet clear how consistently users will distinguish a sponsored item from nearby generated recommendations, or whether the labels will be equally prominent across devices and countries.
The available click research concerns AI Overviews in a U.S. experiment, while Google’s performance comparison concerns product listings inside AI Mode over a short period. Neither establishes the net effect of the new placements on publisher visits, advertiser returns or user behavior across all markets. Google has not disclosed separate results for the expanded countries or a forecast for revenue from multiturn ads.
As of October 29, Google’s help information lists 12 countries for ads inside AI answers and says the experience is English-only. Germany and other European Union countries are not on that list. The company has named Brazil, Mexico and the UK for a planned fourth-quarter expansion, but availability dates and the timing of any wider language or regional rollout remain unclear.
The Next Market and Results Milestones
The next stated rollout milestone is Google’s planned fourth-quarter 2026 expansion to Brazil, Mexico and the United Kingdom. Google has not provided specific launch dates in the material available as of October 29. Advertisers and publishers will be watching for changes to campaign controls, reporting and the way paid placements are presented as the feature reaches more users.
Further evidence will depend on later company disclosures and independent research that separates AI Mode from AI Overviews, and paid clicks from visits to external sites. Alphabet’s coming financial reports can show whether Search revenue growth changes, but they may not isolate the contribution of AI Mode ads. For now, Google has confirmed the expansion and its planned ad label; the wider effects on revenue, traffic and user understanding remain to be measured.
Key Questions
Where is Google expanding AI Mode ads?
Google named Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Singapore. Brazil, Mexico and the United Kingdom are planned for the fourth quarter of 2026.
What are multiturn ads?
They are ads that can appear in answers to follow-up questions in a U.S. AI Mode conversation, rather than only alongside the initial response.
Can advertisers opt out of these placements?
Google Ads Help says existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns can participate, with no separate opt-out or targeting setting for the AI placements described in the source material.
How does Google say users can identify an ad?
Google says ads in AI answers will be labeled “Sponsored.” The company also says ads do not influence its AI-generated answer, but the source material provides no independent audit of that claim.
Does the research show that AI search reduces website traffic?
A 2026 working paper reported fewer website clicks when AI Overviews appeared in a randomized experiment with 1,065 U.S. users. That finding is specific to the study; it does not establish the effect of the new AI Mode ads or their international rollout.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
