Ads in Google's AI Mode are now scaling in 10 countries outside the US: Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Singapore. Google announced the expansion on October 28 in a post on the Ads & Commerce Blog by Shashi Thakur, who leads Search Ads. Brazil, Mexico and the United Kingdom are scheduled to follow in Q4 2026.
The same post confirms that multiturn ads, which can appear when a user asks a follow-up question inside an AI Mode conversation, are launching in the US. Google did not give a date.
What's changing
For most accounts, nothing needs switching on. According to Google's help page on ads in AI experiences, Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns are eligible automatically. There are no new campaigns to build and no separate budgets. Ads enter the normal auction when Google judges them relevant to the conversation, and they carry a "Sponsored" label.
The help page sets out a few details the announcement leaves out:
- Formats: text ads and Shopping ads. Local inventory ads and vehicle ads are in testing.
- Matching: broad match, AI Max for Search, Shopping and Performance Max can match both the user's question and the context of the AI response. Exact and phrase match keywords only match queries with direct commercial intent.
- Markets: the page describes availability as English in the US and select English-speaking markets. Pakistan is listed as text ads only.
- Control: you cannot target AI Mode on its own, and you cannot opt out of it separately from Search. Negative keywords and brand exclusions still apply.
- Reporting: AI Mode impressions, clicks, conversions and cost are folded into standard campaign reports, and the triggering queries appear in aggregate in the search terms report. There is no dedicated AI Mode segment.
Google backs the rollout with two data points. AI Mode queries are on average three times longer than traditional searches, from its own US report in May 2026. And click-through rates for sponsored and organic product listings inside AI Mode are "already similar", based on internal US data from late August to early September.
Why it matters for advertisers
In ten more countries, a share of your Search, Shopping and PMax spend can now go to placements you cannot isolate, bid on separately or report on separately. If performance shifts in these markets over the coming weeks, AI Mode is one possible cause, and the reports will not show you directly how much it contributed.
Longer, conversational queries also favour accounts that run broad match or AI Max, since those are the match types that can respond to the AI answer's context. Accounts built mostly on exact and phrase match will only show for queries with clear commercial intent, which probably means less AI Mode volume.
The Q4 markets carry the most uncertainty. Brazil and Mexico are not English-speaking, while the help page still describes ads in AI Mode as English-only. Google has not said whether those launches will come with Portuguese and Spanish support.
What to do now
- Annotate the rollout date in accounts that run in the 10 markets, so later swings in CPC, CTR or conversion rate can be checked against it.
- Read the search terms report more often. Look for longer, question-style queries that suggest AI Mode traffic, and add negatives where intent is off.
- Check brand exclusions and negative lists before more spend flows into these placements, because they are the only controls Google offers here.
- Tidy your Merchant Center feed. Shopping ads are one of the two formats that serve, and Google's guidance points to complete, current product data.
- For UK, Brazil and Mexico accounts, settle a baseline of current performance now, so you have something to compare against when the Q4 launch arrives.